Presentation by Viristar and Tanglin Trust School Hosted by FOBISIA on March 17
Viristar was pleased to collaborate with the Federation of British International Schools in Asia (FOBISIA) and Tanglin Trust School of Singapore to put on a webinar “Risk Management and Returning to Travel, Trips and Outdoor Programs” for schools and experiential program provides across Asia and around the world, on March 17.
The webinar discussed general concepts in safety science, and how to apply a theoretical model of incident causation to mitigating COVID-19 risks and helping inform decisions about when it may be appropriate to recommence outdoor expeditions and overseas trips, following COVID-19 shutdowns.
From the webinar.
The presentation then told the story of how the leadership of the Outdoor Education Department at Tanglin Trust school skillfully navigated the many and ever-changing intricacies of continuing to provide outdoor experiences during the pandemic.
Martin Foakes, Tanglin’s long-time Head of Outdoor Education, continuously scaled programs up and down over the last two years—from the times of most severe restrictions, where outdoor activities were completely paused, or limited to tree planting or on-campus Forest School activities in groups of one or two, to less restrictive phases, where groups of five students could explore Singapore’s local parks.
Head of Outdoor Education Martin Foakes communing with a mango tree on the Tanglin Trust School campus, Singapore, during Phase 2 Heightened Awareness.
Ninety-nine participants attended the webinar, along with presenters and FOBISIA staff. Webinar attendees included Heads of School, Outdoor Education Coordinators, risk management officers, IA and co-curricular program coordinators, leaders of provider organizations, and more.
Participants on four continents hailed from 17 countries: Australia, Brunei, Burma, Canada, China, Hong Kong, India, Italy, Japan, Kazakhstan, Korea, Malaysia, Philippines, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Vietnam.
This is a testament to FOBISIA’s status as a well-respected resource and forum for sharing important information between British schools in Asia, and education institutions world-wide. In fact, the presence of convening membership associations such as FOBISA was discussed during the webinar as one element that is helpful in sharing best safety practices and mitigating risks in outdoor, trip and travel programs at schools, as well as informal education institutions, worldwide.
In a post-webinar evaluation conducted by FOBISIA, the overwhelming majority of participants rated the event as “excellent” and “very relevant.”
Didn’t catch the webinar? You can see the recording, courtesy of FOBISIA, here:
A copy of the slide presentation in PDF is here.
FOBISIA offers a series of webinars throughout the year. See the FOBISIA webinar schedule here.
Viristar provides additional information about all aspects of risk management for outdoor, travel and expedition programs—from COVID to safety management systems and emergency response. Learn more about outdoor safety training by Viristar here.