Number of Student Chaperones

Any group that has students under the age of 18 will require chaperones. How many you need depends on the age of the students traveling, where you are going and group size. My rule of thumb is to have at least one chaperone for every 10 students on high school trips, one chaperone for every eight students on middle school trips and one chaperone for every six students on a elementary school trip.

Another tip is to try to have an even number of students for each chaperone so that students are always with their “travel buddy.” Moving kids is like organizing to move an army: each student has a buddy, two pairs of buddies form a four-some (which may be assigned to the same hotel room), and in the case of middle school two foursomes equal eight students traveling with one chaperone. Note that using this system with high school students and keeping a high school trip chaperone ratio of eight students to one chaperone isn’t a bad idea either. International trips tend to have lower student-to-chaperone ratios such that even high school groups travel with six or eight students to one chaperone.

In large groups, I recommend that the trip leader not be assigned a group of students. This way he or she can focus on making the trip operate smoothly and is available to handle discipline issues or emergencies as they come up. It is also smart to have a second adult in your group identified as your first aid person and not assign them to students either. If there are sick kids or a student who needs medical assistance, the first aid person can deal with that student(s) without affecting other students or chaperone groups.

Before going to any museums, historical sites or attractions, it is a good idea to check the facility’s policy on chaperones. Many places require at least one to ten (students to chaperone). Following the suggestions above will therefore work for those places.

One big mistake that many first-time teachers planning trips make is that they equate the need for chaperones with normal class sizes, meaning they usually underestimate the need for chaperones. Since they are used to handling 20-30 kids in a classroom on their own, they find it unnecessary to have what they consider as “extra” people on a trip. The controlled setting in a classroom is very different from the traveling environment in a new city with lots of new and different things going on.

About the Author

Mike Palmer is one of the leading experts on student and youth travel in North American and around the world. He built one of the largest student travel companies in the US and helped create the Student & Youth Travel Association of North America, serving as their Executive Director for over 10 years. More recently he directed the global World Youth and Student Travel Conference; created three national nonprofit organizations to conduct research in student travel and served on the UN World Tourism Organization’s panel of global travel experts. He has often been quoted on radio, TV and in news articles on student travel and has testified before the US congress. Oh, by the way, he is the father of 6 and was a PTO officer, a band parent and a trip chaperone.