Understanding the benefits of school travel: An educator's perspective

Using a theoretical framework that incorporates Aristotle's three intellectual competencies (epistme, techne, and phronesis), this article examines the perceptions of educational travel from the administrators' perspective. A total of 336 elementary, middle, and high school principals from around the US participated in the study and thematic responses were analyzed from open-ended questions. Results indicate that educational field trips can have positive impacts on all three of Aristotle's intellectual competencies (practical knowledge, skills, and attitude/experience), and that the effects of educational travel are far reaching with substantive benefits for students of all grades.