The Nation's Crisis Can't Come at a Cost of Living for Young People

For some schools and local authorities, there may be apprehension around launching an expedition during a cost-of-living crisis, through fear of accessibility - not wanting to present an opportunity that some families may feel is beyond their grasp.

However, Outlook Expeditions' Managing Director, Simon Adams, recently sat down with Walsall Academy's, Jon Clarke, to discuss the problems with restricting opportunities for young people - now more then ever as they recover from the turbulence of the last few years.

"So if we're saying we're in an area of deprivation and we can't do that because we have a high level of disadvantage, we're not going to offer them expeditions so we're going to disadvantage them further. We're automatically putting them two feet behind"

As a seasoned expeditioner and a senior teacher in an area of high deprivation, Jon Clarke believes that schools should be providing opportunities to their students - even at a time of financial stress within the country - because it's experiences such as these that really make the difference to young people and give them the tools they need to succeed in life.

"Yes, we know its tough and if a family really are hard up in terms of free school meals and disadvantage, we know that schools are being given support in supporting those families. We can be the safety net, just in case"

At Outlook, we share this sentiment completely. Lowering the bar cannot be the answer, we need to support our young people to get over it.

An Outlook Expedition should be accessible to all, which is why self-funding has always been a core component of the programme. Now more than ever we work to empower students to find new ways of funding their personal development, all the while building key life skills of budgeting, money management, and motivation. Find out more about how students can pay their way, here.

"Are we not disadvantaging our children more by not giving them the opportunity? By broadening opportunity, we're actually tackling the major issue "

Watch the full video here.