Foreign Office brings travel safety advice to the classroom
Even in the current economic climate, young people still have a strong desire to see the world with almost half of 11-18 year olds considering taking a gap year abroad after leaving school or college.
![](https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a37dae240f0b649cceb1839/s300_Main-building-gov.uk.jpg)
The Foreign Office provided assistance in 18,646 consular cases in 2010 and regularly deals with young British nationals who run into problems abroad as a result of being unprepared.
To help teachers explain to students the importance of preparation before travel the Foreign Office has re-launched its ‘Know Before You Go’ resource www.fco.gov.uk/schools, aiming to teach young adults how to travel safely.
The website includes engaging podcasts, unique blog-style film clips, an interactive globe and a ‘holiday hotspots’ quiz to bring travel advice to life in the classroom and prepare students for travelling abroad.
A recent poll revealed that 3 in 4 university students said they would have found a session on how to prepare for a trip abroad useful when they were in sixth form or college.
Khalida Cox from the Foreign Office’s Know Before You Go campaign says:
“As we’ve all recently seen, a country’s situation can change from one day to the next so there has never been a more important time for young people to be fully prepared before they head overseas. I would urge teachers looking for something a bit different to use our resource to help ensure their students are safe and prepared when they travel abroad.”