When tryouts for the team were announced, Tanya doubted that she could quality, but she thought: nothing ventured, nothing gained. The final section dealing with dueling courtroom dramas brings genuine suspense to a relatively bloodless, but thoroughly gripping, tale. Archer reinforces his position as a master storyteller." - Publishers Weekly Professional awareness of risk-benefitassessment has grown considerablybecause of work on playground safety.However, it has long been implicit in theethos and goals of agencies such asthose providing adventurous andoutdoor activities, and has beenelaborated theoretically in the form of a‘triangle of risk’ (benefits, hazards andcontrol measures). The University ofCentral Lancashire, which providesdegree courses for outdoorprofessionals, recognises that studentshave to encounter risks if they areto become well-equipped to supportexperiential learning once they havequalified. Hence it plans to introducerisk-benefit assessment into its riskmanagement systems. The approach isalso being put into action elsewhere. IntroductionChildren and young people have a thirst for adventure andchallenge. This is evident from their earliest efforts to crawland walk, and can be seen throughout childhood. What ismore, the majority of children grow up to be competent,confident people who lead healthy, fulfilled lives.

Forget about solving all these crimes; the signal triumph here is (spoiler) the heroine’s survival.Despite the rarity of cases againstschools, teachers or organisations,concern has grown about the impact ofthe fear of litigation. In response,Parliament introduced a new Act, theCompensation Act 2006. Part 1 of theAct makes it clear that, when consideringnegligence claims, the courts may takeinto account the danger of discouragingor deterring ‘desirable activities’ such asvisits. When looking at what might go wrong, itis the risks to children and young peoplethat should be our primary focus. Yet inmany cases, agencies can becomefocused not on the risks to children, buton the risk to their own resources,reputation and good name. They fear aso-called ‘blame culture’ by which anyadverse outcome, even if it is relativelyminor, can become the focus foraccusations, recriminations andlitigation.

Review activity programmes andoutdoor initiatives and draw up explicitstatements about the benefits ofparticipation, including life skills andcompetences as well as curriculumbenefits. Ensure these benefits arewidely disseminated, discussed andunderstood.Nothing ventured, nothing gained is a proverb that means if one does not take risks, one cannot achieve anything. The sentiment is that one must be willing to risk something dear to him or risk failure if one wants to reap a reward. The expression nothing ventured, nothing gained appears in John Heywood’s 1546 work, A dialogue conteinyng the nomber in effect of all the prouerbes in the englishe tongue: “Nothing ventured, nothing had – if you don’t speak, you don’t advance.” However, the phrase is found in The Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer, in The Reeve’s Tale: “I will arise and take a chance, too, by my faith! Nothing ventured, nothing gained, or so men say.” Some believe the proverb nothing ventured, nothing gained is a translation of the French proverb, from the 1300s: “Qui onques rien n’enprist riens n’achieva,” or “He who never undertook anything never achieved anything.” As with many proverbs, only the first part of the phrase, nothing ventured, is used sometimes with the assumption that the listener will understand the rest of the sentiment. Within education and children’s services,there is growing awareness of the valuefor children of learning experiences thattake place outside the classroom. References andfurther informationBall, David, Gill, Tim and Spiegal,Bernard (2008) Managing Risk in PlayProvision Implementation Guide Department for Education and Skills(2001) Health and Safety:Responsibilities and Powers (statutoryguidance note DfES/0803/2001) It’s very serendipitous how things work out so my takeaway is that nothing ventured, nothing gained.” ( The Coast Halifax)

Despite this, children and young peopleface growing adult anxiety over theirsafety, across many aspects of theireveryday lives. While we do not wantchildren to come to harm, our fears canlead us to underestimate their ownabilities and to overreact to extremelyrare tragedies. Forest school is a learning initiativewhere children leave the classroom tohave weekly sessions in woodlands orother outdoor settings, led by speciallytrained teachers. By their very nature,forest school programmes require athoughtful approach to balancing risksand benefits. The activities on offer mayinclude building dens, using knives andtools, and fire-based activities, withchildren being given significant choiceand control over what they do. Theapproach, developed in Scandinavia, isspreading throughout the UK (inWorcestershire over 300 settings arerunning programmes). It is often takenup in early years settings, and is alsoused by primary and secondary schoolsas a way of reconnecting disaffected ordisengaged children with learning. Young people of all ages benefit fromreal life ‘hands on’ experiences; whenthey can see, hear, touch and explorethe world around them and haveopportunities to experience challengeand adventure.His Clifton Chronicles ( This Was a Man, 2017, etc.) complete, the indefatigable Archer launches a new series that follows a well-born police officer from his first assignment to (spoiler alert) his appointment as commissioner of the Metropolitan Police some volumes down the road. So one of the ways that we can helpchildren to prepare for adult life is toexpose them to managed risk, whilesupporting them in learning how tocope. For instance, we help children tolearn how to manage the risk ofdrowning not by keeping them awayfrom the sea, rivers or lakes, but byteaching them how to swim, and how tomanage the water environment. Outdooreducation often takes an incrementalapproach to risk, gradually increasingchildren’s exposure as they gainconfidence, with self-management,sound judgement and self-reliance asthe ultimate goals. While this Act did not change the legalbasis for liability claims, it has had theeffect of emphasising the existing needfor the courts to take into account thebenefits of activities when consideringthe duty of care. Recent cases haveprompted lawyers to suggest that thecourts, in the wake of the Act, acceptthat some activities carry with them aninherent level of risk.

One challenge is that within organisationsit is rare to see a consistent, coherentapproach. So while face-to-face staffmay want to give children experiencesthat expose them to a degree ofmanaged risk, their managers, or theircolleagues in charge of health andsafety, may take a different view. National Association of FieldStudies Officers (2003) Quality,Safety and Sustainability in theDelivery of Learning through theEnvironmentLooking at school visits, on average,out of around 7-10 million days ofactivities by children and young peoplewho take part, there are perhaps twoor three fatalities a year, of which onaverage only one is directly related tothe adventure activity itself. (A similarproportion is related to traffic casualtiesthat occur while travelling to and fromvisits.) This means that – taking intoaccount the amount of time spentparticipating in such activities – thelikelihood of a fatality is about the sameas in everyday life. To put it anotherway: on a typical school visit, thechildren who take part are at nogreater risk of death than theirschoolmates who have stayed behind. The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE)supports over 275,000 people aged14-24 in a programme that, accordingto the charity, “aims to instil a spirit ofadventure, and have a lasting impacton young people’s behaviours, skillsand life chances”. A key part of itsprogramme is for participants to carryout an unaccompanied expedition thatmust be completed through theparticipants’ own physical efforts. TheDofE’s Expedition Handbook is clearthat “adventure and discovery alwaysinvolve some measure of risk”, thatexpeditions should involve respondingto a challenge, and that one of thebenefits of doing an expedition is thatparticipants learn to manage risk.While the initial level of challenge isdetermined by the team, “the weatherand the demanding surroundings inwhich the expedition takes placealways necessitates the teamresponding to a series of unforeseenchallenges.” The Expedition Guide alsostates that, of all the qualities entailedin the safety and well-being ofparticipants doing DofE expeditions,“that of sound judgement is the mostimportant. Sound judgement, alongwith responsibility and maturity, arisesfrom effective training coupled withprogressive and varied experience overa period of time. It cannot developunless there are opportunities toexercise judgement.” Legal contextWhat does the law state about safety on visits andadventurous activities? The short answer is perhapssurprisingly straightforward. It can be captured in a singleword: reasonableness. Those organising and providingactivities outside the classroom are expected to takereasonable steps to ensure the safety of the children andyoung people taking part. The notion of reasonableness iscentral to the key legislation: the Health and Safety at Worketc Act 1974 and the Occupiers’ Liability Acts 1957 and1984. This does not let those who organiseand provide adventure activities off thehook. Previous tragedies have shownthat lives have sometimes been lostneedlessly because actions anddecisions fell well below the standardsany reasonable person would expect.