It's a rite of passage for kids, but camps are on the chopping block for many schools in Victoria due to changes to the education enterprise agreement, which mean attending teachers must be given time in lieu for extra hours worked.
Chatham Primary School principal Christopher Cotching told ABC Radio's The Conversation Hour that education staff were trying everything they could to keep the tradition going.
For the school, east of Melbourne, that meant Mr Cotching attended the camps, along with the school's vice principal.
"When we take 60 children, we need six staff to go with those children, and for each teacher who goes there, there are time in lieu arrangements for each of them," he said.
"So if six teachers go for five days, that's a total there of 30 days of time in lieu."
Mr Cotching said as a workaround, they were looking for parents and carers to volunteer their time to reach mandatory numbers of supervisors.
Struggling to find relief teachers
For Daniel Watson, principal of Woodford Primary School, close to the Victorian town of Warrnambool, the challenge is two-fold.
"It's even the state swimming championships," he said.
"So if I send a teacher down, they've got to drive three hours there and three hours back before they even start supervision."
Mr Watson said the school had also been turning to parents to help make up the numbers required for camps, but he said parents were increasingly unable to forgo their own workplace commitments.
His school was also feeling the effects of the national teacher shortage.
"So even if I was able to find those 20 hours for the teachers who are going to camp and [I] bring in casual relief teachers … I can't find the casual relief teachers … so that's a problem."
Uncertain future for providers
It isn't just education staff feeling the pressure.
Anthony Hall, who runs an outdoor education camp south-east of Melbourne, said he had seen bookings drop by about 20 per cent.
"Time in lieu is an issue, and some schools are postponing and waiting to see what the outcome might be," he said.
Mr Hall said outdoor education businesses had been given a post-COVID boost of $84.3 million as part of the Andrews government's Positive Start in 2022 initiative, but he felt the future of the industry was up in the air.
"Last year was a really good year, and then coming off that, the brakes have been hit pretty hard," he said.
No off duty on camp
Australian Education Union Victorian branch president Meredith Peace said members told the union getting adequate time off was a key priority for last year's Victorian Government Schools Agreement.
"Workload has been one of those really critical issues for teachers," she said.
"We can see that playing out in other ways at the moment in terms of the teacher shortage, so it was an important issue for us to address."
But Ms Peace said she was aware the move was creating additional pressures for schools and called on the state and federal governments to help ease the burden.
"It's the government's responsibility as the employer to make sure [schools] are appropriately funded in the way they see fit," she said.
"The government made a decision that schools needed to deal with time in lieu with the funds that the department and the government provide to public schools."
There were also concerns that the agreement said staff were on call or off duty while away on an overnight camp.
"Our view is when you're required at work, and that's exactly what you are required to do when you're going on a camp, you're on duty," Ms Peace said.
Ms Peace said the union had lodged a dispute with the Fair Work Commission regarding its concerns.
