The number of elementary schools holding overnight field trips, including school excursions and training camps, fell by more than 700 over the past two years. The decline is attributed to growing concern among teachers that they could face legal liability if a safety accident occurs during such trips.
According to data on field trips over the past three years, submitted by the Ministry of Education to Rep. Suh Beom-soo of the People Power Party, a member of the National Assembly's Education Committee, the number of elementary schools conducting overnight field trips dropped by 724, from 3,703 in 2023 to 2,979 in 2025. Over the same period, the share of elementary schools nationwide holding overnight field trips fell 11.9 percentage points, from 59.7% to 47.8%.
By region, last year's rate of overnight field trips at elementary schools was lowest in Gyeonggi (9.5%), Seoul (7.8%) and Daejeon (4.0%). By contrast, four regions — Daegu, South Gyeongsang Province, Jeju Special Self-Governing Province and Gwangju — recorded rates above 90%, pointing to wide regional gaps.
The trend extends beyond elementary schools, with rates falling each year at middle and high schools as well. Across all elementary, middle and high schools, the rate of overnight field trips declined from 72.5% in 2023 to 70.6% in 2024 and 62.6% in 2025. Even at high schools, where school excursions were long considered mandatory, the rate fell from 97.2% in 2023 to 85.9% last year.
Single-day field trips without an overnight stay are also declining each year. Based on the 14 regions that submitted full data for 2023 through 2025 — excluding Incheon, Gangwon State and South Jeolla Province (Jeonnam) — the rate of single-day field trips at elementary schools fell 19.6 percentage points over two years, from 88.1% in 2023 to 68.5% last year.
Fear of Legal Liability Keeps Teachers Away
The drop was especially sharp in Seoul, where the rate of single-day field trips at elementary schools plunged from 98.8% in 2023 to 51.1% in 2025. Anxiety over legal liability ranks as the top reason teachers avoid field trips. In 2025, a court handed a six-month prison term, suspended for two years, to a teacher who had led a field trip in Sokcho, Gangwon State, where a student died in November 2022 — a ruling that deepened teachers' unease.
In a survey conducted by the Elementary School Teachers' Union from April 28 to 30 and released on May 4, 96.2% of 21,918 elementary school teachers nationwide said they viewed organizing field trips negatively. Responses were "very negative" for 90.5% and "somewhat negative" for 5.7%, while only 2.1% took a positive view. Asked why they avoid such trips, 49.8% cited anxiety over teachers' legal liability in the event of a safety accident, followed by stress from handling parent complaints at 37.0% and excessive administrative work such as selecting sites, signing contracts and settling accounts at 12.4%.
The National Assembly revised the School Safety Act in November 2024 to exempt school staff from civil and criminal liability when they have fulfilled their safety obligations, and the Ministry of Education announced additional support measures for field trips in late May this year. The measures include a further revision of the School Safety Act to exempt staff from liability absent intent or gross negligence, an increase in support staff to one per class, and the addition of 200 dedicated personnel at district education offices by 2027.
"The decline in field trips has been evident since 2023, but the ministry's support measures came only in May this year, and a revised law would take effect next year," Suh said. "The ministry should conduct a full survey of field trips in 2026, and the National Assembly should move quickly on revising the School Safety Act."
In May, a video capturing teachers' day-to-day difficulties with field trips drew wide attention. A short-form video titled "The Real Reason Teachers Avoid Field Trips," posted on the Elementary School Teachers' Union's official YouTube channel, featured remarks by Kang Seok-jo, head of the union, at a ministry-hosted roundtable on safe field trips.
"The day before a field trip, we get complaints asking us to pair a child with a particular classmate, or asking why we are going somewhere so far that it makes their child carsick," Kang said in the video. "Even when we take and send 200 photos of the children on the day of the event, we get complaints like 'Why does my child look like that?' or 'Why are there only five photos of my child?'"
Kang urged authorities not to force schools to hold field trips. "Designing the curriculum rests with teachers, who are the education professionals," he said. "Create an environment where teachers can choose to go on their own."