| About YET |
| The YET is an independent, nationally based, educational charity
seeking to promote safe and responsible expeditions. In so doing it aims
to give young people the opportunity to take part in exploration, discovery
and challenging adventure to help foster the personal qualities of service,
self-sufficiency and leadership. |
| The YET's foremost function is to champion and encourage active, challenging and
safe expeditions by young people. It does this by providing advice and support to expedition
leaders and commercial expedition providers as well as by advocating the value of youth
expeditions to parents, education managers, government and the media. |
| Since it was established in 1972, the YET has: |
 Assessed over 900 youth expeditions through its national screening system, enabling more than 18,000 young people to benefit from an expedition experience.
Awarded grants and financial support to over 300 youth expeditions to help them achieve their goals.
Provided training courses and conferences for membership and the public alike, assisting thousands of young people.
|
|
The work of the YET does much to engender self-reliance and leadership in young people of all backgrounds throughout the UK.
The youth expeditions supported by the YET strongly encourage social and cultural understanding, environmental responsibility
and safe behaviour in the outdoors. Above all, youth expeditions are an opportunity for fun and real adventure.
|
| Successes of the Past |
| In 1979 the YET, together with the Royal Geographical Society and Institute of British Geographers, established Geography Outdoors (formerly the Expedition Advisory Centre). Based at the Royal Geographical Society in London, GO has been the major source of expedition information, advice and training in the UK for nearly 30 years. |
| In 1980 the YET pioneered MOBEX, a mobile expedition scheme set up to promote outdoor adventure for disadvantaged young people in several of our most socially deprived inner cities. Today, MOBEX is still helping hundreds of young people to enjoy the outdoors. |
In the 1990's the YET
published a number of key documents including, Safe
and Responsible Expeditions, Environmental Responsibility for
Expeditions and Leader's Logbook, which became industry standards
and the starting point for the recently introduced British Standard
BS 8848 and EVAC safety badges. |
| Since 2000 the YET has
played a key role in the development of recognised codes of practice,
including the creation of the British Standard BS 8848, and in
facilitating agreement within the industry. |
| Challenges of the Future |
| The YET considers that the development of self-reliance and leadership in young people, a crucial part of our heritage, will undoubtedly suffer unless the work carried out by the Trust's membership continues. In particular the YET is striving to tackle two critical, publicly recognized concerns that threaten the future of youth expeditions: |
The need to encourage young people to adopt a more active lifestyle
The perceived 'litigation and compensation culture' which is causing a serious reduction in the number of adventurous opportunities for young people
|
| Due to the fear of litigation the YET is observing a growing climate of active discouragement of youth expeditions and adventurous outdoor activities by some head teachers, local
education authorities and one of the major teachers' unions. This trend is fuelled by the media's high profile coverage of the
remarkably few number of incidents involving young people taking part in expedition activities. Since 1973 none of the 900 YET
Approved expeditions involving over 18,000 members have experienced serious accidents leading to fatalities. This can be attributed
to careful consideration of good practice documents and guidelines, sensible management of risk and an emphasis on Leaders' duty
of care.
|
The YET continues to be in dialogue with government departments in an attempt to
counter these problems but much more needs to be done. There is real danger that youth expeditions and the many benefits they
bring will disappear for good unless this trend is arrested.
|
