All
schools should have a teacher that acts as a coordinator or central point of
contact for traffic safety and mobility education. On the one hand, this teacher
would motivate, inspire, guide and support the other teachers in providing proper
lessons in road safety and sustainable mobility. Alternatively, the teacher
could (also) be responsible for teaching and conducting part of the education,
for example the theoretical and practical bicycle tests.
On
the other hand, this teacher would be the central contact person for the school
– advising and guiding the school’s head teacher and other teachers with regards
to traffic safety and mobility education. They would also be the school’s link
to the municipality, the police and road safety organisations.
This
designated teacher, whether a dedicated road safety teacher or a regular
teacher responsible for a class, should receive training in order to stay
up-to-date.
Appointing
a regular teacher as a traffic safety contact teacher is furthermore a low-cost
measure, as the teacher would already receive a salary, yet would ensure that the
provision of traffic safety and mobility education is improved at the school.
Experiences in Norway and Denmark show that pupils of schools that have appointed
such teachers receive more traffic safety and mobility education.
BEST PRACTICE EXAMPLES
Denmark – Courses and Materials for Traffic Contact Teachers
The Danish Ministry of Education recommends appointing a traffic contact teacher at all schools that teach pupils aged 6-16 years old. They are also encouraged to participate in the traffic contact teachers’ courses organised by the Danish Road Safety Council (Sikker Trafik), which are held yearly for new and ‘old’ traffic contact teachers. These two-day courses provide information on available teaching materials and include exercises and discussions on how to be a “good” traffic contact teacher.
More Information
On its website, the Danish Road Safety Council provides more information and inspirational material for traffic contact teachers as well as a teaching guide.
Flanders – Contact Person in Traffic Working Groups
The Flemish Foundation for Traffic Knowledge (VSV) promotes the use of traffic working groups at schools in Flanders. Such working groups consist of teachers and parents, with one person functioning as contact point. It is however not uncommon that a prevention advisor acts as contact person for traffic safety at secondary schools (and sometimes at primary schools), due to their expertise with regards to safety in general. Nevertheless, the traffic safety lessons are usually given by teachers actively engaged with the topic.
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