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EVALUATION OF THE CHILDREN'S TRAFFIC CLUB IN SCOTLAND: NEW NURSERY AND PLAYGROUP PACK
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We would like to acknowledge the co-operation of the Road Safety Units, nurseries and playgroups throughout Scotland who have assisted with the evaluation.
In particular we would like to acknowledge the advice and guidance from Anne Diack of the Scottish Road Safety Campaign.
ODS Ltd
May 2003
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Introduction
1. In September 2002, ODS Ltd. was commissioned by the Scottish Road Safety Campaign to carry out an evaluation of the Children's Traffic Club in Scotland (CTCS) Revised Nursery and Playgroup Pack.
Background
2. The CTCS Nursery and Playgroup Pack was re-launched in November 2001. The pack is a revised and updated version of an earlier nursery resources pack produced in 1996 to follow on from the launch of the Children's Traffic Club in Scotland, which had taken place a year earlier. The aim of the evaluation was to assess the use and impact of the resources pack and any effect it might have in raising awareness of the CTCS.
3. The pack contains a Nursery and Playgroup Guide, a "Curricular Links Guide" which links road safety education to the curriculum for children aged three to five years, the CTCS booklets, a Story Tape, Posters and templates to provide "colouring in" exercises all based around the theme of road safety. Parents' Cards and Stickers have been designed to encourage parental involvement in road safety education. These cover four key road skills. As these are learned, children receive stickers to record progress and achievement.
4. The Scottish Road Safety Campaign provided initial training to Road Safety Unit staff on the contents and use of the pack in advance of its distribution to nurseries.
The Evaluation
5. The evaluation involved a combination of personal and telephone interviews and a postal survey with:
- Nursery staff drawn from over 200 nurseries throughout Scotland
- Road safety officers
- Local authority Nursery Advisers and Childcare Partnership Co-ordinators
Summary of Consultation and Survey
6. Over two hundred nurseries through Scotland were asked about their use of the Nursery Pack. About 80 percent of those nurseries contacted were aware of having the pack and it was being used by about half of those who reported having it. The pack was well regarded as a useful resource to complement and support the work they already undertake on road safety. The Nursery Story Book and the Curriculum Links Books from the pack were particularly valued, providing assistance with the planning of activities within the nursery.
7. Seventy per cent of those nurseries using it indicated that the Pack has had a positive effect in raising awareness of the CTCS among teachers, children and parents, though its actual effects on Club membership are unknown.
8. The pack was also positively viewed by Road Safety Officers who had been responsible for its distribution.
9. Nurseries have integrated the pack into a wide range of road safety activities. Suggestions for improving the pack included more group activities and games, and inclusion of more road safety teaching aids.
10. Use of the pack seemed to be influenced by the extent to which nursery staff had been briefed or trained in its use and familiarised, even briefly, with its contents.
11. Largely, individual nurseries determined the format and approaches to road safety education and there was relatively little intervention on the part of pre 5s advisers in this area of activity. There was a relatively high level of awareness though, among advisers on the CTCS, though less specific awareness about the Nursery Pack.
Good Practice
12. In the course of the study a number of examples of Good Practice were identified around the following themes:
- Training and briefing nurseries on the use of the pack
- Linking the use of pack to Road Safety Events
- Integrating use of pack within wider personal safety education
- Raising Parental Awareness
Conclusions
13. To date, we estimate that the Nursery Pack has been distributed to two thirds of nurseries and playgroups in Scotland. At the time of the survey, about 80% of nurseries that had received the pack were aware of it, with around half of the nurseries who have it, using it with children in the nursery.
14. Awareness and use of the Nursery Pack appears greatest in nurseries where it has been distributed either personally by a Road Safety Officer who has explained its use or linked to in-service training for nursery staff.
15. The pack format and content are well regarded, considered attractive and useful. While there was general satisfaction with the Pack as a whole, the Nursery and Playgroup Guide, the Curricular Links Book, the Story Book and the posters are the most valued and used elements of the Pack.
16. The pack was always used to complement and reinforce other road safety education activities.
17. The pack has had a significant effect in raising or reinforcing awareness of the Children's Traffic Club in Scotland among nursery staff and with parents.
Recommendations
18. The study made the following recommendations in order to increase awareness and usage of the CTCS pack:
- Where RSUs still have to distribute the Nursery Pack, they should do this accompanied by a personal visit to the nursery.
- Where the pack has already been distributed, RSOs should aim to pay visits to the nurseries in their areas to encourage and support the use of the pack.
- Putting in place a simple system for acknowledging receipt of the pack.
- The SRSC should continue to provide support to RSO's in explaining the Curriculum Links to nursery staff if required.
- RSO's should be made aware that multiple copies of the pack are available for large nurseries.
- RSOs who had not already done so should ensure copies of the pack are distributed to Pre 5s and Nursery Advisers and the field work staff of the Scottish Pre-school Play Association. In the case of the SPPA, this may be better co-ordinated by the Scottish Road Safety Campaign.
- RSUs should initiate discussions with local authority nursery and Pre 5s education advisers, offering support to incorporate training in the use of the Nursery Pack.
- RSUs should also liaise with the Scottish Pre-School Play Association to consider ways in which training in the use of the Nursery Pack can best be delivered to the network of its members.
- The pack contents are well regarded and do not require to be changed at this stage. In any subsequent versions of the pack, a number of additional items or elements might be considered for inclusion. These could include small group activities.
- The SRSC may wish to consider ways in which the Pack can be adapted to meet the particular needs of young children with physical or learning disabilities. This should be done in consultation with nurseries working with children with special needs.
- Where Parents' Cards and Stickers still have to be distributed, this should be done in person by an RSO, and their use explained. When distributing the Nursery Pack and/or Parents Cards and Stickers, RSOs should encourage the nursery to encourage parents whose children are not member of the CTCS to join.
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