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1.2 Background
RSS was founded in 1985. Funded by the Scottish Executive, its remit is to develop and co-ordinate road safety ( RS) initiatives and campaigns across Scotland. The RSS works closely with all local authority and police road safety units in an attempt to ensure a co-ordinated approach to road safety in Scotland.
RSS produces a range of educational resources targeted at primary, secondary and pre-school pupils as well as those pupils with Additional Support (or Special Educational) Needs. Many of these resources are linked to national educational guidelines making it easier for teachers to incorporate RSE into the classroom.
Research carried out in 2002 1 concluded that:
For many pupils and teachers "Road Safety" was not seen as relevant, raising as it did memories of primary school and learning the Green Cross Code by rote
One of its recommendations was that peer education, whereby older pupils might work with younger ones, could benefit all participants. Peer education would help present road safety as relevant if older pupils could endorse some of its messages and help younger pupils recognise these as useful and appropriate.
Peer education has been used in secondary schools when dealing with topics such as bullying, drugs education and Health Education. It has been suggested that some young people are more receptive to these messages when they come from their peers or equals. The website of the former Health Education Board for Scotland ( HEBS) contains many examples of peer education. 2 Peer education relies on shared understandings and a willingness to learn.
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