The Scottish Government

« Previous | Contents | Next »

Listen

Chapter 5 Extent of Use

This chapter aims to examine the extent to which Streetsense is actually used in schools, to explore reasons for non-use and to identify which parts of Streetsense are used.

5.1 Who uses Streetsense?

Of those who have a copy of Streetsense in their school, just over three quarters are making use of it (76%). This represents 60% of the total school sample that returned questionnaires. It tended to be used more in areas outwith cities. Only 65% of city schools that had it were making use of it.

Of the 146 schools who responded to the survey and were using Streetsense, a quarter (25%) had been using it for less than one year. 45% indicated they had been using it for between one and two years and 25% had been using it for more than two years. 5% did not know how long it had been in use for. There were a few comments that this evaluation was being undertaken quite early.

There was considerable variation across Scotland with some local authorities only receiving it recently.

5.2 Reasons for not using Streetsense

5.2.1 Lack of knowledge about the resource

There is a recognition that schools are very busy and unless prompted in some way may be unlikely to look at a resource like Streetsense. Often schools are undertaking road safety with their pupils but haven't taken the time to find out what Streetsense can offer.

One school indicated that it had only been brought to their attention because they had devoted some time to examining all of the resources they had for the health curriculum and only then did they become aware of what a good resource Streetsense was. If use is dependent on this type of means of discovery it is not surprising that its use is highly variable.

Another had had the resource recently brought to their attention by their Road Safety Officer, has subsequently arranged training and is now planning to make use of it in the next session.

One teacher who had the resource but hadn't used it indicated that a new resource coming into schools is sometimes treated with some contempt because there are so many arriving. Comments such as ' oh, no, not another pack' were the reaction of some. Therefore, even a good resource can be left until it is brought to the school's attention in some way.

"We are inundated with so many things. To try and find the time to even look at them can be difficult. At the moment the focus is on getting technology up and running. We could get 6-8 resources of this size in just a few weeks. Time is the key constraint"
Head teacher

One Road Safety Officer commented that lack of knowledge about the resource is a barrier to use. It was important that teachers took out the resource and gave the time to look through it. The challenge for those promoting road safety education is how to make this happen.

5.2.2 Size of the resource

One of the lecturers acknowledged that the sheer volume of the resource means that teachers have got a lot to digest before they can start to use it and this may be a drawback.

Other Road Safety Officers also mentioned that the size of the pack itself could be daunting. One comment was that it needs to be managed into chunks to make it more accessible and easily downloadable.

A teacher who is also not yet using the resource felt that packs of this sort can be daunting to look at and this too can prevent teachers from accessing the resource to find out more about it.

5.2.3 Lack of time

Lack of time is thought to be a key barrier to the resource being used. One Road Safety Officer commented on the conflicts of priorities that schools had to face. An example of competing priorities was that schools in deprived areas sometimes feel that they do not have time to devote to road safety because they have so many other issues to deal with but it was these very schools that needed to do it the most.

An overcrowded curriculum was also mentioned as contributing to the lack of time that can be devoted to road safety and perhaps driving down the priority that was given to this subject.

5.2.4 Reluctance to change

One teacher spoke of how teachers can become very comfortable with an existing resource and so be reluctant to change any of that. This is a hurdle that was recognised by other teachers and indeed by some Road Safety Officers who feel that they have to prove that this new resource offers something better than their existing resources to make any change happen.

A number of Road Safety Officers report that they do still get schools phoning up and asking for the old resource. They also get schools phoning up and asking about Streetsense without realising that they already have a copy of it in their schools. This perhaps highlights the extent of the lack of awareness that may exist in some places.

5.2.5 Organisation

A further reason for non-use relates to the fact that most schools only have one copy. As teachers change, the resource may get lost, be taken by teachers or the school may lose the only teacher that is aware of it.

Although all new teachers should be aware of the resource it was commented that a new teacher to the school would be unlikely to ask about it if it was not already being used.

5.2.6 Response from schools not currently using Streetsense

The responses from the 44 schools that had a copy but were not using it confirmed the viewpoints of the teachers and Road Safety Officers that were interviewed. As might be expected, lack of time or pressure from the existing curriculum was the most mentioned reason for not using the resource.

The following table highlights the responses received from schools.

Table 5.1; Reasons for not making use of the Streetsense

A number are making use of other resources to cover road safety. These were well spread across the country suggesting that this was not due to teachers being wedded to one particularly favoured local resource. Others spoke of their priorities being Kerbcraft or cycling proficiency.

There were also a number of schools that had simply not yet got round to using the resource and were developing their plans for this rather than launching into using it. It might be expected that these schools will use it in due course.

Two of the special schools mentioned that it was unsuitable for their pupils.

5.3 Which year groups use Streetsense?

There was some variation in response to this question during interviews with Road Safety Officers and teachers. Some claim that it is used more in the early years as the timetable is too crowded in the later years of primary and so road safety has a tendency to get squeezed. Others say that it is used more in the later years because the worksheet approach for the very young children is simply too much for them.

There is also a view expressed by a few teachers that children in the later years of primary are fed up hearing about road safety and have the attitude that they already know all about it. If this has been delivered across all of the early years of primary some teachers within a busy curriculum some may feel that this is indeed something that can justifiably be squeezed. One Road Safety Officer did feel that it was very important that road safety be delivered in these later years of primary as it was at this stage that accident rates start to rise.

An evaluation of use across West Dunbartonshire revealed no notable differences by year group but rather use across all years of primary.

A few teachers commented that level E was used less than others either because of other priorities at that stage such as cycle training or because pupils don't reach this level or due to a crowded curriculum.

Respondents to the survey of schools were asked to indicate by level the extent to which the resource had been used.

Table 5.2: Extent of use by Level

Interestingly as the levels progress there is less knowledge about its use with a quarter saying they didn't know about the extent of use at Level E compared to only 5% at Level A.

The findings would certainly confirm the view that it is used more in the earlier than the later stages of primary school. The proportion not using a level at all increases markedly from 1% at level A to 22% at Level E with a notable jump from 9% non-use at Level D to 22% at level E. This would support the findings of some interviews that some children don't get as far as level E.

Even amongst those who are using the resource at each level the extent of that use is also less as the later stages are reached.

The main reasons given for not making greater use of the resource are very similar to those given for non-use. Time and pressure on the curriculum was again mentioned. Some special schools have only limited need for some levels of Streetsense and other schools have only planned for use to level D. There was also a number of mentions about fitting it into other curriculum items especially health or environmental studies and plans or reviews being underway to address this. One teacher commented that they hadn't used it as much as they had hoped, as the web facilities were not available.

There was little enthusiasm for a level F to be developed especially for primary schools. One Road Safety Officer mentioned that this has only ever been raised by one of the private schools.

A few Road Safety Officers thought a level F might be worthwhile for secondary schools but the administration involved in disseminating this and promoting it to secondary schools would be considerable.

Of the 146 teachers responding to the survey who had used Streetsense, only 10% felt there was a need for level F, with 47% saying there was no need and 42% saying that they didn't know.

One of the university lecturers felt that it would be helpful if a version of Streetsense were developed for use in special schools, rather than them having to adapt the resource.

5.4 Which parts of Streetsense are used?

One road safety unit had hoped to be able to identify some core activities recognising that Streetsense offered a very wide range of lessons. However, in consultation with teachers, they have found it very difficult to identify what would constitute the core lessons of Streetsense as all lessons seem to be used albeit that different schools are choosing different activities. Similarly questions to schools suggest that it is quite difficult to ascertain a core to the Streetsense programme or to be able to say that some lessons are more important than others.

Two of the local authority education advisers also liked the idea of being able to identify which parts of the resource would be deemed core and others which might be extension tasks.

5.5 Feedback about level of use

Most Road Safety Officers lack robust information on the extent to which Streetsense is being used in schools.

The information they do pick up is unstructured based on seeing Streetsense related posters in schools, completed worksheets or seeing the books out and assuming that they are in use.

It was one of the criticisms of Streetsense that there was no feedback mechanism to inform Road Safety Officers and to give them guidance to better target their efforts at improving usage.

This criticism was especially strong in the West of Scotland where the previous resource ' Ways to Safety' required schools to place an order each year for individual workbooks for each child. This, whilst acknowledged as being an expensive and time-consuming task, did provide Road Safety Officers with feedback about which schools were making use of the resource - or at least ordering it. Some Road Safety Officers found that Streetsense did not provide this feedback or interaction with the schools as it was just 'put out there' with no further interaction.

The issue of feedback is being successfully addressed in Lothian and Borders where they have introduced their Road Safety Charter and schools that participate in this scheme provide evidence of their road safety activity in order to qualify for varying levels of award. This may be one way forward for the rest of the country.

Another suggested that feedback as to who was making use of the website might be useful. It should be possible, if web based activity were to become more common, to track who has logged into the site. This is already being done with some LTS sites and would allow a measure of which schools are making use of it. It also affords an opportunity to learn from those who are using the resource well.

« Previous | Contents | Next »