Scottish Government

Chapter 6 Using Streetsense

6.1 How is Streetsense used?

Many schools focus on road safety at the start of the school year although Streetsense is dipped into throughout the year. Others just access the resource as they require it.

There were comments about the number of activities available. Most teachers recognise that they cannot get through them all and many quite liked the fact that they could dip into the resource and make use of those that fitted in with other things that they were doing. One teacher commented that they do not necessarily pick the same things to do each year but rather it depends on the time and resources that they have available. This flexibility was seen as a strength.

There were a few comments about how teachers like the fact that road safety can be undertaken as a whole class activity and the resource was largely amenable to that.

6.2 The components of Streetsense

Respondents to the survey who were using Streetsense were asked to rate the usefulness of the different components of the resource.

Table 6.1; Extent of Use of the components of Streetsense

Base = all those using the Streetsense resource (146)

All of the components of the Streetsense resource were seen as being useful by the majority. The teachers' notes and lesson plans were seen as the most useful components of the resource followed very closely by the worksheets and the summary of activities for each level. The least useful aspect was the activity record sheets with only a quarter of teachers rating this as very useful.

The following gives some comments received during visits to schools and discussions with teachers.

6.2.1 The Introduction to Streetsense

Only a few teachers commented on the introduction. This was seen as being essential to be somewhere in the pack. It was viewed as lengthy but this was accepted. The majority would skim-read this section, with teachers usually looking for appropriate worksheets or material to go with the teachers' plan for the lesson.

6.2.2 Summaries of activities

A few teachers commented on the summaries of activities and curricular links and all of those thought them useful. One indicated she found them useful and easy to follow. Another mentioned how it was helpful to see where the activities tie into the health programme.

One commented on the table indicating which activities are linked to which primary school years and found this helpful for input to their health planning to ensure no overlap between year groups.

6.2.3 Notes for teachers

This was seen as useful and an important part of the resource.

6.2.4 The lesson plans

These were seen as the core of the resource for many teachers. Positive features included showing clear aims and not just about worksheets but offering a mix of activity

6.2.5 The worksheets

There were a few comments that the activities for the very early years were overly worksheet based. Some early year teachers looked at the resource and said that their children would not have sufficient pencil control to be able to undertake some of the tasks. However one road safety unit commented that some of the worksheets in level A were expected to be photocopied onto A3 thus making the activity much more manageable for that age group. It was felt that not many would have noticed that this was to be photocopied in this way and that they may consequently have been written off by some teachers.

A further comment was that it was not always clear which activities are to be undertaken with different groups undertaking different activities and then coming together at the end of the lesson. Sometimes this was being missed with the result that some teachers felt it was repetitive for the children to be undertaking similar but slightly different exercises. Again this was a practical aspect to using the resource that needs to be highlighted.

It was thought that teachers were perhaps not taking the time to read the notes or lesson plans as closely as they might due to their lack of time. The Road Safety Officer wanted to make it as easy as possible for the teachers to use it and suggests that activities be labelled more clearly e.g. as a group activity leading to class discussion.

6.2.6 Record sheets and assessments

These were rarely used but teachers nevertheless were pleased that they were included to be used if they wanted to. It was common practice for these to be included in resources of this type. They would not wish these to be removed from the resource.

Visits to school revealed no examples of records being kept by individual children. Class activity will be the most that is recorded and this will ensure that the next teacher knows what has been covered.

Assessments are also rarely if ever carried out due to lack of time but one teacher felt that they might be used as a discussion tool at the end - not to be undertaken as a test but just to bring the whole topic together.

6.2.6 Glossary and flashcards

These were generally seen as useful where used but extent of use seemed low.

6.3 A preference for a structure by level or by primary school year?

There is evidence that some schools are going to quite an effort to tailor the resource for their own school. In one school a ring binder has been made up for each class and worksheets are kept separately for easy photocopying. The workbook then gets passed from one class to the next thus ensuring continuity. Another school had packs of worksheets made up.

Whilst this was seen initially as a lot of work by the schools, it is easy to maintain. However, they have commented that they might have preferred it to have been structured in this way in the first place.

One road safety unit has offered to photocopy all of the worksheets into workbooks and make up teachers' handbooks. Ideally they would do this only for a core set of activities but at the moment they are doing this for all.

A head teacher also agreed that she could see the attraction of knowing that the P1s will undertake one aspect and the P2s would do something else thus ensuring that all the different aspects of road safety were covered. She added that environmental studies examine different topics in different years regardless of ability although the targets for individual children are set by level.

Another head teacher commented that it would not make that much difference which structure were adopted and would largely be a matter of putting different labels onto it.

One teacher felt quite strongly that the resource needed to be structured by level because of the variation that might exist within one class and whilst the majority of the class will have the same worksheets there will be children who need pushed or helped and the worksheets they are given have to be geared accordingly.

This was a view held by the lecturers in charge of teaching this course at university who stressed the need to be able to differentiate within the class and that this resource was well designed to allow this to happen.

One of the local authority education advisers also felt that it might be better to have structured it by stage, which is seen as a more robust structure, with referencing levels within that.

The majority felt that the existing structure by level worked well.

Respondents to the survey were asked 'How helpful is it that Streetsense is presented across the different levels A-E?'

Table 6.2; Helpfulness of structure A-E

Teachers overwhelmingly indicated that the structure was a helpful one with only one school saying that it was not helpful.

Generally it was agreed that the activities within Streetsense were well matched to the levels that they were set against. Only two schools in the survey disagreed with the remainder not commenting.

Table 6.3; Are levels well matched to abilities at each stage

It is notable that the proportions that could not respond to this question rose markedly as the levels progress indicating less use and this is consistent with the observations in Table 6.

6.4 The balance of Worksheet based lessons and practical activity

One Road Safety Officer recognised that it was sometimes difficult for schools to undertake some of the practical activities within Streetsense especially if this involved going outdoors. Time was also an issue for some of these more practical activities.

" Some of this is very practical and going out of the classroom and that's maybe not always feasible, especially in winter"
Road Safety Officer

There was also comment from one school about the extent to which the playground or practical work within Streetsense is taken up and this is an area where teachers may welcome CPD training or Road Safety Officers coming out to schools to demonstrate. There was a sense within this one school that the focus tended to be more on the worksheet based lessons.

6.5 Composite classes

There were some mixed views on how well the resource worked with classes of mixed ability. Many of the teachers did not know the resource well enough to be able to say how it would work. Whilst they recognised that they would need to work between two different levels there were few who did this in practice. Commonly they would take the level that was most appropriate for the class and simply work with that.

One teacher said that having to adapt worksheets would be off-putting and may deter teachers from using it at all if they had to spend too much time making changes.

Others felt that there was not the same need to differentiate on a subject like road safety. In other areas of the curriculum it was necessary to challenge children by pushing them to the level they could best cope with but with road safety it was seen as more important that they got the message across. The development of knowledge and the forming of attitudes was seen as the important factor.

" Sometimes, when you are putting in so many challenges in other areas of the curriculum, you feel you should give them something that they find straightforward"
Teacher

One suggestion was that extension tasks be provided within the worksheets for the more able children.

Another head teacher simply felt that teachers would make the necessary adjustments for their classes and this was to be expected.

Two of the Road Safety Officers commented on the worksheets being progressive and how this helped with composite classes. This was however not raised by any of the teachers and so it may not be sufficiently clear that this is the case. It was suggested that the progressive nature of the worksheets be made more explicit as it may encourage more teachers to use Streetsense.

One teacher took this a step further and suggested an improvement to the resource whereby the same lessons are provided but with differentiated worksheets suitable for different levels and organised around primary year groups.

Another Road Safety Officer praised the resource as having similar topics which were covered at different levels making it easier for teachers to select the most appropriate materials for the different abilities within their class.

Some teachers made comments about how the resource is used with composite classes or classes of mixed ability. One teacher felt that a structure by primary may have been better because of the very wide range she has to cater for within her class and she would not prepare a lesson using a number of the different Streetsense levels.

" I think because in any one class I've got ranging from A-D in any one class and there's no way I would use the A-D book whereas I would use content appropriate for P5/6."
Teacher

One Road Safety Officer mentioned that he had some concerns that it was being used less in rural schools because it was less easily used with composite classes. It was felt that there might be a reluctance to try out a new resource with composite classes.

Similarly the separate evaluation that has been undertaken in West Dunbartonshire has indicated that there are difficulties with composite classes but that this was described as inevitable. There was a desire from the teachers to be able to undertake whole class activities.

Some of those who are involved in the training of new teachers through the universities mentioned that differentiation is touched upon as it is in many of the courses for existing teachers. However this did not happen at all universities and where time is tight differentiation is not covered. Another of the lecturers praised the resource for its ease of use with different levels but did acknowledge that this would be very dependent on how it was used and recognised that not all practising teachers would be well versed in using it in this way.

The survey of teachers suggests that that the resource does cater well for mixed abilities within one class. Fewer responded that it catered very well than on some other attributes but in total 83% indicated that it coped with mixed abilities either fairly or very well. 9% felt that it did not cater very well and this rose to 10% when only schools with composite classes were considered.

Of the 21 city based schools, 4 (19%) indicated that it did not cope very well with mixed ability classes. The proportion indicating a response of 'not very well' was also higher amongst large urban areas (16%) and in remote rural locations (12%). It was also higher amongst those who had been using the resource less than a year (14%) compared to 6% for those with 1-2 years use and 8% for those with over 2 years use. This might suggest that this is an aspect of the resource that needs experience and is not quite as easy to use immediately.

Table 6.4; How well does the resource cater for the different abilities that might exist within one class?

6.6 Curriculum links

Streetsense was generally seen as fitting in very well to the curriculum and especially to the health or personal and social development ( PSD) curriculum. It was seen by another teacher as fitting into numbers of other areas including maths, language and environmental studies.

One head teacher emphasised that teachers were very aware of cross-curricular links and that this resource was particularly good in that respect.

Road Safety Officers saw the curricular links as a key strength of this resource as the time available for road safety is extremely limited but the opportunity to cover other areas of the curriculum at the same time were very helpful.

In a few areas the cross curricular links are being emphasised by the LA Education Department. In Glasgow for example, Streetsense will be referred to in the new document "Glasgow's Health".

In Edinburgh, a development officer has been appointed by City of Edinburgh Council to help promote road safety education across Scottish schools. She has been working to identify curricular links and promote these to schools to encourage greater take up of the Streetsense resource.

Table 6.5; How well does Streetsense fit within the school curriculum?

The survey of schools confirmed the view that the resource fitted well with the curriculum with 96% saying that it fitted well and only three schools saying that it did not fit very well.

One of the university lecturers would like to see more links to other areas of the curriculum, especially within the lessons, made more obvious.

6.7 Curricular Review

It is worth mentioning that a curricular review is currently underway and will not report until later in 2006. It is noted that the outcome of this may have implications for the way that Streetsense is structured. It is recommended that no major changes be made until this document can be carefully studied.

It is anticipated however that implementation of any revised curriculum is unlikely to be implemented quickly and it is likely to be 2008 at least before this would be in place.

The current structure of Streetsense by levels A-E may be more prone to change because of this review and a more robust structure to safeguard it from such changes would be to badge them by age group or even by early, middle and late primary school.

6.8 Involving parents

Views were mixed on the extent to which parents could be involved and hence the extent to which Streetsense should be accommodating this. Teachers generally felt that parents should be reinforcing the messages given at school.

Many teachers said they would welcome work to take home to prompt discussion and keep parents aware of what is being covered in school. The most many felt they could hope for was to keep parents aware of what their child was doing on this subject at school.

In one area the teacher was doubtful as to whether any homework of this type would be done. Most teachers were quite content with the level of homework that might be available via Streetsense and no change was required.

LTScotland run a website called Parentzone for the Scottish Executive devoted to parents and it may be worthwhile negotiating with the Scottish Executive to put some material onto this site. At present however, the level of parents using this site remains quite low.

Another means of getting the message over to parents would be to access the Teacher TV channel, although Scottish education is not well represented via this media. It is however another possible means of getting parents involved.

Schools were asked in the survey how helpful Streetsense was in encouraging parental involvement in road safety education.

Table 6.6; Helpfulness of Streetsense in encouraging parental participation in road safety education

A substantial proportion of teachers did not comment giving a reply of don't know (37%). Of those who did comment more found it helpful (45%) than not (13%).

Teachers were also asked whether they would prefer the resource to include more suggestions and activities to involve parents. Half of all replies would like to see more ways of involving parents and 38% felt that no change was required. 12% did not comment.

6.9 Other road safety resources

Most schools were using the other resources that were disseminated by Road Safety Scotland such as the Children's Traffic Club, the Scottish Cycle Training Scheme, Junior Road Safety Officer ( JRSO), Kerbcraft and all of these were seen to work well alongside Streetsense. Of the 146 schools using the resource that replied to the survey over three quarters (77%) were making use of other road safety education resources.

The JRSO scheme was particularly popular and some had made use of Streetsense in their work such as presentations, assemblies or competitions.

A few schools had resources which were distributed by commercial companies such as BMW, Renault, BP and a few still had "Ways to Safety" booklets.

There was mention of a DfT resource called ' Making Choices' which was used by P7s and of a resource being produced by the Fire Brigade which is used primarily in the North of Scotland called 'Riskwatch'.

Resources were seen as being largely complementary. Of the 112 schools surveyed that made use of other road safety resources, 94% said that they worked alongside the Streetsense resource. Only 4% said that they were used as a substitute for Streetsense.

38% said that Streetsense worked very well alongside other resources and 57% said it worked fairly well. Only one school indicated that it did not work very well with other resources.

The Steps to Safety Road Safety Charter being used in Lothian and Borders was seen as one means of bringing together all of the various resources that are available to schools.

6.10 Support to schools

Road Safety Officers are the main vehicle by which support to schools is provided.

In one area where there was a clear preference to have workbooks and to not have to photocopy resources Road Safety Officers have offered to provide this to schools.

"W e get them photocopied and compiled over the summer and they get delivered at the start of the school session- I think most of the schools do road safety right at the beginning"
Road Safety Officer

Road Safety Officers in this area feel that this level of support that they are giving to their schools will encourage them to make use of Streetsense. Other Road Safety Officers in other parts of the country would argue that it was not feasible in terms of their workload to take on this task.

Typically Road Safety Officers will respond very positively to any request for training regarding Streetsense or the provision of any additional materials to support Streetsense.