Scottish Government

Chapter 7 Managing a road safety charter

7.1 Maintenance /sustainability

One of the key aims of the charter was to encourage greater consistency of road safety education over time and all agreed that the charter would help achieve this. However it was acknowledged that having achieved charter status, there may be a falling off of effort and momentum or even complacency.

Head teachers and those involved in road safety education could offer no radical insights on how this problem might be addressed.

Many of the teachers felt that if the Road Safety Charter were placed within the school development plan then that would ensure that it received the attention it required and it would become part of the school year. Thus the existence of the charter would act as the spur to ensure that it received a place within the school's year plan.

Many primary schools have a road safety week built into the school year where they focus on road safety across the school. Many of the aspects of the charter might be covered during that week.

One proposal was for the award itself to indicate how many years it had been held for, thus emphasising commitment to road safety over time. This might be as simple as putting the dates onto the award. A suggestion was that there could be a series of footsteps following the theme of 'steps to safety' with each footprint having the year of award marked onto it.

Since there is a constant throughput of children within the school no problem was expected in keeping it fresh for children but there remained a need to keep it fresh with teachers and to ensure that new staff are informed about the aims of the Charter.

A visit from Road Safety Officers on a regular basis would help maintain some momentum, as would a regular award to keep up the profile. However this is perhaps in conflict with the suggestion that there should be three years between assessments.

There does need to be some continual incentive for the children to maintain their motivation.

Rewarding schools who are undertaking good work was suggested as a means of encouraging sustainability. They could be exhibited as good examples thus incentivising others to achieve similar levels while publicly rewarding those who have achieved.

Schools could also support each other within a small cluster of schools. This might be particularly appropriate in rural areas where schools tend to be smaller.

It is also recognised that the Charter itself will be likely to change over time as the world around it changes. When the charter is being developed it must be designed with this in mind and be capable of being updated easily so that it does not become dated.

7.2 Road Safety Co-ordinator

The majority of both teachers and road safety staff felt that having someone within the school appointed, as a road safety co-ordinator was extremely helpful. Some Road Safety Officers expressed the view that where there was someone who did take this responsibility there was a better level of road safety education and a greater priority given to it. The person taking on this role would act as a focal point for dissemination within the school and as a clear contact for Road Safety Officers. Most Road Safety Officers would therefore be in favour of there being road safety co-ordinators appointed within schools.

It was thought that it would be beneficial if CPD were associated with taking on this role.

Some were quite clear that this did not have to be the head teacher. Indeed there were some clear benefits to it not being the head teacher due to their already heavy workload and the juggling of priorities. In some schools the role of co-ordinator has been ably undertaken by committed classroom assistants and in one school the school secretary had an interest and assumed the role.

If the Charter is to recommend that a road safety co-ordinator be appointed then it should not be prescriptive about who undertakes this role.

There were problems raised with appointing someone to take on this role. In very small rural schools where there may only be a head teacher and a class teacher and where the head teacher already has teaching responsibilities, it is the head teacher who must take on the role to become expert at everything. With the increasing number if initiatives this is becoming very difficult to sustain.

These teachers do not have anyone to whom they can delegate the role. The point was made that there is a greater diversity of interests in a larger school, so finding someone who would be willing to take on a role is easier than for a small school, where staff must assume these responsibilities whether they are interested or not.

One suggestion was that there may be a co-ordinator for a cluster of small schools.

Some teachers may be reluctant to take on the role. Even while they may agree that it is a good idea, there may be practical difficulties in finding someone to adopt it. This would present problems since it would be important for the person assuming the role to do so enthusiastically.

One travel plan co-ordinator felt that a formal role might put people off whilst in all likelihood someone would come forward on an informal basis within each school.

There were also a few concerns that if someone were to be given this role, that it might run the risk of other teachers feeling relieved of their responsibility and so diminish the whole school input to road safety. There was a need to ensure that responsibility is felt across all of the classes and year groups.

Similarly if one person takes the role and then departs, it leaves the school with no co-ordinator and a risk that the initiative loses momentum.

Eco schools mentioned the benefits of having someone who has been seconded to promote and support Eco Schools within the local authority education department and ideally they would like to have someone in every local authority. This has also been mentioned by a few as a possible route for the road safety charter. One teacher indicated that a person in this role could act as a sounding board and would be able to provide more expertise. This should however be someone that schools can easily access by phone.