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Road safety education

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    Educators and school leaders can use this advice when planning and delivering road safety education, or when selecting road safety programs for their school.

    In partnership with the Department for Infrastructure and Transport, the Department for Education supports teachers and schools to deliver road safety education to children and young people, aligned to the Australian curriculum version 9 and South Australia’s Road Safety Strategy and Action plan.

    Road safety in the curriculum

    The Australian Curriculum version 9 provides opportunities for children and young people to learn about road safety and safe decision making from reception to year 10, through health and physical education, across other learning areas where most authentic and general capabilities.

    Road safety in the health and physical education curriculum

    Health and physical education enables students to develop skills, understanding and willingness to positively influence the health and wellbeing of themselves and their communities. Road safety is addressed through the personal, social and community health sub-strand of making healthy and safe choices. This strand examines environments that influence health, safety, relationships and wellbeing at an individual and community level.

    There are 12 focus areas in health and physical education, one of which is safety, that provide the breadth of learning across foundation to year 10.

    The safety focus area addresses safety issues that students may encounter in their daily lives. The content supports students to make safe decisions and behave in ways that protect their own safety and that of others. Through the focus area students learn about:

    • safe practices at school and home, in road or transport environments, in the outdoors, near water
    • strategies for dealing with unsafe or uncomfortable situations
    • protective behaviours and help-seeking strategies (saying no assertively, leaving situations that are unsafe or uncomfortable, telling a trusted adult, accessing credible information, seeking advice from a trusted friend, accessing services that support young people; for example, local youth services, Kids Helpline, headspace)
    • managing personal safety
    • first aid and emergency care, including safe blood practices
    • safety when participating in physical activity, including sports safety, sun safety, use of protective equipment and modifying rules.

    The HPE focus areas can be downloaded from the Australian Curriculum website.

    Road safety programs

    Schools make local decisions about the road safety education programs that best align with student needs. The following programs are currently supported and/or funded by the South Australian Government:

    Early childhood

    Primary school

    Secondary school

    Other programs

    Schools can choose other programs not listed above, based on advice for curriculum planning and selecting external providers (staff login required). Schools should also consider the following:

    • evaluations from past program success – testimonials are generally not of high evidence value
    • evidence that the program positively impacts the learning of children and young people
    • referees so that you can talk to other schools who have used the program about what was achieved by implementing the program
    • training and resource materials that support the successful implementation of the program
    • support for schools to monitor and evaluate the effectiveness of the program.

    Contact

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