ROAD SAFETY Improving road skills


A road safety organisation is offering free resources to help


your students understand the dangers of driving on today’s roads. Sarah Rowley explains


in the country which have not been touched by this issue at some time or other and the tragic waste of young lives is something every one of us wants to do all we can to help avoid. Perhaps it is worth looking at some of the reasons


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why young people are so vulnerable. It is pretty straightforward. Inexperience equals danger and when this is combined with over-confidence, the cocktail can be deadly. The paradox is that we often praise people for


passing their driving tests first time and quickly, completely missing the point that it is the experience


round 500 young people aged 17 to 24 are killed every year on UK roads. More than 22,000 are injured, half of these seriously. Furthermore, one in five young drivers will crash in their first year on the road.


These are sickening statistics. There are few schools


gained through a longer learning process which is likely to be their biggest saving grace. So how do we expand the experience base for


young drivers and help them to be safer on the roads? Research has found that young drivers face two key


issues which radically effect their safety. The first is the development of the frontal lobe of the brain which controls risk-management. This does not fully develop until a young person is about 25. The second problem is that it is not lack of technical


skills that cause crashes, but a poor attitude – often resulting from a lack of knowledge. So the solution lies in tackling these two issues. By


training the brain to spot hazards and to understand how to deal with them. And by arming young people with knowledge we


can make a difference. Better still, by using resources designed for schools as well as at home, students get the chance to share their thoughts, fears and aspirations about driving. After all, discussing why your passengers could be


the biggest challenge to your safety, or why you should feel empowered to speak out if someone is driving you dangerously is relevant to all. In fact, unsurprisingly almost every aspect of


student school life is replicated in the driving task, from timetable planning, to coping with anxiety, to managing distractions and more. In other words schools can play a vital part in delivering a solution to this problem using techniques which are second nature to teachers. The a2om CIC (pronounced “atom kick”) is a not-


for-profit social enterprise which provides relevant materials to schools up and down the country for free. Within their offering is: • Brain-training software called Drive iQ for 16 to 18-year-olds.


• Workshop plans for teachers to run tutorial sessions around the software.


Moral Support: Teacher Support Network No more school holidays?


A UK school has decided to open its doors for 51


weeks a year. Julian Stanley considers the implications of this


THE START of a new school term is perhaps not the best time to talk about your next break from teaching (for we all know that holiday time does not necessarily mean you aren’t working), but what if there were no more school holidays? A new school in Leicestershire has done just


that; cancelled all school holidays other than a week off at Christmas. Instead, the school, which was launched last September, is open 51 weeks of the year. This does not mean that staff or pupils cannot take time off however. They book their time off as they would in any business or office, with some obvious restrictions, such as exam time. This school is not alone. A survey of 1,600


academies found that a third of respondents were in favour of changing school holidays. Education minister Michael Gove also recently


revealed new proposals for an extended school day, where pupils could remain in school between 7.30am and 5.30pm and attend on Saturdays, with an extra two weeks potentially being added to school terms. “We are all in favour of longer school days, and


potentially shorter summer holidays,” he explained. “If you (teachers) love your job then there is, I think, absolutely nothing to complain about in making sure you have more of a chance to do it well.” So what would the impact of longer school


days and terms be on the health and wellbeing of teachers? We asked the users of the Teacher Support Network website what they thought. One respondent said: “I always work a 16-hour day in addition to weekends and holidays. I hasten to add that I do not often disclose this to those dear to me, including my husband. His work takes him away and so I often work even longer.” “Mrs Tired” wrote: “I regularly work 10 hours


within school – usually throughout my lunchbreak then come home to do a further three to five hours. I work most of Sunday and can often be found ‘relaxing’ on a weekend evening marking books. I also feel that I never get on top of what needs to be done, and get very anxious being ‘behind’.” “The Furious Teacher” added: “I as a 50-year-


old teacher believe I should have a life. I like to ride horses, walk my dogs and watch television.” It is not just teachers who have concerns over


extra workload: “As a 15-year-old in education already family time is precious and with these new policies we will be faced with losing out on social activities, family life and also we will lose sleep,” one young respondent stated. One parent wrote: “My kids are already up at


6.15am, in breakfast club by 7.30am and are not picked up until gone 5.30pm when I have finished my teaching day. The youngest is just four-years- old and wakes up crying in a morning as she is so tired and doesn’t want to go to school.” I could go on. These responses mirror those of


another survey by Teacher Support Network last year where 96 per cent of respondents said their health and wellbeing have been affected by their workload. There are other concerns too. School minister


Nick Gibb said at one teaching conference that “teachers are expected to solve too many of society’s problems”. Would more time in the classroom then lead to


more teachers becoming parent figures to children? How can the safety of children and teachers retuning home after longer school days be ensured, particularly in the winter months? What happens to after school activities? There clearly needs to be a lot more discussion,


but when the government, teachers, parents, teaching unions, other stakeholders and Teacher Support Network talk, we must not only consider interventions like changing school holidays, but also address teacher workload, the root causes of teacher stress, low wellbeing and related issues such as low teacher retention. Any conversation must also include the press, so that the issue of school holidays is taken seriously and not dismissed as unfounded complaints.


• Julian Stanley is chief executive of the Teacher Support Network. Visit www.teachersupport.info or call 08000 562 561 (England), 08000 855088 (Wales).


Think safe: Scenes from the Drive iQ free road education resources from a2om CIC 14 SecEd • April 19 2012


• A parents’ guide entitled Is Your Child Learning to Drive? Novice and/or pre-drivers are given evidence-based


e-learning modules, which include eye scanning, distraction, hazard perception, being a responsible passenger, among others. Drive iQ hones those skills that are often neglected


by young drivers such as anticipating danger, emotion and emotional responses, impulse, eye movement and assessing risk. The resources were developed in partnership with leading scientists and industry experts.


people aged 17 to 24 are killed every year on UK


‘


roads. More than 22,000 are injured, half of these seriously. One in five


young drivers will crash in their first year


’ Around 500 young The programme was piloted in Sussex in 2011 with


huge success and has since been provided to more than 200 schools throughout the UK. More than 27,000 young people have already benefited from using Drive iQ. The a2om CIC was awarded the Prince Michael


International Road Safety Award last November, and is supported by key players within the driving industry to ensure widespread distribution. Our programme is designed to enhance driver


safety education for young people by providing them with knowledge that not only may save their own lives, but also those of others. It provides a strong foundation for a key life-skill. So why should schools get involved? Well surely it


is the teaching of life-skills that is at the heart of every school’s ambition for their students. To ignore the one which poses the biggest to danger to their lives makes no sense. Particularly as the messages required to promote their safety are so within our grasp.


SecEd • Sarah Rowley is CEO of a2om CIC.


Further information The a2om CIC programme is now available nationwide. To receive your free educational resource pack, email srowley@a2omcic.org or visit www.a2omcic.org


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