Improving road safety education in developing countries; Ghana

Few schools in the developing world include Road Safety Education in their timetable, despite the fact that children represent a vulnerable group of road users. Two reasons for this were identified: a lack of teaching resources, and a lack of knowledge by teachers of how to teach road safety and what should be taught. This report discusses the design and evaluation of a Road Safety Education resource designed for teachers of 10 and 11 year old children and the development of good practice guidelines. The central educational theme of the resource, called 'Safe Ways', is that children learn best by active participation. 'Safe Ways' includes five lessons, each covering a different aspect of road safety. The evaluation took place in Ghana. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to test 10 and 11 year old children's knowledge of three areas of pedestrian safety: knowledge of safe behaviour, knowledge of unsafe behaviour and knowledge of crossing behaviour. The groups of children who were exposed to the resource showed a significant increase in each of these three areas, compared with a control group. The report also includes a full copy of the 'Safe Ways' resource, and the Teacher Training notes which accompany it. (A)