Initiative details
Traffic safety and mobility education is an important component of the Safe System approach in Europe. The educational objectives go beyond the mere prevention of accidents and include the protection of the environment and health. Throughout Europe, efforts are being made to provide such safety education at all school levels. In Austria, traffic safety education is already firmly anchored in the elementary school curriculum. Although an interdisciplinary approach is required in secondary schools, there are no specific lessons scheduled for this purpose, which makes it more difficult to implement in the classroom. However, developmental psychological findings and accident statistics show that traffic safety education is particularly important after elementary school. A comprehensive and continuous educational concept is therefore essential in order to provide children and young people with the necessary skills to participate safely and responsibly in traffic. In order to achieve the competency goals, set by the Ministry of Education, teachers require support in the form of specific lesson plans and materials. Therefore, in 2018 the KFV “Risi & Ko” teaching materials for secondary schools level 1 were created.
Initiative date
Who was/is your target audience?
Children 0-16
Educational staff
Topic
Education in school or in community organizations
Organisation details
KFV (Kuratorium für Verkehrssicherheit)
Association
Austria
Wien
Contact name
Anita Eichhorn
Telephone number
+43577077-1311
anita.eichhorn@kfv.at
Website link
Project activities
If you work together with external partners, list the most important partners and briefly describe their role.
not applicable
Please describe the project activities you carried/are carrying out and the time period over which these were implemented.
Since 2018 the above mentioned material has been continuously expanded. The open concept is characterized by a flexible structure and offers tailor-made teaching units for different age groups and needs. The thematic priorities for secondary schools are currently divided into the following four main topics that are particularly relevant for this age group: “Risk and peer pressure”, “Social skills and consideration in traffic”, “Distraction in traffic” and “Different mobility types and their potential”. For each topic, several lesson plans are available. Furthermore, a comic is used to stimulate an initial discussion on each topic.
The teaching materials for elementary school, published in 2019/20, are structured by school level, and all content is based on the Austrian curriculum, which provides ten units per school year. In the 1st and 2nd grades, the focus is on walking and getting to school safely. In the 3rd and 4th grades, the main focus is on behaviour on public transport and cycling in traffic.
In addition to the teaching materials, workshops and other school activities have been developed. When an activity is booked, a KFV expert will visit the school to look in more detail at specific issues such as distraction or speed.
The teaching materials for elementary school, published in 2019/20, are structured by school level, and all content is based on the Austrian curriculum, which provides ten units per school year. In the 1st and 2nd grades, the focus is on walking and getting to school safely. In the 3rd and 4th grades, the main focus is on behaviour on public transport and cycling in traffic.
In addition to the teaching materials, workshops and other school activities have been developed. When an activity is booked, a KFV expert will visit the school to look in more detail at specific issues such as distraction or speed.
In terms of implementation, what worked well and what challenges did you need to overcome?
It is easier to arouse the interest of primary school teachers because, unlike in elementary school, secondary schools do not have a separate subject for traffic safety and mobility education. This can also be derived from the fact that elementary schools make much more frequent use of the option to order the materials than secondary schools. In the context of evaluations among teachers, it was also found that secondary schools are more likely to outsource traffic safety and mobility-related lessons to external experts. To meet this need, KFV has been offering various workshops and activities on traffic and mobility topics for all types of schools for years.
Evaluation
Please summarise how you have evaluated the initiative’s impact (e.g. social media reach, survey, feedback forms, statistics).
Since their introduction, the Risi & Ko teaching materials have been evaluated at two different points in time with regard to the pedagogical approach and the methods used, as well as their suitability in class. In 2019, a total of 165 telephone interviews were conducted with teachers from different school levels. In 2023, a further 88 online or face-to-face interviews were conducted with teachers. All teachers interviewed had at least one school year to use the documents in the classroom. Both evaluations showed that the materials were rated as pedagogically valuable and easy to implement. From the teachers’ point of view, the Risi & Ko materials are also very attractive for students. As a result, they were usually used several times during the school year.
What has been the effect of the activities?
If education is seen as a lifelong process, it is difficult to assess the overall impact of traffic safety education in the classroom independently of other effective traffic safety measures. Due to these challenges, there are very few learning programs whose impact on the number of traffic accidents has been studied (SWOV 2006). It is therefore essential to use other indicators for an impact evaluation.
There is a trend in German-speaking countries to measure traffic safety education on the basis of certain skills that children should acquire at a certain age. The KFV teaching materials are also geared towards the competence-oriented curriculum for traffic and mobility education in Austria. As part of the evaluations carried out, the teachers confirmed that the KFV materials support the acquisition of the required competencies.
The positive evaluations are also confirmed by the download figures. The digital “Risi & Ko” teaching folder was downloaded around 3,700 times by primary school teachers over a period of 5 years. In addition, every second elementary school in Austria is equipped with a printed version of the materials. In comparison, around 4,200 downloads were recorded by secondary schools over the same 5-year period.
There is a trend in German-speaking countries to measure traffic safety education on the basis of certain skills that children should acquire at a certain age. The KFV teaching materials are also geared towards the competence-oriented curriculum for traffic and mobility education in Austria. As part of the evaluations carried out, the teachers confirmed that the KFV materials support the acquisition of the required competencies.
The positive evaluations are also confirmed by the download figures. The digital “Risi & Ko” teaching folder was downloaded around 3,700 times by primary school teachers over a period of 5 years. In addition, every second elementary school in Austria is equipped with a printed version of the materials. In comparison, around 4,200 downloads were recorded by secondary schools over the same 5-year period.
Please briefly explain why your initiative is a good example of improving road safety.
Traffic and mobility education is essential for a safe participation of children and young people in traffic. Experience has shown that schools have little budget for corresponding school activities, i.e. teaching and learning materials as well as external offers must be made available free of charge to be used. Development and production are associated with relatively high costs. In addition, a great deal of energy must be invested in distribution to ensure that the offers are taken up. In principle, it is possible and useful to develop similar approaches in other countries if this commitment exists in an organisation.
How have you shared information about your project and its results?
To achieve the widest possible reach, various channels were used for dissemination. As a first step, the new materials were officially presented in 2018 as part of a KFV press release. All secondary schools then received a formal letter with information on the Risi & Ko teaching materials and the free ordering and download option at www.risi-und-ko.at. At the same time, the use of the materials was supported by an official decree from the ministry of education. In addition, interested teachers have the opportunity to take part in the annual KFV online professional training on the topic of traffic safety.
Supporting materials
