ROAD EDUCATION

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22344, 7 March 1938, Page 10

ROAD EDUCATION

EARLY START IN THE SCHOOLS PLAN TO TRAIN EXPERT INSTRUCTORS II’HE PRESS Special Service.] WELLINGTON, March 6. A scheme for making a start with road education on a large scale among the children in the schools of New Zealand has been drawn up by the Education and Transport Departments in collaboration. It includes the appointment of special teacher-ifistruc-tors and the inclusion of road safety instruction as a regular subject in school curricula. It involves a new approach to the problem, in the endeavour to educate' good habits, starting at the beginning, rather than relying upon propaganda against ingrained bad habits. A joint memorandum issued by the two Departments refers to the consistent efforts made during the last two or throe years to reach children of primary and post-primary schools, by advice and instruction in rules the distribution of the Road Code, and talks and demonstrations and articles in the School Journal. Much has been done, but the persistence of the iiigh casualty rafe indicates that something more is necessary; a series of proposals has accordingly been made. First, it is remarked that until now the appeal to the children has been made mainly through the ear, and the committee considers that an immediate need is the preparation by the two departments of an illustrated booklet for use in schools and training colleges. Teacher-Instructors The second proposal is mure radical. It is that special teacher-instructors should be trained for school service. The greater part of the instruction and advice so far has been given by teachers who cannot have the knowledge of the expert, and the expert traffic man who has willingly assisted by school visits, on the other hand, has not always the understanding of the child mind nor the approach which would enable him to give to the children the knowledge that he possesses. The idea is far wider than simply to teach the child to practise road safety -or himself; it is to endeavour to give the child an understanding of the problem which has grown from modern transport and from that understanding to build up a national conscience m road safety and against dangerous driving, cycling, and walking practices. The Wellington Education Beard recently had the scheme before it and gave its full support and it is evooeipoi that other education districts will follow.

I'l le training of the special instructors will commence in an intensive course under the traffic exnerts of the transport Department, and thev will then enter a teachers’ training college -or a dual purpose—to take a course in caching methods and to imparl knowledge in traffic matters to teacher trainees, for the scheme can be made effective only by the full co-operation of the whole of the teaching service There are more than 3000 primary, secondary, and private schools in tlie Dominion, with a roll of 295,000. Of ’he 200.000 children in the prjmai v '(’.hods there are about 45,000 in Standards 5 and 6. and it is to these children that particular attention whl first be given, although road safety instruction will have a place in the curricula for younger children also Equipment and Transport

Equipment will be necessary for the iulfilment of the scheme—means cl transport, portable film projectors, ano screens, a selection of films (probabl> produced in New Zealand). To caro out the remainder of the scheme tc. reach children, not occasionally oi casually, but as a recognised part or school instruction, quarterly lo supplement the illustrated text books referred to earlier, notices ana coloured drawings and records for schools which have gramophones will be issued. The facilities for talks during the sessions of the School Broadcasting Service will also be availed of Propaganda and Penalties

The normal propaganda effort must be continued, but those who have drawn up the school instruction scheme are confident that a positive education will in the end be far more effective than “don’t” propaganda, although the results will not be apparent at once. Propaganda education has not succeeded beyond a certain level in any country, because the offender, before being told or shown, has already become accustomed to bad road practices, serious or apparently trivia], when there was a pretty good chance of getting away with them. Not only that, but other road users who see, as they do a score of times on any day, a risk run or a commonsense rule deliberately broken, never raise an eyebrow; it is something that is done by everyone, and when the good-enough risk does not come off it is an accident, very deplorable, but taken as being in the very nature of modern traffic.

■ln the opinion of the committer true education will result in a new outlook on traffic breaches in that they will not be smiled at as of no consequence, but that they will be recognised as serious. From the public condemnation of bad practices will follow the imposition, with public support, of more severe penalties than are accounted sufficient to-day. in those cases where the better understanding -still does not lead to a greater regard for the rights and safety and comfort of others.