Educators

What is a policy?

A policy is a written statement of what should be done and why and how it should be done. It includes a clear statement of why the policy is needed, what the policy is, guidelines for its implementation and how and when it should be evaluated.

Why do children’s services need a Road Safety Education policy?

To strengthen the link between your children’s service and the home environment when teaching road safety to children by

• providing consistent pedestrian, passenger and safe play messages for educators and families to help keep children safe
• raising the awareness of safe road, travel and transport practices for children and their families
• encouraging safe behaviours that ensure children are protected and supervised wherever vehicles are – or may be – about
• promoting an understanding of child development so that educators and families know why young children always need an adult’s help in and around traffic
• ensuring that children and their families arrive and leave your children’s service safely

To support road safety education at your children’s service by ensuring that educators

• have current, accurate and consistent road safety information and share it with families
• plan appropriate road safety learning experiences for children
• plan safe excursions as part of your road safety education program and involve families
• implement safe procedures around the use of bikes and wheeled toys at your service
• are aware of road safety issues that relate specifically to your service and local community

To support the philosophy and goals of your children’s service by

• helping you maintain a quality service
• enabling you to document and assess the effectiveness of your road safety procedures.

How do you develop a Road Safety Education Policy?

There is no one right way to develop a policy but it is important to include all educators, other staff, management and families – and sometimes children – in the process. Some policies will include a mission statement, philosophy, rationale, objectives, outcomes, strategies and evaluation while the structure and content of other policies will be different. Consult recognised authorities and date and source each of your policies (see the NCAC Frequently Asked Questions About Policy Development).

Policies need to take into account a number of factors specific to your children’s service including purpose, content and audience. This is especially important when writing a Road Safety Education Policy as it needs to relate to your particular traffic environment and to the road safety issues that affect your service, families, children and community. Include additional specific policies such as

• Safe Arrivals and Departures
• Use and Maintenance of Bikes and Wheeled Toys in Children's Services
• Safe Travel
• Safe Excursions and Excursion Venues/Locations

When writing or reviewing your Road Safety Education Policy, you may find it useful to:

1. Form a policy writing group of representatives from your educators, other staff, management and families.
2. Identify and consult appropriate Recognised Authorities at national, state and local levels.
3. Identify the road safety environment and road safety issues and concerns specific to your service, families, children and community.
4. Work through a checklist to ensure that you address the road safety education needs of your service. A sample checklist is provided for you. It will help you work out how to
   • promote the key road safety messages to children, educators and families;
   • promote ongoing road safety education, including everyday hands-on learning experiences, both planned and spontaneous;
   • promote safe practices at your service, including safe arrivals and departures, safety on bikes and wheeled toys and safe excursion and travel;
   • involve families in road safety education and in promoting safe pedestrian, passenger and safe play practices with their children.
5. Develop an action plan to gather the information from the checklist and from other sources to revise your existing policy or to write a draft policy. It involves

• collecting input from your educators, other staff, management, families, children and community to be incorporated into the policy;
• holding meetings to review input, refer to other road safety education policies and consider any other implications;
• setting target dates for completing your action plan.

5. Write and circulate your draft policy to all parties to ensure it is relevant, appropriate and achievable, revising it where necessary.
6. Take advantage of the help that is available to your policy writing group from the Kids and Traffic, Early Childhood Road Safety Education Program.
   • A Kids and Traffic consultant can provide you with advice and information on writing, implementing and evaluating your road safety education policy. We can visit you or discuss your policy ideas over the telephone on (02) 9805 3200 or email us on kidsandtraffic@mq.edu.au.
   • Our free Getting it into Print workshop helps you discover the process of policy and procedure writing. It provides educators with the opportunity to further develop policies which address key road safety issues in your children’s service. If you send us a copy of your draft policy after the workshop, we can continue to support you in its implementation.

Copyright 2006 Macquarie University