The principles of learning and teaching in traffic safety education

Learning and teaching are complex, multifaceted and highly interconnected activities. There is a renewed focus within education on how students learn, and the implications of this for pedagogy.  The first part of this paper describes the elements of the recently developed Principles of Learning and Teaching P-12 in Victoria.  The Principles support schools to:

• “build consistent, comprehensive and improved pedagogical approaches, while still allowing flexibility, innovation and local decision making at the school level
• focus teaching to meet the diverse needs of students
• strengthen learning communities within and beyond the school.”

The second part of the paper argues that, while the Principles are applicable across all key learning areas and all stages of learning, Traffic Safety Education activities exemplify the Principles extremely well.  The paper illustrates how Traffic Safety Education activities align with the different elements of the Principles.  The paper shows that Traffic Safety Education activities, such as assessing risks and defining safety for self and others, emphasise the building of rich meanings and deep thinking rather than completing tasks.  Students in Traffic Safety Education classrooms are seen to be intellectually engaged by real experiences; they feel a sense of empowerment and collaboration with their peers, their teachers and their whole school community. Schools that tackle the harm minimization and prevention approaches embedded in effective Traffic Safety Education activities are characterized in this paper as rewarding and reality-based ?learning communities?.