Evaluation of the national network of child pedestrian training pilot projects - Findings

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Abstract

The evaluation of the National Child Pedestrian Training Pilot Project (Kerbcraft) investigated its impact on children’s pedestrian behaviour and on schools and volunteers. Effective ways of establishing and sustaining practical child pedestrian schemes were identified. The study was conducted by Kirstie Whelan and colleagues at the University of the West of England, Bristol.

One hundred and fifteen pilot schemes were funded in 75 authorities across England and Scotland, in areas with high child pedestrian accident rates and high levels of deprivation. Each scheme was funded for three years and employed a co-ordinator to recruit, manage and train volunteers and liaise with schools.

Main findings

This field trial has operated in a variety of settings, taking rurality, ethnicity and social deprivation into account. The findings of the pilot in Drumchapel, Glasgow, have been confirmed in a larger and more disparate sample. This study has contributed to two approaches related to reducing health inequalities:

1. Strengthening individuals – by increasing children’s pedestrian skills and enhancing the range of volunteers’ skills. 2. Strengthening communities – by recruiting and retaining large numbers of community volunteers and strengthening their links with schools and local authorities.

  • In relation to Kerbcraft’s impact on behaviour, the study found strong statistical evidence of positive impact of training in all three skills. There was no gender difference for baseline performance or impact of Kerbcraft training;
  • The programme had an impact on schools, communities and volunteers. Kerbcraft improved relationships between the schools and parents. Positive opportunities were provided for volunteers to develop social contacts, feel valued and take advantage of educational and employment opportunities;
  • Cost effectiveness analysis showed that costs of training in a sample of local authorities ranged from £28 to £99 per child. The cost of Kerbcraft in six of the local authorities was below £40;
  • Factors for success of schemes included: skills and ability of the co-ordinator; supply of volunteers; co-operation of schools; innovation and creativity in the delivery of training; and timetabling training to avoid clashes;
  • Issues relating to setting up, management and maintenance of schemes included that Road Safety Officers and co-ordinators were more positive in the later tranches of the funding when early problems were addressed. Training and support of co-ordinators were essential ingredients;
  • Sustainability of schemes beyond the initial funding period has resulted in a wide range of funding sources being accessed to sustain schemes. Some schemes from the earlier tranches have continued operating in a modified format.

Background

The Kerbcraft Programme was developed by the University of Strathclyde and piloted in the Drumchapel area of Glasgow in the early 1990s. It is firmly based on learning theories and educational evidence. The programme was designed to enhance three pedestrian skills in 5–7-year-old children over a period of 12–18 months. A package of three skills was developed: 1. recognising safe versus dangerous crossing places, 2. crossing safely at parked cars and 3. crossing safely near junctions. It was recommended that these skill packages should be delivered in 4–6, 4 and 6 sessions respectively.

An important component of the programme is that training is practical and delivered in the road environment. The programme is progressive, with each skill building on earlier ones. Training was conducted by local volunteers in the streets surrounding the children’s schools. The volunteers were trained and supported by co-ordinators based in the local authority’s Road Safety Department. The programme was disseminated through a national network of pilot schemes, set within 64 local authorities in England and 12 unitary authorities in Scotland. The pilot schemes in England were funded by DfT and those in Scotland by the Scottish Government. Three tranches of funding were made available (2002–05, 2003–06 and 2004–07).

Research findings

1. The impact on behaviour

The study shows strong statistical evidence of the positive impact of training in all three Kerbcraft skills. In relation to Safe Places training, before the intervention trained and control groups showed similar levels of construction of ‘safe’ routes (17%).

This rose to 28% in trained children immediately after training (at post-test 1) and to 20% in control children. At post-test 2, two to four months later, trained children had further increased their safe scores to 44%, whereas control children’s scores had risen to 29%. The increase was statistically significant for trained but not for control children. In relation to Parked Cars training, trained children showed a significant increase in the key actions associated with checking the parked cars for occupants and signs of activity and also showed a significant increase in the proportion of trials where they clearly stopped (rather than paused) to look right and left for traffic at the sightline. The mean scores for key looking behaviours while stopped at the sightline increased significantly for trained children and were accompanied by a corresponding
decrease in less rigorous looking behaviours, which are only conducted while crossing (without first stopping at the sightline). In relation to Junctions training, trained children had a significant advantage over control children at pre-test, possibly the result of informal learning occurring during the two earlier skills training sessions. Trained children again outperformed controls; one example was that the trained group was significantly better than controls in relation to moving away from obstructions.
The improvements made by trained children in this study, however, were not as great (for each skill) as those observed in the original pilot study in Drumchapel, possibly owing to the larger scale and more disparate nature of the sample. There was no gender difference for baseline performance or the impact of Kerbcraft training.

2. The impact on schools, communities and volunteers

Schools were supportive towards road safety training when it actively reinforced current educational and curricular links. The programme was found to fit in with the schools’ ethos and improve relationships between the schools and parents. In the head teachers’ survey 43% considered that the Kerbcraft programme had actively improved the relationship between parents and school, 36% reported no change and no school reported a detrimental effect. In relation to volunteers, the programme has
provided opportunities to develop social contacts, take advantage of educational and employment opportunities and encourage greater participation in local schools. Active volunteers identified benefits resulting from involvement in Kerbcraft as feeling valued by the school and project staff (59%), social benefits of meeting new people (50%) and improved relations with schools (30%).

3. Cost-effectiveness

The budgets and the number of children trained in the Kerbcraft courses for each local authority were compared and costs per child were calculated. These were all below £100 per child in all 7 local authorities’ schemes sampled. Costs lay in the range £28–99 per child. The cost of Kerbcraft in six of the local authorities was below £40. The added cost per initial 1% proportionate change in ‘safe’ behaviour scores for Safe Places training across all trained children in each local authority sampled ranged from £919 to £5,999.

4. Success and failure of schemes

Key ingredients related to the success of schemes focused on the skills and ability of the co-ordinator. The ideal co-ordinator was a person able to develop a good relationship with schools, parents and volunteers, who could motivate others and had a flexible approach to work. The supply of volunteers was also important, with the most effective recruitment strategy being the use of a letter from the school or co-ordinator, followed up by personal invitation. Where parental interest/availability
was low, recruitment was extended into the wider community. These community volunteers included community/street wardens, school crossing patrollers, police, churches and social clubs and students on childcare courses. Other ingredients for success of schemes included the co-operation of schools, innovation and creativity in the delivery of the training, and practical factors such as timetabling training to avoid clashes within the National Curriculum.

5. Setting up, management and maintenance of schemes

Early teething problems in Tranche 1 were addressed as the project evolved, and Road Safety Officers and co-ordinators were more positive with the support they obtained in Tranches 2 and 3. This was facilitated by improvements throughout the project lifespan in the communication and feedback processes between co-ordinators, network managers and the evaluation team. Training and support of co-ordinators was also an important factor. In some areas, co-ordinators added value to Kerbcraft training. These features included: providing children with skills for walking safely in rural areas, timetabling extra sessions to introduce new or unusual environments such as Home Zones and the inclusion of refresher sessions for skills 12 months after children completed their initial Kerbcraft training programme.

6. Sustainability of schemes

Securing funding to continue pedestrian safety training beyond the timescale of the national Kerbcraft pilot has presented a challenge to all participating local/unitary authorities. A wide range of funding sources was accessed to sustain schemes, including New Deal for Communities, Neighbourhood Renewal Funding; Local Transport
Plan; Local Public Service Agreement; Safety Camera Partnership; Community Regeneration Funding. Both schools and authorities recognised the positive impact of the scheme and most are keen to continue with it. A survey conducted between six and nine months after pilot funding ceased showed that, of the 39 authorities, 69% were
still undertaking some form of practical roadside training and a further 21% were planning to do so. However, few had continued with the full number of recommended sessions.

Recommendations

Implications for policy

  • Cross-departmental initiatives between the Department for Transport and the Department for Children, Schools and Families would enhance the impact of similar schemes;
  • The Kerbcraft programme has highlighted the importance of involving the evaluation team at an early stage.

Implications for research

  • There is a need for further investigation into the impact of community deprivation, ethnicity and of rurality on this type of intervention;
  • A longer-term review of the impact on casualty reduction and on behavioural change in children would determine if the positive effects of the
    training are sustained over time;
  • Evaluation of the impact of training schemes on parents/family members would illuminate how far safety messages are transferred once pupils
    have been trained;
  • Opportunity exists to investigate the use of volunteers in other road safety initiatives;
  • A review should be undertaken of the sustainability of the training programme to ascertain whether training has continued within schemes and the
    impact that it has made.

Implications for practice: future delivery of Kerbcraft training

  • The behavioural gains children achieved were observed when the programme was delivered in line with current recommendations on the amount
    of training received: 4–6 Safe Places sessions; 4 Parked Cars and 4–6 Junctions sessions;
  • The process evaluation confirmed the importance of including a 'practical' roadside element within child pedestrian safety training;
  • Children benefit from a non-didactic, participative way of learning, and delivering the training to small groups also provides the bonus
    of peer-supported collaborative learning;
  • The Kerbcraft programme has highlighted the importance of delivering training at each stage of the intervention – to co-ordinators, to volunteers and to pupils;
  • Schools are likely to be more amenable and supportive towards road safety training when this reinforces current educational and curricular links;
  • Challenges relating to ethnicity, deprivation and rurality/physical environment can be overcome. Closer community participation is a key ingredient for success;
  • The process of setting up the scheme may take longer than anticipated in some schools. Starting with those who are keen and returning to others has been a good strategy used by co-ordinators;
  • The programme is sustainable and economically viable with careful management, and authorities should consider targeting available funds to the most vulnerable children in their area.

Conclusion

The evaluation of the national child pedestrian training programme provides a positive report of a major field trial that operated in a variety of settings across England and Scotland. Specific account was taken to include authorities where the effects of rurality, ethnicity and social deprivation could be examined. The outcomes of the skills assessment component confirm the earlier findings of the Drumchapel pilot scheme, but this time in a larger and more disparate sample. This study has made a contribution to two approaches related to tackling inequalities. In relation to strengthening individuals, the study has demonstrated an increase in children’s pedestrian
skills, and has enhanced the range of volunteers’ skills in working with children and working more closely with schools. In relation to strengthening communities, the study has shown that it has been possible to recruit and retain a large number of community volunteers and strengthen their links with local schools and local authorities.

About the project

A range of quantitative and qualitative evaluation methods was used to capture the complexities of the project. These included telephone interviews and questionnaire surveys to co-ordinators and Road Safety Officers; questionnaires to volunteers; telephone interviews with head teachers and faceto-face interviews with project staff. Ten case study schools were randomly selected to illuminate issues related to deprivation, ethnicity and rurality. A pedestrian skills assessment of a randomly selected
sample of trained children and a matched sample of untrained children was conducted at the roadside before and immediately after training and again two months later. A cost-effectiveness investigation was also conducted.

Further information
The full report, Evaluation of the National Network of Child Pedestrian Training Pilot Projects by Kirstie Whelan, Elizabeth Towner, Gail Errington and Jane Powell, is published by the Department for Transport (ISBN 978 1 904763 84 0, price £43.00).

To order further free copies of these findings or the full report as a priced publication, contact: DfT Publications, tel: 0870 1226 236, textphone: 0870 1207 405, email: dftinf@capita.co.uk, or download a copy free of charge from www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/roadsafety/research/rsrr

If you would like to be informed in advance of forthcoming Road Safety Research Reports, please email: road.safety@dft.gsi.gov.uk

Although this research was commissioned by the Department for Transport, the findings and recommendations are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent the views of the DfT.