Abstract

There is no road safety education teacher (RSET) specialization in Poland. Therefore, it is problematic to establish the level of competencies of teachers who conduct tasks in this scope, as well as forms and content of their professional training, especially for elementary schools’ teachers where road safety education (RSE) is mainly conducted in Poland. There are no criteria which a teacher could relate to while developing programmes, materials and educational scenarios for RSE. It also concerns forms of professional training of future RSET and complementary training.

In order to propose solutions concerning better preparation of teachers for road safety tasks realization in Polish schools, it is important to test how own skills and professional qualifications are perceived by the teachers who conduct RSE. The author carried out study regarding different aspects of RSET professional training (RSET competencies: own qualifications’ evaluation and improvement, motivation to improve skills and work quality, knowledge sources; realization of RSE: practical and additional classes; RSET expectations and barriers: towards pedagogical supervision, RSE content evaluation in the education core curriculum) in order to work with students in elementary schools in Mazovian voivodship. The study was conducted with Computer-Assisted Telephone Interview method, among 10% of the RSET population in the voivodship.

The obtained results indicated the necessity to undertake actions improving the effectiveness of RSE in elementary schools and improving the professional training of RSET to conduct RSE.

The most important aspects which contribute to better professional training of RSET to conduct RSE include: verification of skills and qualifications, undertaking actions promoting the significance of RSE, preparation of professional training forms for RSET at different levels of education with elements of road safety knowledge and didactics, motivation of teachers to improve professional qualifications and activity in RSE, rationalisation of RSE counselling.