Road safety education : a paradoxical state for children in a rural primary school in South Africa

摘要

The study explores the response of rural primary school children to road safety education programmes.In this qualitative research project, we employed an interpretivist paradigm to investigate and understandchildren’s responses to road safety education in one school in the Moloto Village, Mpumalanga Province,South Africa. Drawing on various participatory activities done by the child participants, as well as nonparticipantobservation by the researchers through ‘photo voice’, the researchers posit their findings. Thekey finding is that the children theoretically know what to do when using the road as pedestrians but thatthey do not apply road safety rules as the community’s unsafe road use behaviour undermines all road safetyskills the children have learnt at school. The paradox between what the literature on road safety educationprescribes and what the national curriculum of South Africa promotes regarding road safety, and what thechildren apply in their daily lives, is apparent and noteworthy.