THE USE OF EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE OF ROAD SAFETY EDUCATION “THE CHARIOT OF THE SUN” IN TEACHING: TEACHERS’ BEHAVIOURAL, NORMATIVE AND CONTROL BELIEFS

There is a continuing need for road safety education in Greece. According to Greek Government more than 28.000 people were injured in road accidents in Greece in 2007 and more than 1.700 of them fatally. This study aimed to identify and measure teachers’ behavioural, normative and control beliefs regarding their use of educational software of road safety education “The Chariot of the Sun” in their teaching.
This software was developed over a twenty-six month period from September 1999 until November 2001 in the University of Athens. It was aimed at a target group of 8-13 year-olds and was intended to provide teachers and students with information, interaction and activities to stimulate learning about road safety. “The Chariot of the Sun” includes two main parts to raise road safety awareness, enhance knowledge regarding street signs, influence pupils’ attitudes and behaviours and to provide opportunities to integrate road safety into the curriculum of primary and secondary education.
The model used in the study was Ajzen’s Theory of Planned Behaviour. Data on beliefs were collected from 228 primary school teachers who were enrolled by the University of Athens (Faculty of Primary Education) in order to attend specific training programme. The results were analysed using descriptive statistics and Pearson correlations.
The majority of teachers reported very positive beliefs towards using the software and many of these beliefs were strongly associated with their intention. Behavioural beliefs on “using the Chariot of the Sun in teaching” identified by teachers included “it will help students to develop projects”, “it will help pupils work with one another”, “it will enrich my pupils’ knowledge for the road safety”. Head teacher, school counsellor, parent’s association and Ministry of Education were among teachers’ normative beliefs related to the use of the Chariot of the Sun in their teaching. Control factors that would facilitate the use of the Chariot of the Sun included “the availability of a sufficient number of laptops”, “access to the Internet”, “sufficient training opportunities on the pedagogical use of ICT”. The results of the study are discussed in terms of increasing the intention of teachers to use ICT in their teaching.