Two new "how to" kits have been produced for Queensland's school bus drivers to manage student behaviour and take some
Two new “how to” kits have been produced for Queensland’s school bus drivers to manage student behaviour and take some of the stress out of their work.
Transport Minister John Mickel says a new DVD addressing typical unsafe behaviour, and a resource kit for managing student behaviour, would support drivers as they ferry 150,000 students to and from school each day.
“Queensland has had, for many years, Australia’s most comprehensive Code of Conduct for School Students Travelling on Buses, which protects the interests of the vast majority of well-behaved students,” he claims.
“The Code provides a very transparent process for dealing with the management of student behaviour on a uniform basis across the State. It identifies categories of misbehaviour and establishes the circumstances and the period of time that offending students can be put off a school bus.
“Queensland Transport and Education Queensland have now finalised these new resources to support bus operators and schools with the management of student behaviour on buses,” Mickel says.
The Minister says the new resources, including a DVD which addresses typical unsafe behaviour, will be made available, on request, to all school bus operators and schools.
“It’s called the Code of Conduct for School Students Travelling on Buses and Managing Student Behaviour on School Buses and is designed as a support package for drivers to show them how to handle particular situations and how to promote safe behaviour by students,” he says.
“Our school bus drivers have a vital and very responsible duty and they do a fantastic job every school term.
“But children are children, and they do sometimes play up, making the driver’s task all that tougher. This support kit has been designed by experts to arm the drivers with the information they need to properly deal with situations that come up on board the bus,” Mickel says.
The entire package, including the DVD, was produced jointly by Queensland Transport and the Department of Education, Training and the Arts, with input from the Queensland Police Service and school bus operators.
“The DVD depicts separate events occurring on school buses and then analyses the way in which the driver and the bus company should act in each case. It also shows the role of the school, police, and most importantly the parents,” Mickel says.
He says the second of the new resources is called The Code Zone Resource Pack, which is designed to further reinforce secondary school student’s understanding of the Code of Conduct for School Students Travelling on Buses.
“It follows on from the highly successful Really Cool Bus Rules Pack on safe bus travel that was developed for primary school students,” Mickel explains.
“The safety of our school children is a paramount concern for the government, as it is for the entire community, and statistically the safest way a child can travel to and from school is by school bus.”
Further information is available at www.transport.qld.gov.au/buscode