Practices and perceptions of introductory OHS education in secondary schools: towards a conceptual framework for effective OHS education for young workers.

Abstract

Background. Despite the evidence of significant under-reporting, young workers are over-represented in injury statistics. Possible reasons for higher injury rates include lack of skill due to inexperience, cognitive and emotional immaturity, inadequate training and supervision, and unfamiliarity with working requirements and safe operating procedures. This may also include incomplete physical development for physically demanding work and unsafe behaviours due to peer pressure or risk-taking tendencies. There is a body of evidence indicating an association between occupational health and safety (OHS) training and a lower incidence of workplace injuries, but other research indicates that young workers often receive little or no training. The limited knowledge among young people about workplace hazards, together with inconsistency in the provision of workplace OHS training indicate a need for introductory OHS education in schools. Ideally such education should be complementary to that provided in workplaces, in the community and in the home by parents. Key informants of the situation in schools are the teachers themselves. However, teacher perspectives, as well as parent perspectives have received little attention in the literature. In order to contextualise the issues, as part of the preliminary work of this research, a statistical review of young worker injury experience over a ten year period in South Australia was undertaken. A significantly higher rate of injury among young males was found, along with higher rates for 15-19 year olds compared with 20-24 year old workers. An international literature review of school-based OHS education programs was carried out, which revealed a shortage of evaluation studies. The literature review was then extended to systematically examine workplace-based training in the hospitality and food retailing sectors, where a high proportion of young people are employed. The findings suggested the importance of relevance, co-learning, and mode of delivery of training particularly participatory engagement. It is evident that there are significant knowledge gaps, not only about the elements of effective OHS education, but also how they are seen (perspectives) and operationalized (practices) by the various stakeholders. Thus the objectives of the research are twofold: Firstly, to survey current school-based introductory OHS teaching practices as well as the perspectives of teachers and parents: Secondly, to analyse and synthesize the findings and ideas to develop a conceptual framework for effective OHS education for young workers. Methods. A mixed methods approach was used – namely a questionnaire survey of teachers and interviews with parents. Following focus group discussions with teachers and school-to-work advisors, a questionnaire was developed. The participants of the survey comprise teachers from all public, independent and catholic schools providing secondary education in South Australia (n=211). Questions on current practice, teachers’ perceptions and barriers and incentives were included. Potential predictors of effective safety education were examined, and were grouped in terms of teacher-, school- and teaching-related variables. Bivariate and multivariate statistical analyses were undertaken with SPSS. Telephone interviews with parents of year 11 students were carried out, with recruitment via information in school newsletters. The participants were invited to respond to a series of semi-structured questions relating to parents’ perceptions, opinions, views and expectations on the OHS education provided by their child’s school. The transcribed data were analysed with NVivo to identify themes, patterns and contents. Results. Teacher questionnaire survey. Responding teachers (n=156) had a variety of backgrounds and experiences with an average of 21 years of teaching experience and 9 years of experience teaching OHS. They also taught subjects from all areas of the curriculum. Almost half (48%) of the teachers came from the pool of general teachers with various responsibility including teaching other mainstream subjects. Sixteen percent (16%) of teachers providing OHS education had not been trained in OHS. Despite there being State guidelines and resource materials, a variety of approaches was reported. OHS education is commonly delivered in years 11 and 12 as part of VET subjects or apprenticeship training. More generally it is delivered to year 10 students prior to work placements, at the beginning of the year or term. Almost 90% of teachers taught OHS for less than 10 hours per year. The majority of teachers gave tests or assignments for which successful completion was required prior to work placements. Three quarters of teachers considered the content both accessible and appropriate for the developmental level and capabilities of most students. Some of the respondents commented that teaching materials often contained too much information specifically related to theory and legislation, resulting in poor student response. In terms of the usefulness of resources, guest lecturers were given the highest rating. More than half of the teachers (56%) who indicated negative or mixed responses from students, suggested that students find OHS education “boring”, “dull” or “dry” from too much information and text, particularly that relating to theory and legislation. Reported barriers to OHS education were limited time availability due to the demands of a ‘crowded curriculum’, resource issues and lack of consistency. The age of teachers (>45 years), years of overall teaching and years of teaching occupational safety were significantly associated with positive student response. It was also found that there are significant associations between (i) use of videos and students’ knowledge gain; (ii) use of case studies and student engagement and participation (in public schools only) and (iii) years of overall teaching and teachers reporting the concepts as easy to teach. On the other hand, sharing own experience was negatively associated with positive student response. The results of multivariate analyses involving the outcomes relating to effective learning and teaching show that there were significant association between use of videos and gain of knowledge by students (adjusted odds ratio, 2.94), public sector school (AOR, 2.60) and use of case studies (AOR, 2.17) with student engagement and participation. There was also a strong association, though not statistically significant, between years of teaching experience (more than 20 years) (AOR, 3.04) and positive student response. The teachers who reported that the quality of education is compromised due to other demands were less likely (AOR = 0.48) to report the concepts as easy to teach. Parents’ interviews Parents (n=11) were largely unaware of any school-based preparatory OHS program. Some of them were aware about safety education as part of the relevant subjects in schools. Parents’ views about OHS focused on common sense and safe work practices. Parents thought OHS meant wearing appropriate footwear, school uniform, goggles, hat, clothing and other personal protective equipment (PPE). They seemed to be unsure if the present school OHS education had any effect on their acquiring knowledge and skills for safety in work settings. A few parents said that incorporation of OHS into the curriculum is important, but it should be precise and specific, so that their children need not spend a lot of time on this, and that it does not detract from their primary objective of having effective mainstream education. From parents’ perspectives, the people who are in best placed to provide OHS education were not necessarily teachers. However, they acknowledged that teachers could be the providers if they had the required knowledge and training. Concerns were expressed regarding inadequate training of teachers who deliver OHS education in their child’s school. On the basis of the quotations and data, parents had a very narrow and common-sense view of what OHS is which is not in line with the view of teachers. Although parents seemed disinterested in OHS education in schools, they did care about their child’s safety at school, both in the class room in relevant subjects, and on school premises, and in workplaces. Discussion and Implications. Time constraints and the lack of standardization were the two most commonly identified challenges by the teachers engaged in the provision of OHS education. Development of a standard set of guidelines may assist in addressing both of these challenges. In terms of teaching methods, the survey, and other studies, suggests that those that are engaging, interactive and face-to-face are most effective. Although parents admitted that they knew very little about their child’s school’s OHS initiatives, they are an important influence on their children’s learning experience and they are the dominant force in the lives of these children as they prepare for future work. Consequently addressing parents’ understanding is an important aspect of effective learning for students. A little less than half (44%) of teachers indicated that students responded positively to OHS education and this may result in a positive change in safety behaviours. However, further work is needed to validate this prediction – i.e. direct investigation with the students and carefully designed research to understand the effect of the OHS education on the students’ actual OHS behaviour in workplace situations. It is also important that future OHS education initiatives be subject to rigorous evaluation. The findings have implications for the way OHS education in the schools is delivered. It is evident from the findings that the concepts of OHS education may vary according to the stakeholder. In addition to addressing community expectations, there is a possibility that the programs would need to be tailored to address the perspectives of different stakeholders. In addition, there should be a partnership between schools and industry, such that knowledge and skills introduced at school are complemented and reinforced in the workplace. The findings from the reviews and empirical research lead to a conceptual framework. The framework specifies key contributors to OHS education and their inter-relationships. It describes effective education principles for young people, such as relevance, assessment and self-efficacy, but adapted to the time course of physical and psychosocial development, and the learning opportunities in the school and workplace environments. The framework identifies the need for an evidence-based and socially acceptable standard of OHS education to deliver by schools to students at the age of first entry in the workplace. Such a standard can provide a foundation for future training based in the workplace, but should be informed by parent perspectives, and may require additional teacher training. It should facilitate progressive learning from primary school through to professional and vocational education sectors.