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Decision to cut road safety GCSE reversed

Road safety GCSE prepares students to be safe drivers

Cuts to funding for a GCSE course which teaches students road safety have been reversed.

Grants to schools to teach a GCSE in Motor Vehicle and Road User Studies were axed in 2023, alongside other swingeing cuts to education.

The Department for Instructure (DfI) had stopped providing textbooks and funding for schools to buy a moped to teach the subject.

But the Infrastructure Minister John O'Dowd has now reinstated the funding.

A male pupil at St Mark's High in Warrenpoint. He is wearing a helmet, has brown hair and wearing his school uniform - black blazer, white shirt blue tie, and black trousers. He is standing behind a black moped.
St Mark's High School pupil Cormac is among those taking the course

O'Dowd made the announcement during a visit to St Mark's High School in Warrenpoint, one of almost 60 schools in Northern Ireland to offer it for GCSE.

He said that young drivers were more likely to be affected by serious road traffic collisions and the GCSE helped "to prepare young people for making good road safety decisions".

As part of the GCSE pupils learn how to drive a moped.

As well as taking written exams, they are marked on how well and safely they can check and ride it.

Run by the Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA), the GCSE also teaches pupils about maintaining motor vehicles as well as the highway code and how to drive safely.

Matthew Blair (left) and Amy McCoy (right). Matthew has strawberry blonde hair, Amy has brown hair tied in a ponytail. Both are wearing their school uniform - black blazer, white shirt and blue tie - and high viz vests. They are in the school playground with the school building in the background.
Pupils Matthew and Amy both describe their enjoyment at learning to ride mopeds as part of the course

St Mark's High School has more than 1,000 pupils.

One pupil, Matthew, said learning to ride the moped was what attracted him to take the GCSE.

"I've come from a farming background so I've always sort of been around machines," he told BBC News NI.

"I just thought it would be a good subject to do.

"It's increased my knowledge of road safety - the recognition of road signs, speed limits and high risk areas of the road."

Amy said that learning to ride the moped was "an extremely enjoyable experience."

"It allowed us to increase our knowledge of and awareness of different road situations," she said.

"I hope it will help me, especially with my [driving] theory test."

The principal of St Mark's High School Aidan McGivern said that the subject was "something different",

"It's very practical, they're outside in all weathers," he said.

"They're learning skills and the rules of the road.

"It's something that they're going to carry with them for life.

"We all know that young people are keen to get on the road, they're keen to get out and they need to be safe."

'Essential life skills'

Getty Images Cones on the ground with a person driving a moped in the background.Getty Images
Chief examiner Eamonn McPolin hopes funding for the GCSE being re-instated will mean more schools will introduce it

Eamonn McPolin has taught Motor Vehicle and Road User Studies at GCSE for more than 20 years and is the chief examiner for the subject.

He is hoping that the funding for the GCSE being reinstated will mean more schools will introduce it.

"The funding will allow schools to purchase a moped which is needed to teach the practical aspect of the subject," he added.

"It very much focuses on vehicle control and road user behaviour which is essential life skills for pupils as they take to the roads."

Mr McPolin said he had been concerned that the cut to funding to schools for the GCSE meant that "road safety would suffer".

"If you don't have the practical aspect of the subject it loses its appeal for the students," he said.

"It is a two-year course, and the content does very much focus on road safety situations.

"This is one way of getting that very strong road safety message out through this subject."

Funding to schools for road safety workbooks and calendars were also cut by DfI in 2023.