BringaAkadémia - The Hungarian safety cycling educational program

Every children loves cycling, but majority of them are not acquainted with the basic rules of road for cyclists.

Vuelta Ltd. (the company behind BringaAkadémia program) is dealing with safety cycling education since 2004. In the first 4 years we have implemented ‘cycling project days’ in dozens of primary schools bringing there our bikeability track and giving lessons about safety cycling in the classrooms. In 2008 we had been asked by the government commissioner for cycling of Ministry of Economy and Transport (Ádám Bodor, he is currently the Advocacy and EuroVelo director of the European Cyclists` Federation) to develop and implement a safety cycling educational program in Hungary as a pilot project, based on Western European best practices, focusing on practicing with the pupils, to improve their cycling skills. During the successfulpilot program in spring 2008, we have tested the program in 18 primary schools. Since then the program has been implemented in all together more than 70 Hungarian primary schools.

In 2013 we had been asked by the Office of Education (Oktatási Hivatal) to develop the curriculum of an optional subject for primary schools in the field of safety cycling, based on our previous experience. The curriculum (called BringaAkadémia) has been certified by the competent state secretary of Ministry of Human Capacities, so it can be chosen as an optional subject in the primary schools (3-4th and 5-6th class). In addition we have developed a training for trainers course for teachers, in order to prepare them for safety cycling education. The curriculum consists both of theoretical and practical knowledge, and aims to teach the pupils ride their bikes in a safe way. Unfortunately there are few primary schools that have chosen BringaAkadémia optional subject, so we have find other ways to reach our most important goal: to teach more and more children to ride their bike in a safe and self-confident way. To reach the goal theoretical and practical skills are both needed, so the methodology of BringaAkadémia have been developed to cover these kind of needs, so there are various forms of education target to reach the goal:
• interactive lessons for the pupils,
• ’cycling days’ in primary schools,
• voluntary lessons in the afternoons,
• cycling education built in other subjects (for eg. PE).

With the BringaAkadémia interactive lessons we prepare the children for safety cycling by teaching them the most important rules of road. The main issues are the following (in 45 minutes):
• the compulsory equipments of a bicycle according to the law,
• bike check before cycling,
• where to cycle (and where not);
• visibility on bicycle;
• rules of right-of-way.
BringaAkadémia interactive lessons usually are included in ’cycling days’ in primary schools, and the children participating at the lessons get a booklet, contaning the most important theoratical knowledge.

The BringaAkadémia optional subject aims to teach all the theoretical and practical knowledge in 64 lessons in 3-4th and 5-6th class of primary schools. The structure of the subject is the following:
• Theoretical issues: rules of road for cyclists, bicycle check, basis of cycle touring
• Practical issues: development of cycling skills in a safe area, then practicing in quiet roads

Without preparing there is no professional knowledge, so the aim of the BringaAkadémia 30-hour-long accredited training for trainers program is to prepare primary school teachers for safety cycling education – both theoratical and practical education. The three-day-long training is open for all primary school teachers. Since 2014 more than 300 teachers have been participating at the trainings in Hungary.
Our other training for trainers program have been developed for preparing teachers for cycling tours with children. The training focuses on practical skills needed for leading a bicycle tour (rules of road for cyclists, preparing for a cycling tour, planning a cycling tour, first-aid skills, orientation, etc.). Since 2018 more then 500 teachers have been participating at the trainings in Hungary.

Our programs, events and booklets have reached ten thousands of children, and hundreds of primary school teachers were prepared for safety cycling education and for leading cycling tours for the pupils. Even though safety cycling education could not spread nationwide, so we had to find other ways to boost it, first by identifying the problems occuring in education, for example lack of educational materials.

From 2015 till 2018 we have been running an Erasmus+ project with a Romanian, an Austrian and a Dutch partner to improve our curriculum and professional skills, getting acquainted with safety cycling educational programs of the project partners and the trends in cycling also to have more experience about the whole issue. The project has resulted the BringaAkadémia Mentors’ Handbook and the BringaAkadémia Workbook for pupils (a booklet that can be used in primary schools in safety cycling education).

The greatest impact of our work in the last years was that we could call attention for the importance of safety cycling at the highest levels of the Hungarian government. After introducing the Safe4Cycle project, and its intellectual outputs, Máriusz Révész, government commissioner for cycling and active leisure, in August 2017 initiated to form a task force to complete the Workbook and the Mentors’ Handbook with the rules for pedestrians. The task force has been formed of the Office of the government commissioner, the Institute for Transport Sciences (KTI), the Commission on Prevention of Accidents of the Hungarian Police (ORFK-OBB), the Hungarian Cyclists’ Club and Vuelta SA. The completion of the materials has been coordinated and finished by Tamás Abelovszky (Vuelta SA) and Tamás Berta (KTI) in 2018, and has been named ‘Közlekedő kisokos’. Thanks to the help of the Government commissioner and the KTI the completed Safe4Cycle Workbook was delivered to all the 4th and 5th class students in November 2018 (all together 200 000 copies).