Cycling test

The cycling proficiency test , even bicycle testing , Swiss cycling test , marks the end of the road safety education in primary school and checks the safe handling of the bicycle in the road . It is divided into a theoretical and a practical part of the exam and usually takes place in the 4th grade.

Requirement profile

In addition to dealing with traffic as a pedestrian and acquiring the pedestrian diploma, which is often upstream , safe cycling in traffic demands that children have motor and technical control over the demanding means of transport, including its higher speed. It requires complex attention, much faster decisions and the knowledge and consideration of additional traffic rules. It makes sense to build cycling training on the knowledge and skills of a pedestrian. It initially takes place in protected areas outside the danger of real traffic, so that the learning and practicing child can gradually adjust to the increasing demands:

Up to the test, young cyclists should be able to master their bike to such an extent that they can keep their balance, steer, step on the pedals , regulate the speed, drive around bends, avoid obstacles and bumps, brake if necessary and observe the traffic situation, traffic signs and traffic regulations . One-armed driving with simultaneous directional display as well as observing and communicating with other road users is also part of this. These complex requirements, which for the most part have to be carried out at the same time and in combination, usually overwhelm children before the third year of school. Parents who do not know or disregard this endanger both their children and other road users negligently, even if the mandatory use of the sidewalks - if they exist at all - reduces the risk of danger.

In addition, as part of their training, the children learn how to set up their bikes in a roadworthy manner, to maintain them responsibly and to carry out minor repairs themselves, as well as to protect themselves from possible accidents ( bicycle helmet , defensive riding, etc.).

Purpose of the examination

So that the entertaining activities in the protected area do not get stuck in playful activity, so that the competition in the skill course, communication and cooperation and learning via quiz games and behavioral models also achieve practical relevance, the training must lead to learning controls . Thorough cycling training must be followed by a final examination that is objectively sensible and didactically mandatory:

This ensures in an objectifying way that the desired learning goals of road safety have actually been achieved by every child and at which point which child still has some catching up to do. The learning controls do not have the function of a selection, but should, if possible, lead to success with every child. They can be repeated any number of times if there are deficiencies. This procedure alleviates the immediate compulsion to succeed and does not represent a degradation of the individual child if a test does not (yet) succeed immediately. In addition, the learning controls can be organized in game form, similar to training. Passing the exam should make the child proud of their learning progress and confident in dealing with traffic.

Positioning in the curriculum

The traffic maturity of the young person develops from a safe pedestrian to an experienced cyclist to a responsible road user with a motor vehicle . A reflected, systematic structure of traffic education appropriately assigns the cycling training and cycling test their place only after passing a pedestrian test and before the motor driving test .

The traffic experts and the educational plans set the average traffic readiness of the child for the pedestrian test at the age of five to seven or for the first to second school year and provide for the cycling training and cycling test for the third to fourth school year at the earliest.

Although traffic education and cycling training are no longer the pedagogical focus in some education and orientation plans, z. For example, in the Bavarian upbringing and education plan, a separate chapter is devoted to “ safe behavior in road traffic ” and “ accident prevention ”, the undisputed importance of traffic education is hidden behind general formulations such as: “ The child's safety is a basic requirement for his or her education, upbringing and education Care, support. It is important in all activities, at all times and in every situation ... ”In a similar way, educational plans like that of Baden-Württemberg with their curriculum revisions have carried out a paradigm shift by giving priority to the development of core competencies and the method of the subject association the previously usual tight material specifications and subject assignments. This gives the individual school greater freedom of methodological design, but also an increased assumption of responsibility for traffic education.

realization

Cycling tests are now carried out nationwide in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. Dates for courses and exams are currently published in the press.

Germany

The main sponsors in Germany are the youth traffic schools and the state and local traffic guards and police stations that operate them . But also other non-profit associations, such as the youth red cross and schools, are committed to the qualification of young cyclists.

The Deutsche Verkehrswacht, the police headquarters and schools provide suitable facilities and traffic training areas as well as competent teachers for driving and motor skills training . Theoretical knowledge is imparted in special classrooms equipped with appropriate teaching materials. In the Federal Republic of Germany, around 800 so-called youth traffic schools have taken on this traffic education task. Stationary and mobile facilities regularly carry out cycling tests for volunteers (primarily children, young people and seniors) and reward them with badges, IDs, certificates and traffic-related benefits, such as participation in attractive events.

While the police, ADAC and traffic watch are able to impressively demonstrate accident scenarios with their means, the school traffic education has the technical framework and the didactic / methodical knowledge to organize cycling training and cycling tests in project form. For example, interested young people are given the opportunity to construct a tandem and learn to ride in a combination of technology and sports lessons. The best way to qualify the young cyclist for dangerous road traffic has proven to be the cooperation of school and extracurricular experts, which is sometimes also practiced in personal union.

Austria

In Austria, especially the youth traffic schools in various regions offer training to obtain a cycling license . It consists of a theoretical and a practical part of the training and, in addition to correct traffic behavior, also includes knowledge of appropriate protective equipment and the maintenance of the means of transport. Theoretical training is carried out in elementary schools or in self-study. The practical test is carried out by executive officers of the Federal Police . In Austria, the cycling license is an official document that is issued by the district administrative authority or the state police department . It entitles children from the age of ten to ride a bike on public roads without an adult. Although voluntary, the training is therefore very popular. At the Austrian Red Cross Youth (ÖJRK), around 86,000 children between the ages of 10 and 12 take part in the cycling tests offered every year.

Switzerland

In Switzerland, too, regular bike exams are offered, which are usually taken by children in the fifth grade. Traffic instructors systematically prepare the children for the bike test, which consists of theoretical and practical exercises. During the test, which is usually taken on a specified route in public transport, the children wear a luminous vest and a bicycle helmet. Alternatively, the test can also be taken in the form of completing a prepared traffic course. The parents and children concerned are offered follow-up training to remedy identified underperformance.

literature

Deutsche Verkehrswacht (Ed.): The bicycle training as an integrated part of the traffic education in the school . Bonn 1989.
German Road Safety Council (Hrsg.): From toys to means of transport . Bonn no year
Ministry for Culture, Youth and Sport Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): Education plan for elementary school 2004 . Stuttgart 2004.
Dieter Hohenadel: Cycling lessons in elementary school and youth traffic school . Braunschweig 1997.
Siegbert A. Warwitz: Traffic education from the child. Perceiving – playing – thinking – acting , 6th edition, Schneider-Verlag, Baltmannsweiler 2009. ISBN 978-3-8340-0563-2 .
Renate Zimmer: Documentation - mobility education and traffic education in the education plans for the elementary level . Bonn 2009.

Individual evidence

↑ https://www.bussgeldkatalog.org/fahrradpruefung/
↑ ^a ^b ^c Siegbert A. Warwitz: The systematic structure of traffic education . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child. Perceiving – playing – thinking – acting , 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009, pp. 72–75
^ German Road Safety Council (Ed.): From toys to means of transport . Bonn no year
^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: Learning objectives and learning controls in traffic education . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child. Perceiving - playing - thinking - acting . 6th edition. Baltmannsweiler 2009. pp. 23 and 26-28
^ Renate Zimmer: Documentation - mobility education and traffic education in the education plans for the elementary sector . Bonn 2009: Perceptual Skills p. 4, Motor Skills p. 5–7
^ Ministry of Culture, Youth and Sport Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): Education plan for elementary school 2004 . Stuttgart 2004: Learning area "People, Nature, Culture" p. 103 (pedestrians), p. 108 (cyclists)
↑ Dieter Hohenadel: cycling lessons in primary schools and youth traffic school . Braunschweig 1997
^ Siegbert A. Warwitz: The cycling test as a project . In: Ders .: Traffic education from the child. Perceiving – playing – thinking – acting , 6th edition, Baltmannsweiler 2009. pp. 250 ff
↑ Deutsche Verkehrswacht (Ed.): The cycling training as an integrated part of the traffic education in the school . Bonn 1989
↑ The bicycle license in Austria. Retrieved June 10, 2019 .
↑ The Swiss Bike Exam. Retrieved June 10, 2019 .