Understanding the School Journey: Integrating Data on Travel and Environment

Abstract

Introduction and contextIn the developed world most children between the ages of 5 and 16 travel to and from school each weekday and, during term time, such trips comprise a significant amount of the total movement of people and vehicles that occurs in urban areas. For instance, travel for education accounted for some 6% of all journeys made in Britain in 2006; and for those under 17 this category represented 27% of all journeys (Department for Transport, 2006). Such movement has a wide range of social, economic, and environmental implications both for the individuals and families involved and for wider society. This paper uses an innovative combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques to integrate four sets of data: precise spatial information about journeys to and from school; modelled information on levels of air pollution during the school journey; qualitative data on interaction with the environment; and the factors affecting the choice both of routes and of modes of travel. Whereas other studies usually focus on only one or two of the above dimensions, the novelty of this project is the integration of spatial, social, and environmental data for over 600 journeys to and from school undertaken by a sample of thirty lower secondary school pupils over four time periods. In so doing, this paper contributes to contemporary debates about children's everyday travel and the health implications of exposure to traffic pollution.Research on the journey to and from school has expanded significantly in recent years, with contributions from a range of disciplines and relating to a variety of countries [for recent international reviews, see Davison et al (2008) and Sirard and Slater (2008)]. Such research has focused principally on five related areas, which

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