Road safety is a critical consideration for Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services, extending beyond supervision to everyday practices that influence children and families.
Services play an important role in promoting safe behaviours, including safe arrival and departure routines, effective car park management, and ensuring children are transported safely in appropriate child car seats.
Establishing clear expectations with families, such as using appropriate child car seats, where to park, how to navigate service environments, and never leaving children unattended in vehicles, supports a shared commitment to safety. Embedding these expectations into orientation processes enables consistent messaging and supports educators to confidently address unsafe practices when they arise.
The Starting Out Safely program, delivered by Early Learning Association Australia (ELAA) on behalf of the Transport Accident Commission, supports services to integrate road safety education into their curriculum while strengthening family engagement. The program offers free, evidence-informed professional development, including embedding road safety education into curriculum for all early childhood services.
Free specialised training on the safe transportation of children is also available for family day care educators and organisations that transport children as part of their operations.
Professional learning is delivered by highly regarded sector experts including Catharine Hydon, Karen Glancy, Gilda Howard and Jenny Voogt, ensuring strong alignment with contemporary pedagogy and practical application within service settings.
A wide range of free resources are also available, including road safety and safe transport policies for both centre-based and family day care services, along with educator and parent materials in over 20 languages. For kindergarten programs, the popular ThingleToodle sessions provide an engaging way to reinforce key road safety messages, with eligibility linked to completion of professional development within the past three years.
All program activities, training, and resources are fully funded. Services can access materials, register for professional learning, and find further information at the Starting Out Safely Program website. Additional multilingual child car seat resources, including a video developed with the Royal Children's Hospital Melbourne, are available at Car Seats Save Lives.
For further information, services are encouraged to visit the Starting Out Safely website or contact the RSE program team directly on rse@elaa.org.au.
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