Possibilities of General Education Subjects in the Development of Personal Mobility in High School Students

Abstract

The need for an up-to-date system of personal mobility development that is limited to the formal education context has been stimulated by a rapid shift in the social conditions of high school students. It is argued that the development of young people’s self-reliance in personal mobility should be seen as an integral part of their broader independent everyday mobility. Furthermore, it is recommended that personal and independent mobility be improved to reduce reliance on parental support systems. The key element of a possible personal mobility developing education is independently planned and implemented safe individual everyday mobility, learning by doing in practice. However, current general educational subjects are not seen as being able to contribute to such education and should be improved accordingly. Lately, the circumstances of the daily living environment of high school students who move from home to school and vice versa have changed significantly. New high schools have been built on the outskirts of cities, and the number of students traveling to distant schools has increased considerably. Designated transport services (using school buses or cars) provided by municipalities to ease commuting have usually been put into practice in every high school. However, parents mostly must take care of transport. Moreover, combined mobility using different transport means is commonplace. Such changes in everyday mobility have influenced both the development and the capability of personal mobility. Before, the everyday mobility of young people was based on the independent use of walking or cycling, which is essential for gaining personal mobility. The transport model of high school students heavily relying on parental support to ease mobility is something completely new. Poor walking and cycling skills have been detected in high school students, which indicates a lack of affordability. Moreover, the role of general education subjects commonly seen as having excellent possibilities for developing personal mobility skills is extremely limited. Various developmental skills are at stake in the research of personal mobility, such as taking care of one’s own safety in transport, organizing freedom of movement, and understanding the need of keeping transport sustainable. Such basic mobility skills should be integrated into broader everyday mobility skills. General education subjects in the development of personal mobility are at stake, such as physical education, civics and ethics, geography, biology, and arts.