The impact of fire drill sessions on teachers and pupils at secondary level : focus on Maltese governmental schools

Abstract

Over the past decade, the need for more awareness on Health and Safety in Governmental schools was felt, and in turn a Health and Safety Unit was set up for these schools. Each Governmental school has a number of selected Health and Safety teachers who educate and raise awareness on Health and Safety. Part of their awareness is conducting fire drill sessions to prepare teachers, staff members and pupils in case of fire and explosion emergencies. But how does this learning impact on teachers and pupils? Hence, the aim of this study was to find out about the impact that fire drill sessions are having on pupils and teachers. The data collection was carried out through two separate questionnaire-based surveys, one amongst a representative sample of Form 4 pupils and the other with secondary school teachers. Furthermore, telephone interviews were also conducted with a sample of B.Ed (Hons) University students who at the time were carrying out their teaching practice in schools. The major findings which emerged from this study were quite positive. It seems that fire drill sessions are having a positive impact on pupils and their teachers. They seemed to have acquired the necessary knowledge regarding fire safety and hold a positive attitude towards this issue. However pupils need to be further instructed about correct procedures that must be followed in case of an emergency and a sense of responsibility needs to be instilled. Teachers felt that they are not being adequately trained, thus the need of more training for teachers was recommended. Furthermore, the researcher also recommends that some fire drills must be conducted with the fire brigade and a monitoring system should be applied. Unfortunately, this study indicated that University B.Ed (Hons) students, studying to become secondary school teachers, are not being given any training regarding fire drills. Thus, the researcher recommends that Health and Safety should be offered as a compulsory studying credit to all student teachers.