
Active school transport
Children are not moving enough today. Inspiring children to use active school travel, such as cycling or walking, increases physical activity. It also contributes to their learning and development, reducing environmental impact and improving road safety. We work with interventions to increase active school travel in an interdisciplinary research team funded by, among others, Vinnova. Together with children, parents and a number of experts from various authorities and organizations, we have developed a promotional recommendation for active school travel, where equal emphasis is placed on health benefits and road safety.
The problem of reduced physical activity – and our solution
Children's reduced physical activity is a public health problem of large proportions and was already referred to as a global inactivity pandemic in the early 2010s. Today, only about 20% of children and young people in Sweden reach the WHO's recommendation of 60 minutes of daily physical activity, and there is a decreasing trend. Active travel can effectively increase daily physical activity and by promoting future generations to become active road users, we can also increase the chances of reaching the climate goals in Agenda 2030. In addition, children's freedom of movement has decreased drastically in the last 50 years. Children and young people have the right to grow up in an environment where they can move freely, accept challenges, gradually expand their range of action and their independence.
For a number of years, we have worked with projects to get more children to walk and cycle to school. What is innovative in these school-based projects is basically a promotional approach as well as the integration of gamification, empowerment and educational tasks. This has been shown to increase students' motivation to change behavior and parents' involvement in the project, which in turn leads to increased sustainability. The integration of learning during the active school transports increases the motivation for schools to allocate time and resources to implement the project. A special effort has been made to increase active school transport during winter, when the demand for safety increases and the climate offers challenges in the form of snow, cold and slippery surfaces.
The project started in 2016 as a public health project in Luleå municipality and has since spread to several other municipalities in Sweden. The research carried out has so far resulted in several scientific publications.
Safe for parents, fun for kids and simple for teachers
If we summarize our research in the area, we have concluded that there are THREE core values and three target groups that need to be addressed in order to succeed with these types of interventions.
Safety for parents
Fun for kids
Simple for teachers
Safety for parents
Our research has shown that parents' concerns and social norms influence their choice of mode of transport. Parents are worried about the traffic and that their children will meet unpleasant people on the road. It is interesting, however, that parents' perception of prevailing social norms, i.e. parents' fear of social judgment existing around independent mobility for children has a very large influence on their choice of mode of transport to school. This means that if more children in the area use active travel, it is more likely that guardians will make the decision that their children should also walk or cycle to school. That children's freedom of movement should be strengthened is also in line with the transport policy goals and the Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Fun for kids
Gamification is a successful way to increase the motivation for children to cycle and go to school. By giving children tasks on the way to school and counting the number of active school trips, their involvement increased and they experienced it as both fun and educational. The children also became more alert and were more ready to learn when they arrived at school, above all because they had time to talk and socialize on the way. By pairing children who follow each other to school and implementing the intervention as a project, new relationships were built and the sense of community in the class increased. Allowing the children to participate and influence the implementation is also important for their commitment and motivation.
Easy for teachers
The school today has many areas of responsibility and it is difficult to get teachers to undertake additional tasks. Through the project connecting tasks in the form of assignments to the students that are taken from the curriculum, it becomes natural to integrate the project into the daily activities. It is also important to create easy access to materials both for teaching and for parent meetings, and therefore a teacher portal has been created. Our research in the field shows that the teachers who have tried this way of working find it effective, simple and fun and that they would like to continue with it in the future.
National recommendation for active school travel
Together with 15 other authorities and organizations, Luleå University of Technology has developed a national recommendation for active school travel. It is aimed at children, parents, schools, traffic and community planners and road authorities. A child impact assessment has been carried out to ensure that the recommendation is based on the best interests of children. To spread the recommendation, we have written a national debate article and participated in media.
The researchers' proposal for a national recommendation:
For children and parents:
We recommend that children use active travel (e.g. walking or cycling), all year round, for all or part of the way to and from school from the preschool class onwards, based on both environmental and health perspective. This should be done in a safe way together with an adult for the purpose of learning about the traffic environment, but can eventually be done in the company of other children or independently based on the child and guardian jointly assessing the child's ability in relation to the current traffic environment.
For community stakeholders such as schools, road authorities, traffic and community planners:
We recommend that schools encourage students to make active and safe journeys to and from school. It is recommended that the needs of children and their conditions for active and safe travel to school are taken into account in:
- Urban planning for walking and cycling, planning of walking and cycling networks, and in the location of schools and other important destinations for children and young people.
- Decisions on speed limits in and outside urban areas.
- Decisions on the design of infrastructure where children are actively traveling.
- Decisions on quality levels and prioritizing the operation and maintenance of all infrastructure where children are active.
- Deciding to allocate public land and streets for attractive bicycle parking and reasonable car parking, so that those arriving on foot or by bicycle can do so in a safe way.

Publikationer
- Making the right decision for our children’s future: Parents’ perceptions of active school transport in disadvantaged neighborhoods
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- One should really be more worried about too little physical activity than injuries while walking or cycling to school. Parents’ perception of risk concerning active school transportation
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- Children´s intervention participation is associated with more positive beliefs towards active school transport among parents
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- Development and Initial Validation of the PILCAST Questionnaire: Understanding Parents’ Intentions to Let Their Child Cycle or Walk to School
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- Adapting the behavioral regulation in active commuting to and from school questionnaire in Sweden: BR-ACS(SWE).
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- It’s about being the good parent: exploring attitudes and beliefs towards active school transportation
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- Long-Term Perspectives of a School-Based Intervention to Promote Active School Transportation
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- Active School Transportation in Winter Conditions: Biking Together is Warmer
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- Children’s motivation overcame parental hesitation: active school transportation in Sweden
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- One Step Forward: Development of a Program Promoting Active School Transportation
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- Active School Transportation is an Investment in School Health
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- A reusable multiplayer game for promoting active school transport: Development study.
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- Initial Design and Testing of Multiplayer Cooperative Game to Support Physical Activity in Schools
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- The Praise and Price of Pokémon Go – a qualitative study of Children´s and Parent´s Experiences
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Films
- Lets gå trama på
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Film aimed at parents. Watch the movie on Vimeo. - Step by step guide - get started right away
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Watch the movie on Vimeo. - Active school transport - an example to increase physical activity
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The government's committee for increased physical activity highlights good examples. Watch the movie on Youtube. - I'm moving forward
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Why should you as a teacher participate in "I'm moving forward", how do you get started and what do the children really think? Watch the movie on Vimeo. - Active school transportation 5 steps
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Here you will find out how it works, step by step. Watch the movie on Vimeo. - Active school transport
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Film aimed at politicians and the public. Watch the movie on Vimeo.
In the media
A selection of some of the articles, features and other items published about the project.
- Park the car and explore the alternatives - a pod created by Vinnova about our project
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To achieve the climate goals for the transport sector, technical solutions such as electrification and renewable fuels are not enough. We also need to change our behavior to make travel sustainable. How do we do that? - Children are not the problem
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With the help of researchers, Cykelfrämjandet has produced a brochure for increased cycling by children. - SVT news "The research goal - most children should walk or cycle to school
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Feature in SVT news about the project SICTA 2.0 Active school transport. - Extrakt: How to get more children to cycle or walk to school
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An article in Formas magazine "Extrakt" about our project. - Radio broadcast with Anna-Karin about the SICTA 2.0 active school transport project.
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- Interview in Cykelcentrum VTI
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- "If I go by car, I sit still, so when I get to school I might be excited
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Swedish YLE. - Unique project - here children cycle all year round
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SVT Norrbotten
"I'm moving forward"
- Jag tar mig framåt
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Luleå municipality's website for the project, where teachers, parents and children can find good information about the project.
Project website
Read more about the project at www.aktivaskoltransporter.se External link, opens in new window.
Contact
Anna-Karin Lindqvist
- Associate Professor
- 0920-493986
- anna-karin.lindqvist@ltu.se
- Anna-Karin Lindqvist
Stina Rutberg
- Associate Professor, Third-Cycle Programmes Coordinator
- 0920-493225
- stina.rutberg@ltu.se
- Stina Rutberg
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