School concentration and school travel

The purpose of the research as described in this Doctor’s thesis is twofold. Firstly it is to define in how far Dutch facilities for primary and secondary education were subjected to spatial concentration during recent decades. Secondly it is intended to assess what this concentration implied for the development of the minimum necessary travel distances to school, with its consequences for school choice and for school travel mode use. The phenomenon of ‘school concentration’ is explored and defined in its different shapes. Concentration may occur at the level of school authorities (fewer authorities), at the level of school institutions (fewer schools), at the level of school locations (fewer locations) and that of curricula (fewer locations with a certain curriculum). Only locations and curricula are relevant from the perspective of travel and transport. Developments leading to school concentration and partly to school concentration policies are described. A gradual reduction of the scale of schools by declining birth rates and population densities are relevant factors, but these are becoming acute especially by problems in government finance, like these were occurring during the 1980’s. In the Netherlands the spatial density of education facilities is remarkably high, no doubt stimulated by the freedom of education. This principle implies that education is supplied as much as is feasible along different lines of theology and teaching systems. Under pressure of interested parties, school concentration during the 1990’s was moderated for the countryside by relatively low minimum pupil number norms. There VMBO school concentration was of a modest volume as well. Crucial for the degree of physical concentration though, was the opportunity for school institutions to continue supply at locations of institutions that were dissolved by amalgamation with a second one. Research into regional school concentration of secondary education in the Provinces of Groningen and Friesland shows that the number of school authorities was reduced by about 75%, not by the desire to create larger school authorities, but because the number of school institutions was reduced to the same degree. Of the original locations, more than half are left though. Most important for the distances to be bridged by the pupils was the expansion of the supply of curricula at several rural locations. At these former VMBO-T schools, basic education on the higher HAVO and VWO levels was introduced. This serves the interests both of the pupils concerned and of the central institution, having an advanced base in the competition for pupils. The city of Sneek Bogerman College is a characteristic case. In a more urbanised region like the Alblasserwaard/Vijfheerenlanden the longer term development is one of a remarkable increase of the density of HAVO and VWO supply. Research into regional school concentration in primary education (Province of Friesland) shows that large school authorities were created, especially for the locally relatively small Liberated-Reformed and Roman-Catholic denominations, but for other denominations as well. This development was most likely incited by the budgetary responsibility of authorities that was introduced. Historical explorations of the development of the regional set of institutions in parts of the Province led to the conclusion that public education, once explicitly ‘general Christian’ in character, was ousted greatly by Protestant-Christian education. In the face of the general decline in religious participation this is harrowing. In some Municipalities this process has proceeded that much that municipal government might use the strongly reduced opportunity for the founding of new schools to the advantage of public education. School concentration in primary education was applied mostly to middle sized cities. The city of Zwijndrecht was the subject of a case study in this local school concentration. There one third of the existing institutions was dissolved. The capacity of the buildings of the remaining institutions was insufficient to accommodate the pupils concerned though. The Ministry of Education did not provide the means to adapt these however. Instead, it transferred the responsibility for school accommodations and the available yearly budget for this purpose to the Municipalities. This development led to continuation of education at many old locations in cities throughout the country, being positive for supply of the various denominations and for the distances to be travelled by the pupils. The perspective for the continuity of these locations is not without uncertainty though, because the Municipality may use the available means for other than education purposes. It has an obligation to keep school edifices in repair, but it may neglect this duty that much, that constructing new buildings may become financially more attractive. This is not unlikely to incite the construction of buildings for more than one school institution, a school cluster with maybe additional child related facilities in a so-called ‘broad school’. This ‘postponed school concentration’ does imply an increase of minimum necessary travel distances after all, since school choice is decided in considerable degree by travel distance and the desire to avoid crossing major roads. As school authorities, Municipalities might even choose to dissolve school institutions for reasons of economising on the cost of buildings in spite of the provision of financial means for both education and school precincts. Clustering of school locations is not a new phenomenon. A dedicated exploratory study showed that many Municipalities constructed school clusters in new neighbourhoods. In so-called major ‘VINEX’-neighbourhoods, counting several thousands of dwellings, these clusters may cause concentrations of more than 1,500 pupils with a home-to-school distance inviting car use. This will cause problematic traffic conditions around the schools. The increase of school travel distance as a consequence of school concentration policies was less spectacular than might have been expected. Locally it may be called worrying though, both in town and countryside. This concerns both a potential ‘wrong’ school choice and time losses as well as the potential danger of longer home-to-school journeys. The concept of ‘reasonable distance’ as applied in our country and in neighbouring ones for decision making on founding of schools and/or providing school transport is subjected to a conceptual analysis. The amount of time spent on the journey to school proves to a factor in decisions on the first subject, but the safety of school routes is a factor in decisions on school travel in fact. It is obvious though to apply both to school location founding and closure. We propose to grant the school a travel time budget for the school journeys of its pupils. This budget should be the product of minimum school size in pupil numbers and of maximum individual travel time. If an existing school would exceed this budget, for instance by the addition of a number of pupils of a closed school location, either continuation of the use of that location or faster school transport should be considered. For one urban Municipality we tried to explain school choice from 22 available locations for primary education, knowing a number of characteristics of the pupils, locations and the travel itineraries from their homes to their schools. Of the schools, the relative quality of education was known, but not the ‘school climate’. The outcome, being a micro-economic model, proves to be in interesting opportunity to objectify often misty discussions on this subject. Home-to-school travel behaviour with regard to distance and travel mode were subjected to an analysis utilising the databases of the MON, being the Dutch national travel survey. This analysis shows that in 2006 pupils in primary education travelled a 10% longer mean distance to school than in 1995. The result for secondary education is roughly similar. These developments cannot be related unambiguously to the concentration tendencies in different types of area. It seems that part of the increase in distances is related to the choice of a more attractive school than the nearest one of the desired type. In primary education, cycling to school is more or less constant over time with a share of about 40%. Walking to school is decreasing gradually, being less than 30% nowadays. More than 25% of the children are brought by car. In secondary education, cycling is as dominant as it used to be, being the only independent mechanised transport available up to the age of 16. There is a certain shift to bus transport though. These developments could not be related to the different degrees of school concentration in areas with different degrees of urbanisation. These developments in school travel behaviour were compared with those in the Belgian ‘Community’ of Flanders for the period of 1994 to 2000, utilising the databases of the OVG, being the Flanders national travel survey. Flanders did not develop school concentration policies during this period. An increase in distances travelled for going to school was not found. Yet car use for this trip purpose increased to about 50%. In contrast to The Netherlands a substantial part of the pupils are brought to school by car (some 20%), in spite of better facilities for bus transport, as compared to the northern neighbours. Even more pronounced i.s the difference in cycling by girls in secondary education. Dutch girls are participating in cycling to primary school and secondary school in numbers similar to those of the boys. Flemish girls do so in primary education, but in secondary education they hardly do. This is a distinctly cultural feature. Evidently, over-concerned Flemish parents forbid their daughters to take the bike. Yet traffic safety and especially biking facilities are less highly developed then in The Netherlands. Summarising one may conclude that school concentration in Dutch primary and secondary education since 1980 caused a modest increase in home-to-school distances only. The new opportunity to continue the use of school satellites was no doubt helpful in restricting increase. The continuity of many of these satellites is uncertain yet. Decision making on founding and closing of schools and school locations and the provision of school transport should include more systematically considerations of traffic safety. Car use in school travel should be distinctly discouraged, because this type of travel constitutes the most important opportunity for children to develop the ability to participate in traffic