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- Case: Vulnerable children on cargo bikes to school in 'Full steam ahead!'
Case: Vulnerable children on cargo bikes to school in 'Full steam ahead!'
In the 'Vol aan de Bak!' project, De Fietsschool promoted the use of the cargo bike as a flexible, shared and sustainable means of transport to bring children from the Leuven trailer park to school in 2024. The ambition of the small-scale project was to ensure that those children go to school more frequently.
Mobility poverty leads to learning gap
For several years, a trailer park just outside Leuven has housed a Roma community with about 30 school-age children. Because of various reasons, many of these children do not attend school regularly. They are often absent. This causes them to fall behind in learning.
One of the main explanations for limited school participation is mobility poverty. For many families, getting to school is not easy. Which is about 3 kilometres from the trailer park.
First, families generally do not have their own bicycle or car. Secondly, the trailer park is quite remote, and there is no bus service to the city centre. On foot, the distance is too great. Finally, there is also a cultural element at play. The responsibility of getting the children to school lies with the mums. However, they usually do not have a driving licence, and depend on their husbands to get around.
Going to school together in the cargo bike
Site workers at the trailer park received a signal from residents that a cargo bike could help children get to school more smoothly. A cargo bike was purchased. With support from the Brussels Airport Fund, De Fietsschool was called in to teach residents how to ride the bike safely.
This turned out to be easier said than done. There appeared to be enormous resistance among the mothers to jump on the saddle themselves. De Fietsschool could not overcome this resistance, so we decided to rethink the approach. we worked out a system with shared responsibilities. De Fietsschool was responsible for transporting the children to school. Parents in turn made sure their children were ready to be picked up by the cargo bike in the morning, and collected their children themselves at the school gate in the afternoon.
More school participation, less learning disadvantage
Specifically, we chose to support the two most vulnerable families in the trailer park with rides to school. We offered one ride daily, and that from the Easter holidays of 2024 until the end of that school year. At the start of the project, four children, from two families, used the cargo bike. Afterwards, a fifth child from one of those families joined.
During the lifetime of the cargo bike project, the children's school attendance increased significantly. Their learning disadvantages decreased. All children successfully completed their academic year and were able to move on to the next one. Teachers were also unanimously positive about the action. They saw school attendance increase, school results improve, and the children themselves flourish.
rides
times
school attendance
To be continued...
Getting the children to school daily by cargo bike was challenging. However, the positive impact on their school participation and learning development shows that the shared responsibility approach works. Therefore, during the summer holidays of 2024, De Fietsschool sought volunteers who could take on the task of transporting the children by cargo bicycle during the 2024-2025 school year. Two cheerful Volunteers signed on. Thus, the cargo bike is full again this year!
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