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A new NCEA curriculum resource helps students take part in group work on a meaningful subject while being assessed for unit standards.
Unite: Student-Led Road Safety Action is published by Kaitiaki o Ara/SADD and is ready to slot into 2026 planning by secondary teachers anywhere in New Zealand. It can be downloaded from the SADD website, and you don’t need to be leading a SADD student group to use it.
Unite takes secondary school students through choosing a road safety issue that matters to them, then designing and delivering their own initiative to address it.
The course is designed to fit the assessment requirements of US9681 (Contribute within a team or group which has an objective). It can be adapted to accommodate similar unit standards.
SADD General Manager Donna Govorko says Unite empowers young people to influence their peers at an age when safe road use is a critical issue.
“It’s the students themselves who are doing the research, coming up with the ideas. They’re looking around at their social environment and seeing what the issues are. For example, they may notice that some of their friends are driving on their restricted licence with mates in the car or using their phone while driving.”
Students then design an activity or campaign to address the area of concern. Outcomes can range in complexity – here are some ideas:
“While they are doing that, their teacher is assessing their ability to work together as a group,” says Donna.
Orewa College teacher Sara Hampton has been trialling the course with her Gateway students.
“The presentation is a great resource for teachers to use who are interested in promoting safe driving practices on our roads,” she says. “It fits well into the US9681 assessment.
“My group has learnt so much from this collaborative task, especially problem solving by planning an outcome, communication skills with peers they do not normally work with, learning how to appoint a leader and allocating tasks based on personal strengths.”
The Unite resource contains everything teachers need to adapt it for their existing programmes. The SADD website contains plenty of examples of student projects, and the SADD team are happy to answer any teacher requests for more information or local road safety contacts.
You can find Unite here:
