Audits and research
Suitable for all nurseries and schools.
Overview
Education phase
Category of activity
ConsultationTypes of activity
How it helps
- Encourages pupil participation
- Encourages a wider school engagement
- Supports TfL Travel for Life accreditation
Useful Resources
Download the example Car Park SurveyUseful Links
Find out about the Sustrans Big Street SurveyAbout the activity
Carry out audits and research to help prove that your travel activities have been successful, or to provide an answer to why your efforts to improve have been less successful than you’d hoped. Use the results to provide evidence for resourcing needs to your senior management, for external funding applications, or to promote your school’s active travel work in the local press.
Your research could include follow-up questionnaires on active travel events or surveying parents/carers about their knowledge of sustainable travel. For example, you could involve an on-street audit to count traffic or interview people who live within your school’s vicinity (see Sustrans' Big Street Survey resource for inspiration).
Work with your TFL Explorers/Pioneers/Navigators Ambassador and/or your school travel working group to identity the question you want to answer through your research, include who you want to involve and the best way to collect the information you need.
How to evidence your activity
- Involve your borough travel planning officer: Share your ideas, set targets and discuss any challenges
- Record the feedback from those surveyed
- Sign in to your TfL Travel for Life account to tell your story. Detail your activity, include copies of any surveys audits and the results. Add photos of your research in action
Activity steps
Step 1
Identify - Work with colleagues, senior management, borough travel planning officer, TFL ambassador & your school travel working group to identify the question you want answered through your audit or research
Step 2
Planning - Determine your target audience who will best answer your question. Think about who you collate the information from - pupils, staff, parents/carers or the wider school community & how to approach this
Step 3
Promoting - Engage with your school community, discuss the activity & plan, this could be in an assembly, school newsletter and/or website. Use the opportunity to engage more participants, get ideas or for additional support
Step 4
Launch - Carry out your research – collating responses from participants and bring all the results together to analyse your findings
Step 5
Analyse - Look at your results, finding out if your question was answered, any challenges or overwhelming/underwhelming results. Plan further actions
Step 6
Tell your story - Add your story to the TfL Travel for Life website, recording actions, feedback & presenting findings. Liaise with your borough travel planning officer