The main aim of this research into the School Fire Education Program is to evaluate and establish the level of its effectiveness across a number of cohorts and across time. Within that overall aim, a more targeted aim of this research is to investigate and review Key Safety Messages by examining their retention and application (including under stress) at the completion of the SFEP. It is envisaged that the data gathered will provide opportunities for end users to produce more effective programmes into the future.

The project has a number of objectives:

• To investigate the effectiveness of the SFEP (particularly the retention and application of Key Safety Messages) across different cohorts across time
• To establish to what level Key Safety Messages can be recalled and applied
• To understand the impact of stress on the application of Key Safety Messages
• To use virtual reality as a means to assess students’ response to realistic fire scenarios
• To make it easier for end users to develop child-centred disaster risk reduction and injury prevention programs that are effective and provide the tools to ensure that participants can achieve desired outcomes and outputs.