Risk Wise

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the CDEM sector to keep building on the momentum that has been
achieved.
What’s the Plan Stan?
In addition to the mass media Get Ready Get Thru campaign, the
ministry has invested in the development of a schools’ programme
aimed at building a solid foundation of awareness and prepared-
ness.
The What’s the Plan Stan? schools’ resource addresses the need for
a resource for teachers and students to learn about our hazards and
what to do. This programme allows us to build that foundation of
knowledge effectively, and have a generation of kids coming through
the system that are aware and better prepared. The strategy also
allows us to get the message into homes through kids at school.
From the outset, the project involved both teachers and civil
defence staff around the country in planning and development. We
worked closely with them to identify their needs and develop a
resource that was targeted specifically for teachers and kids.
What’s the Plan Stan? features Stan the dog and five children who
model what to do before, during and after six types of emergency
events: earthquakes, tsunamis, volcanoes, storms, floods and non-
natural disasters. It can be used to incorporate civil defence
emergency contexts and activity-based learning across all areas of
the New Zealand national curriculum for students aged 8-12 years.
The resource consists of several different components, each of which
can be used independently or in conjunction with each other:
• A teacher’s handbook containing unit plans,
activities, simulations and information for school
emergency planning
• A CD-ROM for teachers and students, including
stories, interactive games, maps of regional disas-
ters, research material, tips for teachers, and
electronic versions of the handbook resources
• A storybook and accompanying audio CD that can
be used for younger audiences
• A poster promoting What’s the Plan Stan?
• A website with information, interactive activities
and templates.1
The resource allows for self-paced learning where students
can work through the material as a group or individually. It
is enquiry based, encouraging students to ask questions and
find the answers in an interesting and friendly manner; and
it is also accessible to parents as a family learning activity.
The resource was sent free of charge to all primary
and intermediate schools in 2006. To further encourage
use of the resource, the ministry ran a series of work-
shops for teachers and principals around New Zealand
to provide an opportunity for users to familiarize them-
selves with What’s the Plan Stan?, identify ways it could
be implemented into teaching programmes and meet
local civil defence staff in their community who could
assist with emergency preparedness.
Within a year of providing the resource to schools we
surveyed teachers to get feedback and identify areas for
improvement. The results were hugely encouraging, with
95 per cent saying they found the resource very useful
or useful and 88 per cent saying they had either taught
or were planning to teach a unit plan from the resource.
The resource is not static and will keep evolving. In its
second year we upgraded the CD-ROM and added new
material, based on feedback from the teachers’ survey.
The focus in 2008 is on developing a Te Reo version for
schools that teach in the language of New Zealand’s
indigenous Maori people. Next year we will continue to
upgrade the handbook and the CD-ROM in line with
changes to the New Zealand schools curriculum.2
For further information about the NZ programme contact
Image: Lloyd Homer GNS
The user-friendly resource aims to help kids learn about hazards and
what to do to be better prepared for disasters
Image: MCDEM