Teachers’ Perception of Factors Delaying Evacuation of School Children

Abstract: The aim of this thesis is to study teachers’ perception of children’s ability to evacuate, thus learning about children’s evacuation behavior. Questions of interest are teachers’ perception of children’s ability to evacuate, their behavior, if there are any misconceptions in the teachers’ perception and how fire evacuation drills influence the teachers’ perceptions. This was done through a questionnaire study where teachers of children of 6-12 years of age got to answer a questionnaire before and after an ordinary school fire evacuation drill. The results indicated that fire evacuation drills influence the teachers’ perception of children’s behavior and the teachers’ sense of having control over the situation. More experience corresponded to less belief in the panic misconception among children during a fire evacuation. The teachers’ answers qualitatively corresponded to the observations made during the fire evacuation drill. After the evacuation drill, the teachers could be assumed to have a perception of children’s behavior which reasonably corresponded to reality.