The focus in these video clips is on developing skills and responsible attitudes about safety in a challenging physical situation: top-rope climbing on a climbing wall. The clips comprise several different combinations of climbers, belayers, and back-up belayers.
Positive attitudes and challenge
Develops responsible attitudes about safety in challenging physical situations
Ashley, Laughton, and Jack demonstrate responsible attitudes while using a safety management strategy when climbing a wall. They show cooperation, self-control, and focus, applying them consistently while carrying out a safety check.
Student-student conversation
Ashley, Laughton, and Jack explain how they carry out a safety check before Ashley climbs the wall:
Ashley (climber):
Here I'm checking that Laughton, my belayer, will be safe for me to climb the wall. First I'll check the belay device is correctly threaded and up there the pulley [friction device, such as a stitch plate or figure of eight] is correctly threaded through. Next I will check that the carabiner [screw-gate] is closed [locked] and correctly orientated. Next I will check that the harness is tight and all the buckles are 'C' for closed, not 'O' for open.
Laughton (belayer):
I'm going to check that the rope is correctly threaded through my side of the pulley and that there are no twists or loops in between the ropes. I'm also going to check that the rope is tightly secured and that it is correctly threaded through the carabiner. I'm now going to check that the carabiner is closed and correctly orientated and that the harness is correctly fitted and the buckles are doubled back and 'C' for closed and not 'O' for open.
Jack (backup belayer):
I have overviewed the safety checks, so we have successfully checked the safety checks, so we are ready to climb.
Positive attitudes and challenge
Develops responsible attitudes about safety in challenging physical situations
Kristen demonstrates positive, responsible attitudes towards ensuring the physical and emotional safety of herself and others while using safety systems during a challenging physical activity.
The teacher encourages Kristen to reflect on her attitude towards safety during her group's climbing experience:
Teacher:
Why do you need to have a responsible attitude towards safety when you're climbing?
Kristen:
Because if you weren't responsible, then you might not do things correctly and someone could get hurt.
Teacher:
What are the things you do as a group to make all of you safe?
Kristen:
We check everyone's harnesses, and the carabiners, and the rope, and the belay system with a proper safety check.
Teacher:
Kristen, you've also been asked to rate your attitudes and actions towards your own personal safety. I can see you've described yourself as 'awesome' in your attitudes and actions towards your own personal safety. Why?
Kristen:
Because I felt that I could do things properly and I didn't need a teacher to watch over us while we were climbing and check before we started climbing.
Teacher:
What attitudes did you need to be responsible when you were learning the skills to use the climbing equipment and safety systems?
Kristen:
We needed to try really hard and kept practising them over and over again while we were using the wall bars until we knew them really well. We needed to be serious, and we needed to concentrate on what we were doing all the time, especially when we started to use the climbing wall.
Teacher:
When you began to use the climbing wall, as well as checking the safety systems, what were some additional things you needed to do as a group to have a responsible attitude towards the safety of everyone in the group?
Kristen:
We all needed to listen to each other carefully and not muck around talking. Also, we needed to watch the climber all the time while they were climbing and not get distracted. And we needed to concentrate on doing our job correctly all the time to keep the climber safe.
Teacher:
How did you rate the attitudes and actions of people in your group towards safety?
Kristen:
I thought everyone in our group was being responsible because no one was being stupid and we were all trying to do things correctly and watch out for each other. I felt safe, and I felt confident that we could climb without the teacher watching us.
Teacher:
How comfortable did this make you feel when you were the climber?
Kristen:
Even though at first I was really nervous, I felt that the others were responsible and I trusted them. We had fun, and I want to go and climb outside now. I would like to ask mum and our teacher to take us all to a natural place and climb there.
