Choosing your driving school or driving instructor can be a minefield!

Many changes have taken place within the learner driver industry over the past 10 years and the driving test was again updated in December 2017.

The top tutors now use client centred learning as this has proved to be the most efficient way for pupils to learn. Client centred basically means, interactive and involves the student’s involvement in all decisions as to what subject will be taught and who will take control of the various elements of the lesson.

Gone are the days of simply driving around and around until the task had sunk in and parent reading this article will probably remember their own experiences. Do you remember being told to check your mirrors or you will fail your test?

So how can you gauge whether your instructor is delivering a value for money lesson or not?

If the lesson is not conducted following the procedure below, it’s likely that you are wasting both your time and money.

Recap:

All lessons should begin with a recap of previous learning.

This should be interactive, and your instructor should be asking questions to check your understanding and knowledge of what has been learnt and what is relevant to the current lesson. The process is vital and will help to determine the plan and objective.

Lesson Objective:

 It’s impossible to reach an objective if you don’t have one and unfortunately far too many driving lessons involve driving around with no stated outcome that can be measured.

It has to be crystal clear what you are trying to achieve during the lesson, why it needs to be covered and how it fits into the complete driving syllabus.

Each 15-20-minute section of the lesson should be working towards the objective. Regular stops to assess progress or issues preventing progress and finding a solution to advance is the sign of a good lesson. The objective may be achieved during or by the end of the lesson, but it’s essential that you can measure any progress that has been made.

Risk Management:

 Risk management is extremely important as it defines who will be responsible for taking control of each individual element of the task.

A good example would be dealing with zebra crossings:

It could be that on previous lessons, you were able to master certain elements such as the approach speed, knowing when to stop or continue, where to stop and keep clear in queuing traffic. However, the one weakness was not scanning ahead to the left and right to actual look and anticipate pedestrians that might look to cross.

The risk management may look like this:

It would be agreed that the instructor would assist you with well-timed questions when approaching a crossing and therefor taking control of that particular element making sure that you were aware of any pedestrian activity and their possible intentions.

It is also agreed that you take control of where and when to stop along with keeping the crossing clear in queuing traffic.

This is what is referred to as managing the risk and an agreed plan as to does what.

This can be changed when both parties agree learning has taken place and it no longer remain an issue.

Summary:

 The end of lesson summary is vital as this is where you can measure any progress that has taken place and whether the objective was achieved. Objectives will not always be achieved and that’s fine as long as you know exactly what the issue was and how you will overcome during up and coming sessions.

What you discuss during the final few minutes of your lesson, will likely stay fresh in your mind and help to cement the learning in place.

Choosing your driving instructor or school.