Four weeks ago I wrote to the minister of transport, as a fully qualified life and executive coach. I did identify myself as a driver trainer, however I also passed on some of the research I am involved in.
I am deeply concerned by the watered down approach to change within the driving instruction industry, particularly this spoon fed coaching which are words with no substance. having studied hard for my qualifications over the last few years and taken time to build a robust portfolio of clients within the executive sector as well as individual clients, I have found it quite difficult to see how coaching can be incorporated in it's purest form to help learner drivers. It was a relief to find that it has been recognised within Government that misuse of coaching has the potential to be damaging to the client, as I felt that had been over looked.
Some of the response covers the Standards document and the fact that trainers should not change their methods, just that ADI's have felt restricted within their work with clients and this encourages more listening and a better transition of the transfer of responsibility from trainer to trainee. It also says that once the standards check comes into force instructors will be given a clearer idea of what is expected of them and this will enable them to choose more effective training.
I asked how an instructor could present coaching to a client without years of study and qualifications
'We do not want to lose what we already have and if we were to suddenly say that all ADIs had to become coaches there would be some who would become confused about what was being asked of them. Others would try to deploy what they understood to be coaching tools and not do it well. The result could be an overall deterioration in the quality of driver instruction.'
I asked why CCL is considered to be coaching within the driver training industry, the response was
'I can assure you that we are very aware client centred learning (CCL) is not the same as coaching. '
Although the reply was very in depth I have felt that these are very relevant to the sudden twist towards coaching for instructors, there are many other elements that were specifically asked linked to my research and understanding of the real risk within the young driver sector.
However, I am passionate about road safety, I do still work as a driving instructor, and I desperately would like to see better fatality figures for young drivers. Some of you may have seen my research and others may have read extracts from my up coming book, although not for the driving instructor industry, young drivers and road risk is touched upon. So, with this in mind I needed some answers, and today they were not just answered in full, but they satisfied my concerns. As I am known to be cynical, as most writers are, when dealing with quotes and lengthy exchange, I feel that this response was by far one of the best I have received to date.
Moving along, it was felt that although HERMES was used as a reference which had emphasised coaching as a concept, this has been decided against, with the overall feeling being that there will be no attempt to use fully formed coaching skills, the aim is to relieve instructors of rigid approaches to training and allow more listening in the learning environment.
This appears to be quality control with the clients needs being more important and the tutor taking a guiding role. However, although this seems like a sensible approach it still doesn't tackle scientific evidence which shows that the young driver brain activity, risk, excitement etc is the controlling influence as opposed to the training environment.
Copyright A.Green 2013 - no extracts or reproduction without express consent of the author.
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