Bringing a Learner into the Modern World

You would of course assume that the learner if they are in the 17 - 24 age bracket would be firmly in the 21st century but that is so obviously not the case when you look at the expectations of many when learning to drive a car.  They are often led by the adult driver in the family who learned to drive in a different traffic environment.

Eco driving, within the school syllabus good ecological behaviour is actively encouraged planning continuous education in respect of university or college and the years ahead, yet when it comes to driving pupils are in a past generation held back by the beliefs of their parents, however the parental viewpoint must have changed because for many leaving school was common place as soon as the year 11 exams were over, now it's just part of the school pathway towards A levels, compulsory now but not then, and not for the 17 year olds currently learning to drive. So how did perception of the education system change, it wasn't an overnight change at all, it was a slow build.

Ten years ago a sixteen year old could leave school they could claim unemployment benefit, they could secure a Saturday job, there was EMA and going to work at sixteen starting at the bottom and working up was not considered to be the wrong thing to do.  If society can see that as a bad thing, even though it had been that way for many years surely attitude can change.

Wanting a driving licence is a good thing, but modernisation of the test is worthless if the process to become a driver hasn't been modernised too. How does the instructor reform the process, it's probably harder than you think, there are a lot of instructors set in their ways, pupils passing their test, recommendations, full diary if it's not broke why fix it, well the suggestion is it is not broke at all, but it is out of date.  How many instructors ask an ADI they do not know to look at their lesson with a pupil or full licence holder being trained and ask for constructive criticism?  Could we count the number on one hand?

The other problem is that there is a lot of competitiveness in this industry amongst those that want to be seen to be making their best effort to evoke change, but there is also a far greater number who do not want change that are happy with their career, their reputation and their income, does this mean they provide a poor service, of course not otherwise they would be looking for another career, as the minority are batting at the top end, and road fatality rates are falling then as a profession we must be doing well.

However, if the learning to drive path is set to change, and it seems that the changes will be minor in the long term and the test runs along the GDE matrix, as the standards check marking will, then those that haven't embraced it will be left behind and they will be part of a culling process that we appear not to be privvy to.

Is your learner up to date with the learning to drive practice, or do we indulge their perceptions to secure the work?

AI Solutions: Coaching the Instructor

AI Solutions: Coaching the Instructor: There have been a lot of articles regarding coaching the learner, the mis-interpretation of coaching and it's meaning and worth is incre...

Coaching the Instructor

There have been a lot of articles regarding coaching the learner, the mis-interpretation of coaching and it's meaning and worth is incredible, the most interesting one that caught my eye was the question to a learner, what would you like to do today, that's like asking a teenager which chore they want to do. Coaching has to have boundaries to promote success, it still needs structure otherwise there can be no specific target, each learner is an individual and will have very different goals, however the driving test has a syllabus to be achieved and to do that some subjects that a learner would choose to reject have to be adhered to.

Instructor: What would you like to do today?
Learner: Not emergency stop

or

Instructor: Today we will be covering the emergency stop exercise what do you think this will involve?
Learner: Braking really quickly

The second question encourages engagement and it is from this point that the learning process can take place and be structured with the aid of the learner to achieve the target set from the learning to drive syllabus.

Positive encouragement empowers the learner, it is also the first step towards pride in achievement, learning to drive has for some become an uphill climb, with peers putting their pressure on the novice and family reminiscing about how quickly they learned to drive, the novice driver then feels pressured to run before they can walk.  Although this is not the same in all cases it is in some and that is too many.

So who encourages the ADI, fills them with enthusiasm and helps them, well in the life coaching fraternity we would have a mentor, spend time discussing with them basic client details while remaining in the confines of confidentiality. So why have the bigger organisations embraced a mentor system for employees and franchisees, because it is known to work, the mentor doesn't need to be another coach.

The mentor scheme for learner drivers has been very successful in other countries, but would it work in the UK, the majority group of learner drivers, based on research shows that learning to drive isn't taken as seriously as passing the test, the school system carries some responsibility for this as they use the test as the carrot for study, are we guilty of the same?

In one country in particularly the learner has to accrue 120 hours mandatory learner practice, the supervising driver would have taken part in a training programme themselves at their own cost, for those who do not have this aid within the family network there are volunteer programmes where someone would sit with a learner driver. For those with no opportunity to take part in either option they would be expected to have those 120 hours with a qualified instructor.  All of this supports the mentor system.

So if we are moving into client centered scenarios why are we not enforcing this type of support for the trainer and the trainee, the growth of chat rooms and forums for professional trainers, suggests a need for this face to face a question, genuinely asked would receive a better more helpful response than a query posed on a social networking site, where some would ridicule lack of knowledge.

Choosing a mentor is more difficult, it is better to be someone you are not close to, or even know well so a respectful relationship can be formed. Mentor groups for novice drivers who are looking for support outside their own personal network tend to have a more serious view when talking about driving and responsibility.

Other EU countries use a mentor system, one which I have written about before, and still fail to see how it could benefit a learner with horror stories and scare tactics. They haven't embraced the mentor for the tutor, which works well in other walks of life and in some non European countries. Of course a mentor is a chosen path but the results in areas where mentors are accepted shows greater strength in the tutor.

Mentoring systems in a classroom environment drew in level 4 of the GDE matrix, however in the UK because we have moved away from the traditional school which companies such as BSM were known for this becomes harder, the EU wish is for driving schools as opposed to individuals to become the norm is likely to be a long way off as the parliamentary process in the UK is a very slow process, with road safety figures falling to a statistically attractive figure it seems this is not so high on the agenda.

Pass Vs Grade

I read a strange idea today, grading the driving test. Would that be in a pass plus way, or a what mood is the examiner in kind of way or would that be strict rules because the insurance premium depends on it.  It is a fact that those who score the least driver faults on their marking sheet are the ones who are most likely to take a Pass Plus course and the ones who are least likely to have an accident.

Matthew Hancock obviously isn't au fait with the discussions that have gone before, otherwise he would know this has been mentioned, many times in the UK amongst insurance companies and driving associations. In theory it's a good idea, but in practice surely it would be considered to be discriminatory, we have just seen female drivers, the safest group, have their premiums hiked up to the male equivalent because of unfair discrimination, so surely this would be the same.  An insurance broker never asks an ADI their grade yet the ADI with the higher grade is less likely to have an accident during a lesson or on their own.

Of course the insurance companies want to offer better premiums to the group considered to be more able as drivers, protecting their huge profit margins along the way, when did you last meet a poor insurance broker? However this would be so difficult to introduce into our already changing system, each examiner marks a test in a different way, there is no consistency, one examiner can mark two tests with different standards, after all they are only human.

Because each examiner has their own style they become known by the instructors just as well as instructors become known to the examiner, in particular the box tickers, some just have an over eager pen, where others only commit pen to paper when deemed completely necessary.  In the industry we know this, but would we be so tolerant of this if the system changed, would the pupil be so tolerant of it?

It is of course quite amusing that a minister, for skills, which must be the all encompassing role that covers road safety since that position was removed, is looking at grading a driving test when the DVSA are looking to remove grading and replacing with the simple pass or fail, which the majority seemed to favour.

Could your pupils be more prepared on test day, will this make any difference to the nerves some suffer under test conditions, or are we going to slip into the other proposal of testing in simulated conditions.

Cycling Ahead

Or are we behind? The review board are leaving the way open for public comments on cyclists, based on the poor cycling statistics we have in the UK, are those who promote cycling doing enough. I heard a statement from an avid cyclist who suggested that car drivers are the problem, they do not look out for cyclists and when they do see them it's either a very close call or a nudge.

So how right is that statement? because learner drivers have a perfect opportunity to find out how to deal with a cyclist and regard them as the vulnerable road user, are we doing enough as educators?

You have until 14th January to submit your views to the inquiry, the questions being - is cycling safe in towns and cities? What can central and local Government do to improve safety for cyclists, could they improve law enforcement for drivers and cyclists. Should cyclists be segregated from other road users during peak times, which may see HGV's prevented from travelling in town centres at this time.

The last inquiry was 2012, where cycling safety was investigated, however the figures for cyclist fatality and serious injury for 2012 point to the fact that something other than talking about it has to be done. Unfortunately there is an amount of dislike for cyclists using the road network due to the fact they pay no road tax or insurance, and although a cyclist can now be held accountable for causing death by dangerous cycling, there really hasn't been enough enforcement or control of reckless cyclists, who once on the road have a duty to play by the rules.

In these green times, when the car is frowned upon as it eats through resources should we all take the bike to work, or more importantly are we missing a great training opportunity during a driving lesson, or better still, to teach cyclists how to understand the road particularly for the non drivers.

The Government report suggests that we are far short of our vision for road safety in Britain if we are to maintain our position as the European leader for road safety, former Road Safety Minister Mike Penning said if we have simplistic targets we will get simplistic answers, he said that the public will always take the easy option - hmm, thanks for that.  Of course the role of Road safety Minister is now defunct due to the DFT shake up as it becomes the DFT and F.

We do of course have European targets to meet, that fall under the banner of road safety, this includes the four year MOT, of course there is speculation that road safety will not become the responsibility of the DFT as departments become smaller and the determination of responsibility comes from the back office.

Road safety partnerships came under fire and a casualty of financial trimming, which leaves a gap where experienced road safety officers had a key role, local authorities refer to this when looking at their own individual targets. As part of the need to improve services in local authorities the driving instructor has come under the spotlight to provide a higher standard of education to the novice driver to meet all of their needs and to be able to take their client into a vocational post test qualification, this includes motorcycle trainers.

In Sweden early education in driver education has had a positive impact, the UK view on this is it breeds complacency and over confidence, yet these two countries are always in the top three for road safety performance, can they both be right or is it just due to a different environment and a lack of Government commitment to recognising the role of the driving instructor.

The RHA feels that not enough awareness is made by the retailers of cycles when selling to the public that they have a responsibility, knowing your bicycle, but if that filtered through to car drivers would the retailers see it as their responsibility. With £11m available for bikeability training, but no funding for adult cycle training then perhaps that is the gap that needs to be filled.