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recommendations, full diary if it's not broke why fix it, well the suggestion is it is not broke at all, but it is out of date.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?
When something is tried and tested and works well - there is absolutely no need to change it, for change sake.
ReplyDeleteI am perfectly happy to change when it is necessary, and when another system is proved to me to work better than the current system - but not because someone hasn't anything better to do and disrupts the current system for no good reason