Coaching the learner Driver

A new learner, completely open to suggestion sits beside an ADI and stares blankly at the dashboard, the ADI, experienced, asks the novice to move the car, after a short silence the pupil says - how. The instructor responds with a volley of questions about when the pupil has been a passenger, have they watched someone else drive, do they know what the levers and pedals do. An uncomfortable silence follows when the pupil whispers quietly, I just want you to teach me to drive.

Good for business, good for self esteem, or poor practice.

Just lately we have been approached, as a company, by students asking us to just teach them to drive, please don't ask what I want to do this week, please do not tell me I know all this from being in my parents car, to one in particular, I am currently studying to be a doctor, in my life I have been ill but I do not want trial and error of my past experiences to lead the way, it could cost a life and so can this silly idea that, as my previous instructor told me, I can drive already I just do not know how yet but I can find out based on my experience.

So has the coaching concept been taken one step too far. Seven years ago a report was published that favoured coaching for learner drivers, and from that point on the business people in this arena have taken the baton and run with it. Good for them, taking the manageable income of a tutor and turn it into their own, for some an improvement in skills is a good thing, for others it is patronising and unprofessional.

Yet as educators, we know there is room within the field of coaching to make the learning environment a better place, for some.  We can build rapport with all of our clients, develop a fun informative learning place, but when we start to let the learner do all of the work while we sit smugly and observe, then it becomes taking advantage of the students time and money. That is not coaching.

Pure coaching does not have a place within the driving industry, but a method that encourages thinking outside of the box does, however, study and research into the mind is an essential element, but then as it becomes indepth it becomes a sledge hammer to crack a nut.

Coaching is fascinating to study, and coaching in practice is a strong reliable tool, it does however involve commitment and a contract. It also is known to be ineffective when dealing with a novice. If the driving test is to mark a standard that is average or minimal, then those whose experience is derived from uneducated experience or belief of another then that process would be suffocated by it's own inability to deliver the required outcome..

As a nation we are being steered away from oppressive schooling, however this is not a new concept and dates back about one hundred years.  Coaching tries to manipulate the student into creating belief systems so that the student does not feel isolated in their understanding, particularly if the student feels lost in the educational process, therefore anti-oppressive schooling allows the use of multi factored approach thereby freeing the learner.  Within the learning to drive scenario this would be difficult to achieve as the goal is a single factor.


Copyright A Green 2013

AI Solutions: Do we have the right to drive?

AI Solutions: Do we have the right to drive?: I've read an awful lot of opinion about the right to drive over the past few months, road safety experts seem to think not, yet ...

Do we have the right to drive?

I've read an awful lot of opinion about the right to drive over the past few months, road safety experts seem to think not, yet this is surely their trade. To enable safe driving as a natural progression of social behaviour and shared space.

I asked this question on Facebook too and the general response was that people had the right to follow the process, so why does it feel as if driving is become elitist. I have been helping a young lady with learning difficulties to practise for the theory test, her inability to take on information means she is unlikely to ever be given the opportunity to drive, the few I have discussed this with firmly believe if she is unable to pass a theory test then she gives up any right. I fail to see that as a move forwards, more like a dozen steps back.

A relative of mine has Aspergers syndrome, she understands responsibility and driving, an automatic, has provided unquestionable freedom and an improved life, enabling her to work and visit her family, she lives in the village where she grew up with little or no public transport. Not driving would lead to a solitary and depressing life, however she took her driving test in the early 1990's prior to the theory test. Now she would be isolated because the test wouldn't be representative of her ability as a road user.

The EU have a broader interpretation, the theory test to understand road user law is a consideration along with a hazard perception test, but is not compulsory, they view the road as shared space with everyone having the right to drive, and the right to use the roads freely without fear of intimidation from other road users, to be safe. So surely the theory test for those with a proven learning difficulty that makes the theory test an impossibility and therefore licence acquisition an impossibility contravenes that directive?

I've studied the EURSC data in detail, and although some of it is contradictory there are allowances and exceptions that are obviously too time consuming or expensive to implement, as road user requirements tighten up and the availability of driving tuition becomes an academic path. Elitism.

Road signs are meant to be self explanatory, so since signage first began to make an appearance in the 1880's they appear to have been fit for purpose. I'm not trying to over simplify here but if you are polite and courteous and know the rules then you can surely begin the process. If you are unsafe then the process will not be completed.

Traffic volumes have risen and then for some years fell, engineering has improved so much that the path you drive is dictated by white paint and traffic islands, so although the driving test has been slow in terms of evolution the general environment is self explanatory, and lets face it, those who flout the law will do so regardless of the entry process.

AI Solutions: Can you Coach a Novice Driver?

AI Solutions: Can you Coach a Novice Driver?: Oh dear is my comment to this, along came CPD and the devoted few followed the path, however CPD surely has to be something you desire...

Can you Coach a Novice Driver?

Oh dear is my comment to this, along came CPD and the devoted few followed the path, however CPD surely has to be something you desire not something that you have to do, now we have coaching, the same devoted few but this time more acts muscling in to sell a course, or a piece of paper with a hefty price tag.

Brilliant, why not try and enhance your delivery with a client, and dedication should always be rewarded, however, doesn't that mean you are unhappy with the style you have already developed, or is it follow the crowd? Those who have embraced client centered learning, which isn't coaching  will have noticed subtle enhancements from traditional teaching styles, but does that mean the method you use is no good?

Research tells us that leading the novice is more effective than abandoning the client to their own devices, they become frustrated and disheartened, a good q & a with an intermediate learner can develop into excellent results, but do you need a qualification for this, or do you need a coach of your own?

A personal coach can deliver amazing results, but the follow the crowd teacher is unlikely to, however when teaching a learner driver do you need such in depth strategies, can you over think the end result, because the original coaching studies were to see if coaching can reduce road death in the under 25's, the results when using a bigger group than the sterile HERMES group found the outcome to be inconclusive.

Interestingly there are a lot of learners landing on my doorstep complaining that their ADI keeps asking them what they want to do on their lesson and they are looking for more structure, so has the hype gone too far, should the instructor not just carry on with what they are good at and had found to be good practise, or will the face of driving instruction continue to spiral into an unrecognisable jumble of discontent.

I sure we all remember our driving lessons, the ADI started somewhere, but sometimes it's easy to fall into the trap of being self-righteous, With the changes to the entry system changing and the standards of the ADI expected to be more closely monitored surely it's time for learning to drive to be recognised as a professional entity as it is in many EU countries, as we begin to settle into the 2015 target date and the dramatic realignment of learning to drive coupled with privatisation.

It's time to leave coaching to the coaches and move into CCL, once the understanding of this has taken place. My letter from the DSA pointed out that regardless of their chapter on coaching they considered pure coaching to be a sledge hammer to crack a nut, as a qualified life coach and driving instructor I am inclined to agree.

AI Solutions: Tax Discs

AI Solutions: Tax Discs: So the tax discs on new cars is to change, I thought closing the DVLA offices, followed by the redundancies and general scale down an...

Tax Discs

So the tax discs on new cars is to change, I thought closing the DVLA offices, followed by the redundancies and general scale down and cram of the system that has been in place for years, and remember we are heading for different not better, we are now taking a step backwards.

Do you remember the days of 'tax applied for' plastered on the windscreen? This was then felt to be tax evasion, so steps were taking to move into continuous taxation of vehicles, a slow expensive process, but eventually we had mastered the art, and SORN was born to fill the gaps, well don't look now but tax applied for is back.

Dealerships are no longer able to pre-tax our cars when we purchase a new one, so for fourteen days we can drive a new car untaxed, section 33 of the vehicle excise and registration act has been altered to allow this.

Did we want change, because the 6700 staff who saw this coming will wonder what the change in law was all about, of course there would have been a fleeting mention about this, but lets not make too much fuss in case the public hear about it. Although employment has risen in the UK, and don't forget there has been an addition of those in voluntary work to the numbers, Government staff are falling by the wayside in droves.

The excuses for avoiding displaying a tax disc currently, are,

1. I took too much Viagra so could not leave the house
2. If the cost of the tax disc is more than the value of the car, you don't have to pay it
3. I broke both arms so cannot fill out the paperwork

Other responses include

I have been out of the country and when I came back I forgot where I had parked my car
My dog ate the reminder

So continuous taxation isn't so effective after all, therefore we have to assume continuous insurance isn't either. As it will no longer be necessary to supply insurance details for taxation purposes, how long before there are less taxed or insured vehicles on the road. The removal of this will save £1.1m but is it a false economy.

Legislation is in place to deliver continuous SORN, instead of the current yearly renewal, this will tie in with the changes to the finance bill. From April 2014, lorries over 12 tonne will be required to pay a road user charge along with their vehicle tax.

A shocking 39,284 days were lost in the DVLA last year from sick leave, a big bill for the tax payer.  All of the changes to legislation and operating procedures will never save enough to cover that expense.