Advice from an experienced instructor

Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:24:20 +0200

Advice from an experienced instructor, for instructors

Dual Controls

Using dual controls is a potentially dangerous thing to do for any instructor. Let’s think about what “duals” we have. The brake, clutch, steering wheel, and our voice. It may surprise many to think that our voice is a dual control. It is usually the first thing we use when a situation starts to arise. We advise the pupil. If that doesn’t work satisfactorily we then have to consider the use of another “dual”. We also need to appreciate that if the voice isn’t working don’t wait until the last moment to “slam” the brakes on, this only achieves a negative result. Firstly it would scare the living daylights out of the pupil who will no longer have any trust in you as they feel you allowed it to go that far. Secondly, you will probably lose the pupil. Thirdly how has that affected other road users, either those crossing your path as you approach the give way at the t-junction, do they think you are going to pull straight out because of the speed you are approaching? What about the vehicles behind? Are we giving the impression that we are not stopping. Do we cause them to run into the back of us, or almost! What effect do our actions have on other road users? Don’t keep putting the clutch down for your pupil, if they keep forgetting remind them. Don’t let your pupil hit the kerb when parking and then politely criticise them, advise them and guide the steering with them until they’re more proficient. New tyres, wheels, suspension, balancing, tracking all cost money out of your income!

Another thing to be conscious of is touching the “duals” all the time as the pupil is driving, how does this feel to the pupil? Is surprising, perhaps, that the pupil has problems with their control. Any touching or use of dual controls should be mentioned to the pupil immediately. How would you feel if pedals kept disappearing and for no apparent reason and nobody said anything as to why? If you have had to use dual controls it must have been as a last resort and therefore it needs a deep discussion, at the side of the road as soon as possible. So in short use all the dual controls you have available to you but in the correct order and at the right time.

Reasons For Practical Test Failures

One question I always enjoy asking instructors is “what is the most common reason for people failing the Practical Driving Test?” Typical answers are mirrors, maneuvers or hesitancy/making proper progress. In actual fact it is none of these. Inadequate instruction or the pupil not being trained to a high enough standard is the most common culprit.

One of the main things to identify as an instructor is our own standards across the whole curriculum of driver training. If our own standards are low then the pupil will inevitably fail. If our standards are high then the pupil will pass.

An instructor must always be conscious of their own personal standards. If we are not encouraging and giving full tuition where necessary, not introducing new exercises to pupils but just allowing the pupil to learn for themselves then we are not doing our job! What is our job? To TEACH our pupils to drive, we do not teach them to pass their test, we teach them a skill for life. If we are only going to teach them to pass their test then all we are going to teach is the curriculum of the test, what if something else crops up? Many times I am told by instructors “I don’t teach that as the examiners never ask the pupil to do it” eg. only teaching left hand bay parking, only teaching left hand corner reversing, only teaching left hand reverse parking, not teaching 60/70mph roads as “they don’t come across those on test”. Yes, well done, they may have passed their test but are they safe, can they really cope with any situation that may occur when they are behind the wheel? Remember the examiner can only test the pupil on the routes they have available to them, but, have you taught them to drive? NO!

On the other hand the instructor that does, consequently has a better pass rate, a better rapport with the examiners, will be check tested on a less regular basis and best of all produces safer, happier and more capable drivers.

Some instructors say their pupils fail because “it is all down to what happens on the day” Guess what? They are absolutely correct, that is also why some instructors have a high pass rate, it is all “down to what happens on the day”. If the instructor teaches to a high standard exam nerves will have less effect on the result. A pupil taught to a low standard does not have a “cats chance in Hell” once exam nerves kick in. Some instructors feel they have high standards but have a low pass rate, so what is the problem? Their “high standards” are too low. They are not taking any notice of their own pupil test analysis forms. An instructor who, out of 10 tests has accrued 14 serious marks plus numerous minor faults obviously has a problem and is not teaching to anywhere near a high enough standard.

A good instructor should always be aiming towards improving his/her own standards and consequently those of their pupils’. An instructor who thinks like this will reap the benefits long term as pupils will be more satisfied with their lessons so they will not be inclined to drift off and the instructor will achieve higher pass rates..

Assessment lessons

Assessment lessons are an extremely important tool in an instructor’s repertoire. You will find that a lot of pupils join a driving school having had lessons with another school. Obviously what that pupil does not want to do is be started as a complete beginner, firstly this is insulting to them and secondly it is wasting their time and money.

This is where the assessment lesson comes in. It allows you the instructor to give a full teaching lesson (this is not a mock test) whilst at the same time assessing the standard that the pupil has already reached. Through your usual Q&A techniques plus attempting 1 of each manoeuver (where applicable) you will be able to identify what areas the pupil has already covered and to what standard as well as clarifying what areas they have no knowledge of at all. As there is a lot to cover in an assessment lesson you will require a 2 hr lesson to complete it adequately.

This assessment then allows you to tailor future lessons to suit each pupil’s individual requirements allowing them to see progression each time and not wasting their money and time going over and over areas they are already competent with. At the end of the assessment lesson you should be able to give the pupil a fair idea as to how many lessons they will require to reach test standard but remember never commit yourself too much, pupil’s standards can go up as well as down so be clear with words such as

“based on your current standard I would estimate that you would require around xx hours of tuition”. The pupil then has a clear understanding of where they are in the DSA curriculum and you can both move forward from there.

Book-keeping

A topic that keeps recurring in discussion with new instructors is book-keeping. The first thing to remember is that you are a driving instructor not an accountant. I cannot stress enough the importance of getting yourself a good accountant. Yes it is an expense, however, a good accountant can save you a lot more than he/she will cost you and their fees are tax deductible. Plus you will have the peace of mind of knowing that your accounts will be done correctly and should the dreaded Inland Revenue decide to check on you at any point then you will not have anything to worry about.

The second important point is - ignore the Tax Man at your peril! A lot of your income is cash in hand and as such you may be tempted not to declare it in your yearly tax returns. This may seem like a good idea at the time but believe me long term you will get caught. Not only can this prove to be very expensive and potentially embarrassing but remember that one of the terms of your PDI/ADI licence is that you are a “fit and proper person”. An instructor who is convicted of tax fraud is not “fit and proper” and hence they run the risk of losing their licence to teach and so their livelihood.

So you now have a good accountant and a clear conscience with the Taxman, so what else do you have to do? It’s easy. Keep a log of every penny your pupil pays you and keep every receipt. This is all your accountant needs to complete your tax returns. If you keep every receipt for everything you spend on the business (fuel, car hire, stationary, roof sign, car air fresheners, car wash etc) no matter how insignificant they may be your accountant will know what is tax deductible and what isn’t. That way they can claim the maximum benefits for you. If you do this each evening it should take you no more than a few minutes a day. So rather than staying awake at night worrying follow a few simple guideline and sleep easy.

Maximising lesson quality

How can we improve our income, make the lesson more enjoyable for the pupil and ourselves and encourage the pupil to have a two hour lesson consistently?

Why do I ask these questions? Because of the problems some instructors seem to have. Let’s put some thought provoking questions to you. Do your pupils, at the end of a lesson, tell you they are tired? Do they show signs part way through a lesson of being tired? Do they make more mistakes the more they get into the lesson? Do they want to reduce the length of their lessons? Do they often cancel? Do they stop having lessons before getting to their test with excuses like “I can’t afford it anymore”? Do you clock up a lot of mileage? What does a pupil learn just by going for a drive? What does a pupil learn going in and out of junctions, stop start, speeding up and slowing down, observing, changing gear, checking mirrors etc? All these reasons and more are what we as an instructor have to be conscious of. Let me try and explain. A large part of what we have to teach a pupil is based on our own experiences. Those of you who know me will often hear me say, “think of what you did yourself on your part II test and aim to bring your pupil to the same standard”? What I mean by this is, we know that they won’t have the experience of yourself but they should be doing everything pretty much as you would do it and when you would do it. If they don’t then it’s not satisfactory. We do however have to think of the actual level of the pupil. Consistency without prompting is the goal.

To get back to where this is leading, what has all this got to do with improving our income? Let’s look a bit deeper. First of all, the most essential is how many miles are we covering on a lesson? The more miles the more money it costs. But I hear you say, we’re driving instructors and we have let the pupil drive to be able to teach them. Yes we do, but do we have to have a 20mile drive to achieve things with the pupil? Of course we have to have some long drives because that is part of the experience we have to give our pupil. But how often do we really need to do that? Do we do that because it’s easier than the alternative? Do we ask ourselves how much is that easier drive for the pupil costing us? Where does the pupil learn the skills they need? How do we achieve consistency in a lesson and make sure the pupil is enjoying it and not tiring unduly?

Work on junctions more, keep it local. We don’t need to travel to test areas to teach. The way forward is to lay the foundations and build a layer of bricks. When we are happy the pupil understands the basics move on to the next layer and build on the underlying strengths that you have set in place, eventually we will have built a good strong house that we don‘t have to keep re-building. Working like this your pupil will always achieve something in a lesson because they will have a clearer understanding of what they are doing at that particular level. The more you cover, the less detail you will go into in the time available so the weaker the pupil will be. Remember less can be more. The more you expect your pupil to do the more tired they become and consequently the less they learn. Think of the questions I brought up at the beginning. Consider every 15-20mins stopping your pupil for a de-brief on what they have done in that 15-20min session and finish that off with a brief on what you are going to do next. This achieves a number of things. Firstly, it’ gives them a small break, secondly it keeps them up to date and informed with how they are doing on the lesson and thirdly because they are getting these little productive “rests” they are not getting as tired so they are learning more. Finally, they will want their two hour lesson and probably more.

Try it, I know you will see a difference. It helps the pupil and it keeps money in your pocket not your tank!!!!!!!!!!

For more information and if you are a driving instructor looking for pupils please visit Learners UK http://www.learners-uk.co.uk

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Advice from an experienced instructor