The Professional Driving Instructor
Driving instructor - Can you drive well?
As a professional driving instructor you are on view to the rest of the world every time you drive your car. The public do not know whether you have finished teaching for the day or on your way to your next pupil. Think of that before you go over the speed limit, eat that last sandwich or talk on your phone whilst driving, or parking on double yellow lines.[all are traffic offences but the public will judge you regardless of the traffic enforcement officers]
Your professional image is as important as your next pupil
Can you communicate well?
The way you drive is only one example of the way a driving instructor communicates. The way you keep your car clean & tidy - both inside & out - the way you dress, might all be perceived as the way you teach. I know of a few good driving instructors who are scruffy & their cars haven't seen a wash for weeks and yet they are good guys & seem to get people through their driving test as well as the next instructor. Their ouside image though has a lot to be desired to the public at large. I wonder how many learner driver enquiries they don't get!
Communication - the teaching side
The way you use your body language & the way you talk are very important points to consider when teaching. It's not always what you say, it's the way you say it that counts. You may have heard that some driving instructors shout at their pupils when they make a mistake. One possible cause of this is because the instructor was not prepared for their pupil to make that sort of mistake, usually caused by the driving instructor putting the student into a dangerous traffic situation which was not anticipated by the instructor. Resulting in the instructor having to now intervene.
Planning a driving lesson according to the learner drivers ability is one of the skills a good driving instructor has to acquire. This will make both driving instructor & pupil more relaxed. a relaxed pupil, is a happy pupil & will learn a lot more from an attentive instructor.
Driving instructor - diversity
Driving instructors now more than ever teach students from a much more diverse backgound and can include.
- Teaching people with disabilities
- Training under the 'pass plus' scheme
- Training in the towing of caravans
- Corrective training for traffic offenders
- Theory and pre-driver training
- Assessments for older drivers
- Schemes run by police forces and county councils
- Minibus driving
- Driver health and safety training, Post Office and corporates
- Defensive and advanced driver training
- Road safety talks to schools and seminars
Driving instructor - Qualities of a good driving instructor
Responsibility
As a driver and driving instructor you should always show proper consideration for the safety of yourself and other road users. Your students well-being is of the utmost importance, especially in the early stages of their driving career.
Taking a student onto busy roads and dangerous situations is both irresponsible and not good for your students confidence.
Concentration
As a driver you MUST concentrate at all times. As a driving instructor you must concentrate on the normal road conditions, plus you need to predict and keep an eye on your student. You never know what they are thinking or going to do next.
As a professional instructor you not only have to deal with what is happening around you, but you need to think ahead and plan out the safest action that your student should take.
Anticipation
As a driving instructor you need to anticipate a lot more than if you were doing the driving. You need more time to 'get out your words'. You have a situation that you are dealing with at present and at the same time youneed to anticipate the next move of your student, or another road user or both.
Patience
As a driver you must have patience with other drivers, otherwise road rage and danger will follow.
As a driving instructor you must also have patience with your student. They will not be listenining to you all the time, or they might not understand what you are saying. You may need to explain situations to your students more than once, sometimes more times than you would like to count.
Confidence
To have passed the driving tests you need to become a driving instructor, you must have been confident.
You must as a good driving instructor, promote that same confidence to your student. They will be unsure, afraid and feel intimidated by other road users. It's your task as a good instructor to show them that they can do it.
Knowledge
The knowledge that you have gained in your driving career so far should be passed on to your student, that's why you are an instructor. You become a to your student. They will ask you and expect you to answer all questions, just as you would have expected when you were at school.
- Your knowledge will be tested in the ADI part 1 exam
- How you apply your knowledge will be assessed in the ADI part 2 exam
- How you pass your knowledge on to your students vill be assessed in your ADI part 3 exam
Communication
When you drive your car you are continually communicating to other road users. It could be your signals, speed or postion in the road. As a good driving instructor you will need to effectively pass on to your student the reasons why, as a driver, we need to communicate our intentions to other road users.
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