Time for Change

Following my article about the Part-Three examination earlier this year I have had numerous requests from both students and trainers wanting to know where they can get more information. Given that there seems to be so much interest in the subject and a move to change the standards of ADI training generally, I decided that a couple of articles about Part-Three might be useful.

With the foundations in place for compulsory licensing and registration of trainers, now seems like a good time to explore ways in which Part-Three training might be improved. Of course, regulation will help; for example the proposal that instructors wishing to become trainers must be Grade 5 (at least) and have three years or more experience working as an ADI. However, what is perhaps more important than regulation is a solid understanding of good training practice.

There are many traditional routes that trainers can take to improve their skills, these include the degree in driving instruction, the diploma in driving instruction, City and Guilds qualifications, NVQs, certificate in education, and so on.

Other routes are perhaps not quite as obvious; training in basic counselling skills can do much to develop communication and listening skills (essential for student centred learning); customer care skills courses can help you to see the other person's point of view; communication skills training - there are many courses out there that can help you to communicate, and therefore teach, more effectively.

A common misconception about Part-Three is that the candidate has to demonstrate just how well they 'know their stuff' in terms of lesson content. This results in many students spending (and wasting) hour after hour studying the lesson content element of the PST marking sheets. Some courses even structure this study and devote classroom and in-car time explaining such concepts as 'how to do a turn in the road' .

To make matters worse, this study is often coupled with advice to "make sure you get everything in" . In many (if not most) cases this helpful advice simply generates a state of anxiety in the student's mind:

"I'll never remember all of this - but I've got to or I'll fail my exam!" "I've got to but I can't, I've got to but I can't".

The validity of this anxiety is often reinforced in the car by training based on repetition - where the student tries unsuccessfully to deliver specific lessons. Is it surprising then that so many students demonstrate a lack of confidence and control during the exam?

A further problem, when putting the training focus on lesson content (as opposed to delivery), is that it tends to break down the communication process between the test candidate and examiner; this happens because the student's concentration is focused on memory. When trying to remember everything that 'must be included' they lose awareness of what the examiner is doing or saying; in turn this heightens anxiety.

Training anxiety often manifests itself in the 'you sit in the front' syndrome . where students 'fight' over who sits in the front of the car during training; this is not because students want to sit in the front, but rather because they don't! Sitting in the front can often be an uncomfortable or even humiliating experience. This state of affairs is often brought about because of the inept and destructive use of 'examiner style role play' .

If you are one of those trainers who thinks it is useful for students to sit in the back while other students are practising so that they can 'realise that they are not alone in their struggle' . Perhaps it's time to wake up to a new way of thinking .

Trainers need to develop skills that will enable their students to enjoy the role-play experience, both in training and during the examination. This requires a training approach that associates positive feelings with the role-play that are firmly anchored to the in-car teaching environment. A starting point of this might be to help students to understand that Part-Three is more to do with attending to, and communicating with, the examiner than with lesson content. This is reflected in the Pre-Set-Test (PST) marking sheets.

Perhaps the reason why some trainers put too much emphasis on content during Part-Three training is simply because, when taken as a set, the PST marking sheets contain a lot of fairly detailed information about lesson content, but not so much about the instructor's behaviour. However, when the headings at the top of each content column are examined , it can be seen that the ability to simply remember and include content is not what is being assessed.

• Box 1 - Not covered - subject not covered or grossly incorrect or dangerous instruction given.
• Box 2 - Unsatisfactory - subject attempted, but guidance and/or training offered was unsatisfactory or incomplete.
• Box 3 - Satisfactory - subject covered satisfactorily in all aspects.

While I have not done a statistical analysis of results, my experience of having seen 2000/3000 failure sheets over the years (NOT students that I have taught!) suggests that 'Not covered' is present in only a small percentage of failures. If this assertion is correct, it suggests that it is not content knowledge that is at fault, but the delivery of that knowledge; and for more detail about delivery we need to turn our attention to the right hand side of the marking sheets . For that's where the facts about a student's performance can be gleaned by a skilled interpreter.

However, understanding the marking sheet is only the starting point for the ADI trainer. Using the sheet as a guideline to the competencies required, he/she then needs to determine how best those competencies can be developed . And practicing PST subjects can be the least important part of the process for many students.

Given my last statement, namely, "practicing PST subjects can be the least important part of the process for many students", what are trainers supposed to be teaching? After all, the DSA training declaration for students on a Trainee-Licence has provision to show that training has been delivered on the full range of PST subjects.

Well, the answer to the "What are trainers supposed to be teaching?" question is quite simple:

• Firstly we need to teach basic sub-skills required to deliver each component part of the lesson; skills such as giving route directions, briefing, watching the driver, offering feedback, asking questions, etc.

• Next we teach how the component parts fit together; how is a lesson structured, how to use the sub-skills to remedy errors, when to transfer responsibility to the 'pupil', etc.

• Finally, when these basic skills are in place and have been demonstrated in isolation (i.e., not in the context of a full lesson), we can think about asking the student to deliver a PST type lesson. It's only at this stage that lesson content should become an issue.

Of course, it's important to remember the ideas cited earlier in order to gain early success: i.e., it is essential that students learn to attach positive feelings to their learning experience, rather than simply learning to 'struggle through'.

In the next edition of Driving Instructor I will consider the issues discussed above in a little more detail and how some of the objectives might be achieved