Making the Change

In my last article about Part-Three training I considered some of the ways that Part-Three training might change in order to improve the standards of driver education. One of the conclusions reached was that:

• We need put more emphasis on the teaching of 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.

But where is the starting point for this, and is it enough?

Undoubtedly, there are some excellent trainers out there who are making innovative changes to their training approach but the pace of change is slow. If you are an ADI trainer, you can determine whether you are amongst the 'elite' by giving honest answers to a couple of simple questions:

•  Is your Part-Three pass rate above 65% ( of all tests taken )

•  Do your students look forward to training sessions and leave every session fired with enthusiasm?

If the answer to either of these questions is "No", then you are in danger of being left behind as training methods change and standards improve. If you are an ADI student who is not looking forward to your next training session, or if you don't leave every session fired with enthusiasm and wanting more, then you are not getting the best training . Simple as that!

Let's get back to the question I posed above: 'Where is the starting point?'

Perhaps I'm already off on the wrong foot by focusing attention on Part-Three training . The ADI qualifying exam is, after all, a single exam taken in three parts, not three separate exams. With this in mind rather than simply trying to 'patch up' Part-Three, perhaps a more 'holistic' approach to training would help.

An approach that fully addresses the end goal from the start might be more beneficial than much of what's currently on offer (the end goal being to develop a driving instructor who can not only pass Part-Three, but who is also equipped for life in the 'real world' of driver training).

Although training for the first two parts of the ADI exam currently goes some way towards supplying the content knowledge that students need to pass Part-Three, valuable opportunities to gain lesson delivery skills are missed by many, if not most training programmes; and ultimately, it's the ability to deliver tuition and control the learning environment that leads to failure for most of those who don't make it through the ADI sausage machine.

This article cannot cover the wide range of training options and possibilities that might improve the qualification rate, not least because as an individual I can't possibly know them all - but it might give you a few ideas as a starting point. Below I'll consider a single idea from each of the three parts of the exam. If you are a student you can try the ideas for yourself, if you are a trainer you might think about how they could be improved or built upon.

Part-One

One of the areas where many students (and indeed qualified ADIs) have difficulty is the use of question and answer technique. While Q&A is not a major failure point at Part-Three it has shown up on most of the 1000 or so failure sheets that I have seen over the years.

The ability to ask, and answer, questions effectively can have a dramatic effect upon the interaction between test candidates and their 'pupils' during the exam. By improving this interaction you can suppress a lot of the anxiety that is typically associated with examiner's role play.

Some will argue that the issuing of the Part-One Question Bank has led to students learning answers by rote rather than studying the books and gaining a deep understanding of the subject, however, it's the trainer's job to make the best use of the resources available.

The Part-One Question Bank provides an ideal opportunity to develop your student's questioning strategies. A simple way to achieve this might be to ask students to re-write the questions in a different format. For example:

At a crossroad there are no signs or road markings. Two vehicles approach from different directions; which vehicle has priority?

•  Neither vehicle

•  The fastest vehicle

•  The vehicle on the widest road

•  Vehicles approaching from the right

The information in the question above could be re-written in various ways, here are some examples:

•  'Who has priority at an unmarked crossroad?'

•  'Does the fastest car or the car on the widest road have priority at an unmarked crossroad?'

•  'How do you determine priority at an unmarked crossroad?

•  'Is it normal practice to give way to the right at an unmarked crossroad?'

Simple ideas like the one outlined above can get students thinking about the subject matter, not just the answer to any given question - apart from developing their questioning skills; this is vital if they are to gain the depth of knowledge needed for an easy Part-Three pass and successful career.

Part-Two

Part-Two focuses on the candidates driving skills, but how many trainers develop and hone their students' commentary driving skills? W

hen it comes to Part-Three, many students worry about 'getting it all in' or 'finding the right words' . The ability to speak fluently about the changing road situation ahead is an essential lesson delivery skill. Why wait until Part-Three training to start developing it?

Before you start emailing . I know that a lot of trainers do teach commentary driving. But have you considered taking it further by introducing instructions ? To do this all the student has to do is highlight the situation ahead and then talk him/herself through it (If you are a student, practice this on your own each time you go out in the car).

What about care-care during Part-Two training? (You do teach practical basic car-care as part of your advanced driver development, don't you?) Most drivers know how to open the bonnet and check the oil; and they all know how to fill up with petrol, so why not ask them to teach you?

At this point you are not doing formal lesson delivery training . Simply dropping in some "By the way, if I was a learner, how could you teach me to do this" moments. Your students don't need to give a structured lesson, they simply engage in conversation, telling you how to do each safety-check .

Introducing basic teaching skills before formal Part-Three training will help your students to feel like driving instructors . This can have a strong motivational effect.

Part-Three

The reason why many students struggle with Part-Three training (even the successful ones) is simple. They are thrown in out of their depth.

In my last article (available here) I suggested that ' practicing PST subjects can be the least important part of the process for many students' . So if the Pre-Set Tests are the least important element of Part-Three training, what is most important?

The answer to the last question is ' lesson delivery skills' . These skills are much the same whether you are teaching driving or cake decorating! They involve lesson introduction; lesson structure; strategies for being aware of the pupils actions; taking control of the learning situation; giving feedback; etc., etc. If these skills are not taught before you throw your students in at the deep end, most of them will drown.

A simple example of how lesson skills can be taught?

Perhaps you could start Part-Three by helping your students to deliver route directions on the move. Half an hour's practise of simply giving directions, nothing more, will help students to get used to 'talking' and the role play environment.

With a little thought you can also develop the session to help your students to understand how learners think and how poorly timed or incorrect directions can impact upon the their performance.

The answers for better training are out there; I've discovered many of them and hopefully other trainers will take my ideas and develop new ways of presenting their training programmes; ways that I haven't even dreamed of!

In the next issue of Driving Instructor , I'll compare Part-Three with 'real world' teaching - the gap between them might not as wide as some people might believe!

You can contact John Farlam by email: John@smartdriving .co.uk , and/or get free driving, training and business advice by visiting: http://www.smartdriving .co.uk .