Check Test

I’ve got a Check Test coming up fairly soon.  For those who don’t know, the DSA regularly do spot checks on registered driving instructors to make sure they are keeping themselves up to the latest standards expected.

If you take a look at the section of ‘Choosing a driving instructor’ on the DSA website: http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/Motoring/LearnerAndNewDrivers/LearningToDriveOrRide/DG_4022528

You will see that all instructors are graded either 4, 5 or 6.  4 is ‘satisfactory’, 5 is ‘good’ and 6 is ‘highest’.

Now when my 2 children were in a ‘satisfactory’ primary school last year – as defined by OFSTED, my opinion of the value of grading driving instructors was fairly low if I’m honest.  However, since last September, they have been in an ‘outstanding’ primary school, and the difference between the two schools is also outstanding.  It is so starkly better, that it makes me wonder why more people do not move to an area where the local schools are graded ‘outstanding’. 

So when I qualified back in the Spring of 2009, I was given a Check Test within just a few weeks of passing all the tests.  And on that Check Test I was graded 4.  Generally speaking, although there is no set rule on the following, generally if someone gets graded 4, they will be tested again within 2 years, graded 5, within 3 years, and graded 6 within 4+ years.  Interestingly, when OFSTED grade a school ‘outstanding’, they do not test that school ever again!  Surprising eh?

Seeing as we are coming into the Spring of my 4^th year of being registered, I was well overdue a Check Test.  And in that regard, I’m pleased that it has finally come through, as I’ve been waiting a long time for it.  But I can’t deny that it makes me feel slightly nervous/anxious. 

An instructor can look at the Check Test in 2 ways.  They can say, “What the hell, I care not a smudge about it, as long as I get a 4 I will be happy, the public don’t give a monkeys about it anyway”.  Or, an instructor can say “I want a 6, I am striving for a 6”.  Why is there this difference in opinion?  Ultimately, I believe it is because if you were to ask the parent of your average Learner, what were the deciding factors for selecting the driving instructor they did, I honestly do not think that the Check Test grade would feature high up on the list.  If you’re a Parent reading this and say I’m wrong on that,  please add a comment on the bottom of this blog as it is something that is very hard to accurately judge.

You see, looking at the wider picture, you have to ask yourself what are the DSA trying to achieve?  If they are trying to give the public some means of knowing how good any driving instructor is, then as I have expanded on in a previous blog, there are good ways of doing that, which they choose not to for reasons best known to them.

And this is the point really.  Whilst I know that I pass far more Learners FIRST TIME than I fail, I know that I am delivering quality instruction in terms of passing the test, that is not what is being measured on a Check Test.  On a Check Test, the examiner is testing your ability to provide a lesson that is structured according to the DSA rulebook.  What do I mean?

On a Check Test, the DSA want to see us demonstrate that we can pitch our level of instruction at the appropriate level for the ability of the driver in front of us (note the word ‘driver’, it does not HAVE to be a Learner).  They want to see that we have a logical structure to the session; it meshes in with what has been done previously, and what is going to be done in the future.  They want to see that we are choosing our words and actions thoughtfully – there needs to be a demonstration that actual learning is taking place.  They want to be reassured that we are able to control the driver, so that they do not kill anyone on the driving session, and yet, they also want us to provoke thought, develop understanding, nurture the responsibilities of a careful and considerate driver.  They want to see that you are able to manage dealing with any driving faults that crop up in an efficient, structured manner that develops learning.  And this is the point, the DSA have very clear ideas about how that is to be done.  There is no messing here, let there be no doubt at all that the MANNER in which a lesson is conducted is incredibly tightly assessed to the DSA ‘system’.

Some driving instructors buy into that DSA ‘system’ and some hold it in low regard.  It’s not for me to make a comment about that.  I personally am very interested in it, I am a ‘systems’ man by nature, always have been – it is just in my nature.  I work best when I know precisely what the standard expected is, and I am in tune with knowing how to achieve that standard.  But I completely respect anyone’s opinion to the contrary; I appreciate that some instructors will be at the very furthest end of the spectrum in their approach to instructing as compared to mine – that is their right.

So anyway, on the Check Test you can either elect to take one of your learners, or you can ask the examiner to role-play a Learner.  It’s an interesting point.  The balance to be struck is considering the factors you do have control over, and those you don’t.  You see if you elect role-play, then you can expect the examiner to bring to the session several faults, all coming your way, in a fairly intense period of time, but they will all be related to the subject that the test has been pre-set on.  So if you had selected a lesson on a manoeuvre, the examiner wont start messing up an overtake on a dual carriageway.  Contrast this with using one of your learners.  Whilst you will know that learner really well, you know how he/she ticks, you can select your learner well if you think about it; what you don’t know is how they are going to perform when there is an examiner in the back.  So if your learner does the most horrendous, unrelated to subject driving fault, then that now becomes the subject of the test, it completely takes over your original plans for the session.  The other aspect to consider of taking your own learner is what happens if they are ill the night before the test, or perhaps decide they don’t want to do it?

I’ve selected the real Learner option, and what I have to get my head around is who to use, what subject to cover and the route that we will take.  Big decisions.