Expanding the learning experience

How easy it would be to start off a driving lesson with a pupil; after some pleasantries, look at what subject they covered the last time you saw them, make an attempt to recall the last session by asking the pupil a couple of questions, and then deciding on what is the next most appropriate subject to do.  It goes something like this:

You:  Hi John, how are you today?

John: Yea not bad ta

You: Great stuff. Well the weather is being kind to us today.  Should be good eh?

John: I guess

You: Now I see on my record here you did junctions last time.  How did that go?  Where did we do it?

John: Oh yea that’s right.  Down near the church, you said you wanted me to go there because it was quiet.

You: Excellent.  That’s right, I remember now.  That went alright didn’t it?

John: Ermmm, yea I guess.

You:  Great, well, in that case John, what we should do next is go down near the supermarket because over there, it can get a bit tighter and that will be different to where you were near the church.  It’s the next step up if you like.  Sound good?

John:  [Yes, you know what’s coming]    Yea I guess.

I make light of it, but this will represent a very common way of a driving instructor starting a driving lesson.  They will think they are doing good, because they clearly are recording the subject matter of what the pupil is doing, they are engaging the pupil in Q&A, they are making attempts to keep the lessons stimulating by going to new, more challenging places, and they have the pupils engagement.

It lacks some pretty fundamental ingredients for a briefing though.  When we give driving training there are a number of variables that are worthy of mention.  How does the pupil feel?  Tired, excited, nervous?  Well worth discussing because how a pupil feels will often affect their driving behaviour eg response times, concentration levels, priorities of attention etc.  This will have a direct influence on the safety of you, the pupil, your driving school car, and everyone around you at the time.  Safety and assessing risk is worth talking about.

Equally important in the briefing is the necessity to encourage the pupil to self evaluate their last session in terms of what they learnt, how they felt.  Ask them to score it in some way.  This is good, because when they give you a 6 out of 10 for example, it will be helping them to remember the good and bad stuff that happens.  The bad stuff that happens is an opportunity for them to learn more.

The reason why I point this out is summarised in the ADI1:

“The ADI’s task is to provide an effective learning experience for their pupil.  An effective learning experience is judged to be one in which the pupil is supported to take as much responsibility as possible for their learning process”.

In my example above, the ADI is controlling the extent of the self-evaluation by the pupil (almost zero), and also the subject AND location of the next session.  In effect, the ADI is taking full responsibility for the learning process.  This is what I refer to in my blogs as “Instructor led”, the instructor is making the session all about their thoughts and feelings, and completely disregarding the most important person in the car, their pupil (yep, the one who is paying them for their time).  The consequence?  Pupils are not practising what they want to practise.  They are demotivated because they do not own their learning process.  They see no learning path ahead of them, they literally just turn up and do what their instructor tells them to do.  They do not get the chance to assess risk, or self-evaluate, their instructor is doing all that for them (not that they always agree with what is said though). 

This matters because it is directly related to the kind of relationship developed between instructor and pupil.  Pupils need to be encouraged to consider their learning path as a journey in itself.  There will be good times, there will be challenges.  There will be obstacles to encounter and overcome.  If the instructor does not allow the pupil to identify and understand this journey, then this inevitably has consequences for the effectiveness of the learning environment further down the line.

The ability for a pupil to be able to internally appreciate the relationship between their driving competence and the learning path they are on is not a given.  Far from it.  Unless we assist them, pupils will not know where they are on their learning path in terms of subject, they will not have a realistic appreciation of their competence levels on any given subject and as a consequence, it is very difficult for them to appreciate if progress is being made.  A tricky situation develops when a pupil struggles with their self-evaluation AND underestimates the standard that is required to be a safe driver.  The onus here is on the instructor to facilitate a raising of awareness levels.  This is a new learning experience for the pupil, for some, other than what they did at school, it may be the only learning experience; pupils need assistance in understanding the process for effective learning.

In the example above our pupil John did not rate very well how he did practising near the church.  He was struggling to follow the kerb to the left when approaching a left emerge.  The reason why was because he can’t see where the car is, and he does not feel confident in the position, the last thing he wants to do is drive up on the kerb – he knows that would not be good for a few reasons.  If John had the choice, John would like to go back to the church and practise left emerges only – he felt good with right emerges (in fact that was the only good thing that he took out of the last lesson).  So by conducting the brief in the manner that this ADI has, John has been robbed of expressing his internal self-evaluation which he would dearly have loved to do because he has a voice, has feelings, he has his own thoughts, and he would very much have enjoyed to express them to the instructor.  John had not considered scoring his ability before, but if he had been given the opportunity this would have sparked off a new thought path in his brain whereby he really gives his strengths/weaknesses some thought so as to grade them.  That process of reflecting on his ability, grading it, appreciating success and attempting to root cause what needed more practise would help John in the first few years of being a newly qualified driver – so that he can continue to learn.

In addition to this, John is now about to shoot off to a new location, as set by the instructor which he has already been informed is more challenging because it is a bit “tighter”.  John isn’t entirely sure what that means, but it does not sound good.  He is already rather nervous about this because he does not feel on a firm footing with left emerges as it is, now he is about to go somewhere where it is even more challenging.

If John had been asked:

“So near the Church John were there any particular good or bad bits that happened?”

That could very well have sent the conversation down the path of left emerges.  John could be offered the opportunity to draw a mind map with Left Emerge in the centre.  He might bring up words like:

Position on approach  

Concern

When to clutch down?

Speed on approach

Amount of steering

When to change gear?  

Hitting kerb   

Frightening pedestrians  

Losing my confidence  

Unknown  

Fear

Now that mind map could initiate a whole different conversation all based around the thoughts and feelings of John.  John now feels engaged, he feels important, he feels like he is doing what he wants to do……. he thinks his instructor is brilliant!    Not only is John controlling what he does, but he is now able to grade his progress, he is able to ask technical questions, he is able to develop his relationship with his instructor because he is opening up more about how he feels, he has agreed upon a time to stop practising and review.  Overall, John is feeling like he owns this now.

Tom Ingram provides PAYG driving training for trainee driving instructors   0775 607 1464