Durham DVSA DIT Workshop 02/06/2017

Today I attended a workshop with the DVSA to discuss the new changes to the Part 3 assessment due in on 2/10/17 and also the future of ORDIT (the DVSA voluntary register of trainers who train PDI's to qualify as driving instructors).

The DVSA were represented by John Sheridan, Neil Wilson, John Caradine and Jacqui Turland.  Together they have extensive experience in matters of training policy, policy change and registrar duties.

There were well respected trainers present with a wealth of experience, collectively a good many years. 

The DVSA started by giving some info regarding the old and new Part 3 test comparisons.  John Sheridan made mention again of his "meaningful" point re the value provided to the pupil on the part 3.  These points which I have been made aware of on previous webinars/blogs/articles I have summarised in other blogs.  One point that came up was that a PDI will need to become familiar with the area in which they go to test because by taking a real pupil for their part 3 test, there is every possibility of them needing to change tact mid-lesson and select an appropriate location for something that has unexpectedly cropped up.  This is a significant change to the role-playing examiner on the current part 3 who decides where the test is going to be conducted.  There are currently around 400 test centres, most of them conduct Standards Checks but the new Part 3 will NOT be able to be conducted at all T/C's where S/C's are conducted due to lack of resources.  It was hinted at that the overall aim is to provide a dedicated resource of examiners solely for ADI work - so those examiners would be working full time on ADI related tests.  There would not be many of them, but they would be full time as opposed to the current situation where they do ADI related tests mixed in with other commitments. T/C's that currently conduct part 3's will probably remain for the new part 3 - but the hope is that the number of T/C's conducting part 3's will increase over time.

They reiterated once again about the "log book" and how they would expect a PDI to attend for the test with a log book which should detail the hours of training done, when, location, subject of training, how the subject relates to the driving standards, the performance of the PDI and what value was added by the trainer.  It was proposed that the naming of that kind of document would perhaps be better as "work book" as log book tends to imply a list of dates and durations only.
A sample revised assessment sheet was provided with small adjustments that assist the DVSA to start collecting data linking quality of PDI presented with specific trainer, whether on a trainee licence, whether a log book was shown to the examiner - all the sort of stuff that Mark Magee has been telling us all about for some time now.

Clarity was provided about the aim of feedback from examiners after a S/C to help the ADI reflect on how could be better with a bias towards developmental as opposed to the feedback after a part 3 which is not intended to be a training/developmental role, purely assessment. 

It was stated (again) that there are about 170 ORDIT training organisations and about 890 trainers.  Over these 2 events from the DVSA, 120 attended the first event in Cardington recently, and today we had roughly 30 present  - however it should be said that it is not clear out of all those who attended, how many were ORDIT registered.  A common theme today from those who ARE ORDIT registered was how de-valued they felt it was, to the point of not being worth getting registered.

The conversation steered momentarily on to the new driving test and confirmation that the sat nav used would be a Tom Tom mounted on a rubber "dash mat" (just under A5 size) with a round circle for it to be placed in.... not mounted on windscreen.  Just behind it will be a small battery pack to try to avoid the need to plug into the 12v adaptor. 

As the current 10 min indy drive section of the test is not a legal requirement, there is flexibility to change with relative ease for the DVSA.  So out will go the diagrams/3 sets of directed instructions for the indy drive however 1 in 5 tests will still incorporate "follow signs for....." instruction.  The point was made that should the speed limit displayed on the sat nav be incorrect and the candidate therefore speeds that will be a test fail - they need to independently assess speed limits on the move without over reliance on sat navs.

The bay park will be using public car parks (or if available a car park of a nearby t/c), the candidate chooses the bay but it must involve driving forward in, reversing back out and then driving away and this COULD be asked to be performed within the 20 min sat nav section (as could pulling over).  So the candidate has freedom to choose if they park next to already parked vehicles or not (assuming they HAVE a choice!).  Likewise confirmation of the pulling up on the right was also given.  It is not intended to amount to an angled start..... reverse back 2 car lengths and then move off.

The "show me" will be from a range of what is shaping up to be 7 options (open/close window, demister, windscreen wipers, lights on/off etc).  It was asked how would a d/f be marked up when caused as a result of a new show me question on the move eg currently this can only be marked up as a "minor" d/f.  It was confirmed that the examiners will continue to "mark the cause unless the effect is greater".

A little side note was made of the part 2 test and how it would be sensible to have that aligned to the new test, perhaps requesting a random 2 out of the possible manoeuvre options.  This may very well become aligned at the same time of introducing the new L test.

Regarding ORDIT, the point was made that <30% of PDI's coming into the qualification process are qualifying, in fact significant numbers do not even get past the initial paper sift - a point also made previously by Mark Magee.  The DVSA then opened up the talk for suggestions about how the "status" of ORDIT could be improved.  This brought about a load of attendee input, varied and wide, historical and looking into the future.  A personal opinion but I sensed a great deal of bitterness, resentment and frustration about how the ORDIT scheme has not lived up to what has been billed over the years.  There is a tension between market forces of customer expectation for training, DVSA standards, voluntary participation and public awareness.  More opinion was offered regarding the effective use of role-play within the training environment and the skills needed by trainers to perform the task of developing skillsets within PDI's aligned to the S/C assessment criteria - particularly assessing, identification and managing of risk.

It was hinted that ORDIT is about to significantly be improved - no precise details were forthcoming but it was implied that it will be imminent (next few months).

The last question related to autonomous vehicles which then evolved into developing in-car technology.

Please be advised the above is my version of the summary - it is not intended to be an authoritative verbatim account of the discussions over the 5 hours.

Here is my personal response to the issues relating to ORDIT

http://drivinginstructortraining.bigtom.org.uk/