A race to the bottom

It would appear that the DVSA are placing increasing importance on their Standards Check grading that they periodically give to driving instructors; with talk now of it becoming compulsory for ADI’s to publicise their grading.  It begs the question why the DVSA doesn’t just automatically publicise the grades taking any “option” out of the driving instructor’s hands.

Any aspiring driving instructors might well be wondering what all the fuss is about – let me explain.

The DVSA choose to assess the competence of a driving instructor by having an examiner observe a real driving lesson from the back seat of the driving school car.  One might wonder what is possibly wrong with that?  Well, in much the same way that learner drivers can be “coached” to pass driving tests, equally, driving instructors can be “coached” to pass Standards Check assessments.  Shock, horror! Surely I didn’t just say that?  How dare I suggest such a thing?!  People get a bit confused by this situation because some perceive training that is specifically aimed at “Standards Check” assessments as being “CPD”.  But be under no illusions, if a driving instructor is receiving short, sharp, intensive “Standards Check” training they are being “coached” to pass the Standards Check with flying colours.  The problem with this approach to the Standards Check assessment is how ‘long term’ the new learning will be on the driving instructor.  The analogy I would draw for you would be to consider how long term the effects are on a learner driver by telling them to check a mirror every 8 seconds.  In doing so, the pupil complies and passes the driving test, but do you think for one moment that the pupil will continue checking the mirror every 8 seconds after passing the driving test?  This low grade type of driver training is going on in our industry right now.

So what I am really questioning is the integrity and value of the Standards Check.  The DVSA are on the brink here of making the fundamental mistake the school education industry has made in how OFSTED assesses schools.  So much emphasis is placed on the perceived value of exam grades, that the whole point of effective, meaningful education for ALL students is being lost. 

Driving instructors should be assessed by monitoring what ACTUAL CPD they do.  Are they attending driving association conferences where the DVSA attend?  Are they purchasing and passing training courses that has meaningful “teaching” qualifications attached to it?  It is my contention that the worthiness of a driving instructor is directly linked to their ability to facilitate effective learning.  What we need the DVSA to do is to follow through with the goals of the driving standards that they have provided, and assess driving instructors in their ability to deliver high quality driving training aligned to those driving standards.  The ability of a driving instructor to facilitate  effective learning is measurable by how well the driving instructor is trained.  

What we desperately need is our industry to stop providing “emergency first aid” training in the form of temporarily equipping driving instructors to pass the Standards Check.  Instead the DVSA should be requiring to see evidence of any meaningful CPD the driving instructor is participating in.      

Tom Ingram provides PAYG driving training to trainee driving instructors from £20/hr (0775 607 1464)   http://drivinginstructortraining.bigtom.org.uk/