Structuring the learning

The Driving Instructors Handbook usefully details nine main principles involved in structuring any driving instruction (pg 149).  Regrettably, it adds explicitly in the introduction:

"As there is a good deal of common sense involved in teaching a practical skill, most good instructors follow these principles intuitively."

I'm not sure what other introduction could have been more effective in switching off a reader:  "For all you numbnuts out there, that have absolutely no common sense, you probably aren't a good driving instructor, so you need to read up on these 9 main principles (the rest of us just follow them intuitively)." 

Charmed, I'm sure.

If following the principles was merely down to "common sense", then I wonder why some driving instructors suffer from as many accidents as they do?  I would have thought it "common sense" that if my pupils were having accidents in my driving school car under my supervision, then perhaps I need to reconsider how adequate is my ability to teach pupils.

Where have we seen that group of wording before?  Oh yes, the DVSA Standards Check: "The approved driving instructor (ADI) standards check assesses your ability to teach pupils."

It would be logical to draw a connection between a driving instructor's ability to teach pupils effectively, keep things safe while doing so, and a Standards Check result.  As can be seen, > by this unbelievable driving test pass <, logic at times goes out the window!

My invitation in this blog is for driving instructors who are having accidents (regardless of their Standards Check grade), to consider how effectively they are working alongside these nine guiding principles.