Is your pupil feedback effective?

Before we start working with pupils (and while it occurs) it is wise to discuss previous experiences.  When pupils have experience of trying to learn practical skills it can be very beneficial in raising awareness of the ‘learning path’.

If a pupil has very little experience then that is STILL worth a discussion; arguably more so.  Feedback to pupils comes in many forms and we should vary the methods so as to ‘tune in’ to our pupil.  If a pupil’s background offers them little assistance in the path of learning to drive then that needs to be said because some people will literally not appreciate that point and could have entirely unrealistic expectations of what is achievable. 

In my driving school we adopt a traffic light system denoting previous experience after we speak to our customers before they even sign up to us.  This is important because it manages customer’s expectations – particularly the customers who would not otherwise be aware of the significance previous experiences has on the rate of learning.

As I have mentioned in other blogs it cannot be over stated how important it is for feedback that we give to be clear and meaningful.  If you have discussions with pupils and they are not engaging with you or have little regard to what you say, then make every attempt to change the communication method.  Examples include the giving of formal typed feedback, playback of recorded in-car video footage, verbal 1:1 (facing each other), performance evaluation via their pupil book (acts as a handy reminder), either face to face or telephone conversations with parents/funders of trainers, emailing, targeted driving video suggestions, other ADI assessments, mock test results (including how it was scored), specific blog posts, driving test reports.  There are lots of ways in which pupils can receive feedback and we should never assume that just because some feedback provided is blindingly obvious to us, it will also be understood by the pupil.  Some pupils will not be practised in the receiving of feedback so they will be not appreciate or even respect the contents of the feedback.  By giving effective feedback we are managing risk, developing learning and working 'smart'.

In much the same way, one could stress a similar point in “client centred learning” – it will not be suitable for all pupils necessarily; which is why the DVSA have been careful of their wording in section 6.3.3

This subject of feedback is a very important point to us as driving instructors as it is assisting in 3 ways: the effectiveness of the learning process, maintaining of safety and the managing of customer expectations – significant for the benefit of a successful business and happy customers.

For more information contact Tara on 0800 689 4174   

Different types of learners

In this blog Tom Ingram (from BIG TOM Driving School) talks about the need to identify what type of learner you are dealing with, and why that is important.

Some learner drivers will get key concepts of road safety the first time you introduce them; they will be able to transfer those concepts into different scenarios, at different locations, and they have an ability to consider the situations from differing perspectives, appreciating how consequences affect others differently.  The amount of natural ability differs between learners, as does their willingness to take ownership for the learning process.  I have discovered over the years, the most challenging of pupils are those who have lesser natural ability, less appreciation of the need to take responsibility for the learning process, and have highly inflated expectations of what they can achieve.  Take care not to mis-interpret my message there though.  As I say in my ebook, I have found the most rewarding of experiences is with the more challenging pupils.  But this issue relating to lack of self-awareness of ability is potentially a killer.

The trap that all PDI’s should be aware of is mis-reading the understanding of a pupil based on their behaviour that gives an impression of competence and ability but actually is brought about by familiarity only. 

For example, let’s look at a tricky right emerge from a minor road onto a dual carraigeway (like the one in the image above).

Whilst that junction layout may not be particularly common in any given training area, undoubtedly they exist; I have examples of this scenario in a few of the areas that my driving school operates in.  But they are not in abundance and seldom crop up in driving tests.  As such, it highlights the necessity to train for everyday driving as opposed to passing driving tests. 

A pupil has to identify what they are dealing with, the options to deal with it, the risks associated with it and then the actual doing.   But ultimately, we want our pupils to be able to do all the above actions independently.  So the challenge for us as instructors is to be able to see that the pupil is able to apply this skillset in any location, crucially NOT just where they have repeatedly practised it.  If you just go back to the same location, the pupil learns through repetition only… they are not learning the key skills of identification or options and risks associated.  The risk that poses from a learning process point of view is that a pupil would not be able to perceive this kind of junction elsewhere in the UK.  They may not appreciate what they need to do because they didn’t spot vital clues on the approach. 

Look what DES (Driving the Essential Skills) tells us that has to be done on these junctions when turning right:

You need to cross the first carriageway before you can join the carriageway you want.

·        Assess whether the central reservation is deep enough to protect the full length of the vehicle

·        If the central reservation is deep, cross the first carriageway when it’s safe and then wait for a gap in the traffic on the second carriageway

·        If the central reservation can’t contain the length of your vehicle, you mustn’t begin to cross until the dual carriageway is clear in both directions.

·        Don’t emerge unless you’re sure you won’t cause traffic on the major road to alter speed or course.  This is particularly important if you’re driving a longer vehicle, or towing a caravan or trailer.

Consider for a moment how this could go in driving sessions with a pupil.  The pupil has been introduced to one of these junctions.  It was agreed that full talk through would be given so that the pupil can be made aware of the necessary considerations of how to negotiate the hazard safely.  It goes well.  A review suggests that the pupil was comfortable with the experience.  It is agreed to try the same junction again (the next nearest junction like this is over an hour drive away).  The pupil attempts it again, this time with some prompts from you.  A review again shows that the pupil is happy.  The pupils record is updated accordingly.   On another day/time, whilst in the vicinity of the junction, you hold a de-brief with the pupil about the previous experience of it.  The pupil is happy to set the goal of driving across the junction independently and in order to ensure safety is not compromised, it is decided that the pupil is going to talk through their considerations and plan of action PRIOR to actually doing it.  In the review afterwards, the pupil is happy with the outcome.  The pupils record is updated to show that it has been achieved independently.

Many driving hours later, while on a pre-planned route which includes this junction, the pupil then negotiates this junction again, turning right, and does it efficiently, safely with no undue effects on other road users.  The pupil record is updated.

Is this pupil able to negotiate this junction independently because they are applying all the required skills of identification, risk assessment, options, driving actions and judgement for the subject of turning right on to dual carraigeways or is it because they are repeating what they have previously done and merely dealing with the “familiar”?  The reason why this is a significant question bears a few points:

·        The pupil may or may not get this junction on their test, as such, the training (above) is the only training that the pupil receives on how to turn right on dual carriageways before getting their full driving licence

·        The ability of any given pupil to transfer the skillset for dealing with this scenario anywhere else will differ between pupils

·        Repeating driving actions on familiar road junctions does not in itself mean that the pupil will be capable of performing the required actions on similar unfamiliar road junctions.

How many times does a driving action need to be performed on the same location before it becomes “familiar”?  Some pupils will be able to identify junctions they have done previously, others not so well.  What length of time needs to elapse before the ‘learning’ gained at a particular familiar junction begins to fade?  In effect what I am asking is “How well has our pupil learnt the key skillset to deal with this kind of junction in familiar and unfamiliar locations?”  You wont know the answer to that question until you plan in driving those junctions into the learning programme.  This is fundamentally why it is so incredibly dangerous to only coach pupils to pass driving tests by repeatedly driving on test routes.  It is also why Unit 6.3.3 is essential to us as professionals.  “Transfer the balance of responsibility for their learning process to the learner as soon as they are ready to take it”.  If a learner cares not how well they learn turning right on to a dual carriageway, they don’t have the desire, time, patience, money or even see the need to practise it on familiar and unfamiliar junctions then there is a problem with who is owning responsibility for the learning process.  If pupils are not paying attention to the frequency, duration or effectiveness of driving training sessions and that affects their ability to develop skillsets to handle situations like the one described in this blog, then ultimately the buck stops with us.  Someone at some point has to be responsible for outcomes, and if that means there is a need for some pretty plain speaking, then speak on….. because fail to address this issue and you are doing no more than feeding the liability that newly qualified drivers present post-test.  Not only is the safety of driving examiners, the pupil and anyone who happens to be nearby put at risk on a driving test, but post-test it may even include the nearest and dearest of the pupil who are passengers at the time.

Tom Ingram provides PAYG training for PDI’s – 0775 607 1464

Do We Learn to Perceive Danger?

The simple answer to that question is yes.  From the time we are a baby, and our motor skills begin to develop so does our perception of danger.  When my niece visited just a few days ago with her "just walking" toddler, there was an instant perception of danger of the open fire in the lounge.  There were no words needed from Mum, this was ingrained and perfectly natural.

So it begs the question why a 17 year old cannot perceive danger when driving a car.  

This morning, on an intensive driving course in Bourne, my pupil wanted to drive out to Stamford using a rural road rather than one of the arguably easier, more forgiving A roads that he could have chosen.  He actually deliberately chose this route as he wanted to experience driving on a rural road in pouring rain.

So, after raising the question to him of any potential hazards that may be coming our way, his response was in the negative.  In my mind I am thinking of increased seperation gaps between our vehicle and others; reduced vision out of the windscreens and side mirrors due to the rainfall; the increased mental fatigue due to the effort required driving in rain; the potential of aquaplaning and the prospect of having large pools of water on the road surface; the importance of tread depth on tyres and correct tyre pressures for traction; the prospect of spray suddenly hitting the front windscreen from a passing vehicle that temporarily reduces vision; the possibility of sliding on a country road bend due to the wet and how it would be sensible to adjust speed and gears on the approach so that there is no braking or gas on the bend for maximum stability.  But despite the fact that this pupil had just passed his theory test 4 days earlier, none of these potential hazards came from him, in fact nothing at all came from him regarding how this journey was going to go.

Unsurprisingly, straight away I could sense that he was not adjusting his speed at all to adapt to the driving conditions, so in the interests of safety, I instantly intervened and raised his awareness of the potential hazards associated with the speed he was travelling in the rainy weather.
  
Any change?

Marginal.  

He kept on driving through the large puddles on the left near the verge.  So I intervened and raised his awareness of what he was feeling in his hands through the wheels and steering wheel as he drove through the puddles; the potential for loss of traction, driving off the road, the possibility of driving through large potholes that the puddles could conceal.  We discussed coping mechanisms, he spoke of reduced speed, I spoke of changes in position to avoid the puddles.
  
Any change?

None.

We pull over.  We talk about the perceived danger here, and there was no perceived danger.  We talked about the "thrill" of driving through these large puddles at speed, and how a vehicle can lose traction in a second at these faster speeds and be off the road.  I ask him how he thinks I feel at this moment.... "I don't know, could you tell me?".  I most certainly could, "I am shitting myself here".

From the age of a baby, through pre-school years, into primary school years, yet further into secondary school - all these years this pupil of mine would have come across danger.  Danger to himself, or his family or friends.  He will have experience of perceived danger relating to amusement parks, Call of Duty video games, riding a bike on a road, playing a prank on a friend, riding a 2 wheel scooter, walking alone in the dark, learning how to swim, crossing a busy road.  There will have been dozens and dozens of instances where he was either aware of the impending danger and managed the situation, was unaware of the impending danger and suddenly made aware of the near miss or unaware of the impending danger and learnt the hard way.  But, one thing is for sure, he has not spent the first 17 years of his life wrapped up in cotton wool, living a "risk-free" existence.  As such, why on earth when I raise his awareness of the impending danger of driving as he is in the heavy rain, is he not adapting his behaviour?

We get back home.
  
Me  "How did that go?"
Him "Ok"
Me "Talk me through how you felt when you drove on that road in that pouring rain"
Him "Yea ok.  It is harder driving in the rain"
Me "It is?  How?"
Him "Well I could just feel it sometimes as I drove through a puddle, even in the villages, in the 30's I felt it on my hands, through the steering wheel"
Me  "How did it make you feel?"
Him  "Ok"
Me  "Did you perceive danger?"
Him "No"

I then spoke to him about the perception of danger.  I in effect, steered his brain into the thought of what danger means to each of us, and how some people can perceive danger more than others.  He immediately took a defensive response with, "Oh you mean I should slow down a bit more, and steer away from the puddles?".  Well..... is that what I mean?

No, that is not what I mean.  

That would be a coping mechanism for dealing with the dangerous situation that he had just been in, but what I am referring to is his ability to even KNOW that he is in a dangerous situation.  I made the point that today, I was present with him in the car, overseeing to make sure we did not crash, that both of us lived to have the discussion that we were.  But crucially what I was raising was the fact that he himself had not imagined these dangerous hazards when he chose the route he did, and more than that, even when I raised his awareness of the dangerous hazards, he did not heed my warning and adapt his behaviour despite my giving him the guidance of how to adapt.  All of us behave in a manner that reflects how we think and feel.  
  
Unconsciously incompetent.  

What I am keen to develop in this young man is his ability to start identifying risk, assessing it, making appropriate decisions based on that assessment and reflecting on the outcomes so as to refine this skill-set.  

So no, the skill being developed here is one of self-awareness, not one of regurgitating a sentence about slower speeds in the rain - regurgitating answers in this manner is best left to school exams or dare I say, theory tests; what I am wanting to hear and see is a bit of deep meaningful reflection that will hold this chap in good stead when I am long gone out of his life.  How will he respond when he first drives in mist or fog for the first time, or plans to drive with 3 mates to a party, or buys his first powerful car?

I can't MAKE my pupils wear seat belts after they pass the driving test, I can't force them to drive to conditions rather than maximum speed limits, the influence I have on them is tiny compared to the influences of others in their inner circle.  What I can attempt to do however, is raise his awareness to realise that it will be him and him alone who makes the choices of how he drives a motor vehicle - now that is some responsibility.

The Chief Examiner of the DVSA recently made mention of this subject in a driving instructor conference explaining about the frontal lobe development in the brain of 17-25 year old (particularly males) with the consequent affect of limiting "anticipated regret" (not considering consequences of actions)

Tom Ingram is the Owner of BIG TOM Driving School

PAYG trainee driving instructor training Bookings: 0775 607 1464