Unit 41: Trained/Full Licence Holder – Progress, Hesitancy and Normal Road Position.

Research Material:
The Driving Instructor’s Handbook – Chapter 5
Driving: The Essential Skills
Lesson Presenter
The PST Sheets
PST 5 – Emergency stop – mirrors/Progress, hesitancy – normal position
Examiner’s Part 3 Guidelines

This is another subject which will only be done on part 3 with a phase 2 subject – someone who has been driving for a while, and is either in need of driver development, or is approaching their test. Think through all of the common problems you see with other road users with regards to the three subjects, and try to imagine where the problems and solutions lie. Aim to be on the move within 5 minutes

Recap & Main Points: (3-5 minutes)
Your customer has driven for a while, whether they are preparing for a test, (possibly an extended test due to disqualification) or having refresher lessons after a break from driving or after driving under different conditions for some time. Listen to your customer’s description of what they feel their problem is (or in the case of someone approaching their test, what their driving instructor has previously told them). From here start to work out a way to test the knowledge, skills and attitude to the areas that are to be worked on.

Objective: (30 Seconds)
To deal with the progress, hesitation and normal position independently, safely and with more confidence (specific, measurable and realistic). How do you feel about aiming for that over the next 20 minutes? (agreed & timed).

Practise:
Watch your customer carefully to determine the level of instruction to be used. Implement core competencies in the event of any faults, and use these to determine changes to the level of instruction.

Bear in mind that the main points in this area often contradict each other – once you have solved their speed problem you may find that they dawdle! Or if they drive too wide, beware of shaving as you attempt to fix this – make them aware that there is an optimum speed and position for every point during a journey, and ask them to question whether they feel they are attaining it.

Once something is being done correctly, attempt to transfer responsibility to an independent driver.

Summary:
Feedback at this point is hugely important – carefully question your customer for their knowledge and attitude. Be enthusiastic about how it all went, but ensure that you put into place an action plan to deal with any problems with control or observations which you couldn’t fix during the time you had in the lesson. Remember to acknowledge any mistakes, but to keep very positive about both your ability and your customer’s. Give your customer ownership of what they have done by asking them where their weak and strong points are. Fill out their track record.

If possible on phase 2 you should aim to call a halt a couple of minutes before the end in order to summarise.

Discussion Points:
Progress problems – get there, but do it safely – flexibility
Hazard awareness & over awareness
Positioning for yourself and others

Unit 42: Trained/Full Licence Holder – Reverse Parking.

Research Material:
The Driving Instructor’s Handbook – Chapter 5
Driving: The Essential Skills
Lesson Presenter
The PST Sheets
PST 6 – Pedestrian crossings and the use of signals/Reverse parking
Examiner’s Part 3 Guidelines

This is another subject which will only be done on part 3 with a phase 2 subject – someone who has been driving for a while, and is either in need of driver development, or is approaching their test. Think through all of the common problems you see with other road users with regards to reverse parking either on the road or into a car park bay, and try to imagine where the problems and solutions lie. Timings will depend on whether this is a new subject to the customer.

Recap: (1-2 minutes)
This is a slightly odd PST for the part 3, as it will only ever be covered on the 2nd phase with a trained driver or full licence holder, but it may well be the first time the person has ever attempted to reverse park. Be aware of this possibility and question for knowledge, skills and attitude as always.

Objective: (30 Seconds)
To be able to reverse park, safely and as independently as possible (specific, measurable and realistic). How do you feel about aiming for that over the next 20 minutes? (agreed & timed).

Main Points: (3-5 Minutes)
If a customer has attempted to reverse park before, it will be worth asking them to talk through how they do it – and use this as a basis (remember to always teach from the known to the unknown).

Practise:
This subject will often require guided instruction at first (though listen for any indication to the contrary). Pitch your instruction carefully, and while you are aiming for this to work first time, you want to avoid over instructing and taking the responsibility away from your customer. Once something is being done correctly, attempt to transfer responsibility to an independent driver.

Summary:
Feedback at this point is hugely important – carefully question your customer for their knowledge and attitude. Be enthusiastic about how it all went, but ensure that you put into place an action plan to deal with any problems with control or observations which you couldn’t fix during the time you had in the lesson. Remember to acknowledge any mistakes, but to keep very positive about both your ability and your customer’s. Give your customer ownership of what they have done by asking them where their weak and strong points are. Fill out their track record.

If possible on phase 2 you should aim to call a halt a couple of minutes before the end in order to summarise.

Discussion Points:
Bay or Parallel
Skill problems – control, or spatial awareness?
Awareness of, and dealing with other road users

Unit 43: The Part 3 Examination – Mock & PST Sheets.

These Pre-set Test sheets have been taken from the official part 3 examination sheets, and show everything in the same order and combinations. You will recognise the layout from the individual subject sheets included after each subject we have covered. We have re-set them to make printing and use easier during your training.

When your examiner comes out at the test centre and asks you to sign the declaration for your part 3 – this will be the PST which you will required to do – so it’s always worth having a look at the sheet itself.

Through your training we have avoided teaching simply to the PSTs, because this can lead to a very narrow view of the part 3 exam, and the job itself. Hopefully you will start to really get to grips with what you know, and the skills you have developed, and you will now be able to apply this to your preparation for the part 3 exam.

Look carefully through each sheet, and try to fulfil every requirement – you know what your examiner is looking for – give it to them.

There is often a myth in driving instructor circles that the part 3 is completely different to a ‘real’ lesson – don’t be taken in by this. Yes, the part 3 feels slightly false, and it is an engineered situation, but if you treat the examiner as your customer, and give good value for money (imagining they have paid you sometimes helps!) you are half way there. The PST sheet is simply a way of evaluating whether you are capable of giving value for money.

Don’t change what you do on the day – your training will have covered about 90% of eventualities, and should be the basis for what you do. The other 10% will rely on your interaction with your ‘customer’, and how well you help your customer overcome their difficulties. As the instructor you must keep control of the lesson, and if things feel wrong to you, you need to keep on top of them. Be flexible – your ‘customer’ will give you the answer to why they are doing things wrong – but it is up to you, your flexibility and ingenuity to draw it out and make them understand what is happening, why it is happening and how to fix it.

Keep researching, reading, thinking, planning and observing – there is no such thing as too much planning!

Unit 44: Covering the syllabus – using a track record

Resources:
The official guide to learning to drive (Driving Skills) – DSA
The DL25 (test sheet)
The DT1 Examiner’s guidelines for marking the driving test

“The official guide to learning to drive (Driving Skills)” from the DSA is the official syllabus. You will need to cover the whole syllabus with your customers before they are ready for their test.

However, this book does not cover how to do everything. For this I think that anyone would advise that you work mainly from The Essential Skills. Working through this book should mean that the syllabus has been covered, but using a comprehensive track record will ensure that your customer has completed the course.

You can design your own track record, you could use the one the DSA offer to all driving instructors, or you could simply use a copy of the DL25 as a check list.

Whichever way you decide to work, do not let anyone go to test until you are sure that they are capable of driving on all roads (excluding motorways – though this should be covered in theory), and are safe in their execution of all manoeuvres.

Easily missed details include:

Eyesight and Licence checks (you’d be surprised)
Moving off into traffic streams
Overtaking (bicycles on narrow roads often cause problems)
Road works
Stop Junctions
Dealing with the unexpected (bin trucks, driving at different times of day etc)

Deciding when to put a candidate in for their test is simple – only put them in when you feel that they drive safely. Small technical mistakes are not a problem but safety issues must be sorted out before a test is taken. There must be an emphasis on safety throughout their training and explanations given for all major problems. For example, many customers do not realise how dangerous hitting a kerb on a manoeuvre can be.

When approaching test, many candidates will try to change their style of driving, which causes problems. Remember that your core competencies are ideally suited to problem solving – Identify the problem (for example driving too fast towards hazards), Analyse it (“because my mate failed for going too slow”), and offer Remedial Action (remind them that they should not drive too slowly when the road is clear but when there are hazards they need to be in full control, and this usually means approaching them more slowly in order to assess them).

Discussion Points:
The track record, and how to use it

Unit 45: Pass Plus, refresher and beyond

There is much more to driving than passing the test and throughout their training your customers may be aware of their lack of experience. As a driving instructor we are often simply there to get customers through their test as quickly as possible. We must not take short cuts on this, but it is often impossible (due to customers’ time and budget constraints) to be as thorough as we would like.

Making sure that your customers are aware of the advantages of ongoing training will encourage them to return to you for Pass Plus, or at least motorway driving training once they have passed. To become Pass Plus registered you must have passed your part 3 (trainees cannot do Pass Plus training). This is an excellent course for all, and if customers have had a chance to drive alone a few times before taking it they often find it extremely useful. Remember that they will know their local areas – this is the chance to take them out of their comfort zone. This will make them aware of how much they may have been relying on their memory of roads to make decisions. Reading roads of different types, and understanding how different conditions will affect their decision making process, will turn them from capable drivers in their own areas to capable drivers when faced with new roads and challenging conditions.

You may find that you are asked to provide refresher lessons. Your approach to these should be the same as your approach to the Full Licence Holder situations you worked through in training. Some drivers have some serious knowledge, skills and attitude problems which may seem hard to deal with at first, but remember that you have the skills: Levels of instruction (which must not be patronising – these people often do not have to take lessons, they choose to) and the Core Competencies. Encourage anyone who takes refresher training – goodness knows there are enough drivers out there who should, but only a few actually do. If you can make sure that they enjoy their sessions with you while becoming safer and more confident drivers you will guarantee yourself repeat custom and recommendations.

From here, you can start to decide where you want your career to go. You will usually need to take more training and often exams to offer further training (we will come to CPD later), though you may want to consider:

Fleet Training
Specialist vehicle training (LGV, HGV, 4×4, Motorbike)
Emergency response training
Instructor training and CPD provision

You can probably start to put together a list of objectives for your own career path already!

Discussion Points:
Pass Plus
Refresher Lessons
Where next?

Unit 46: The trainee licence

Resources:
The Driving Instructor’s Handbook

Many potential driving instructors are encouraged to earn money during their training using the trainee licence. The rules surrounding the licence may well soon change, so be sure to keep up to date with all of the most recent changes on this from the driving instructor forums, the DSA and the Department of Transport.

You can work as a trainee driving instructor with the sponsorship of another ADI or by working with a driving school. The licence allows you to give instruction for reward for a period of 6 months. To gain the licence, you must have taken (and had signed off by an ADI) 40 hours of training. During the first 3 months of the trainee licence you must also receive a further 20 hours of training, or have 25% of your lessons supervised by an ADI.

There is very little statistical evidence that PDIs who have used the trainee licence scheme actually perform better at Part 3 than PDIs who don’t. However, many who have used the scheme have found it useful. Whether this is because they have had to self teach themselves while paying customers suffer or not is a different matter!

If you have decided to work on the trainee licence during your training you must bear in mind that you have a responsibility to yourself first and foremost. If your training is being impeded by your workload you must cut down the amount of lessons you give.

Discussion Points:
Is it suitable for you?
How can it be made to work for you?
The customer/trainee balance
Giving value for money as a trainee

Unit 47: Self assessing your performance

Whether you are working on a trainee licence or you are working as a qualified ADI, you should self assess your performance on a regular basis.

Grade yourself from 1 (lost it completely, didn’t achieve it at all, or gave incorrect information), to grade 6 (the best you could expect to achieve).

Grade yourself 1-6 for each of the following:

Planned the lesson beforehand
Recap of previous experience
SMART objective set
Agreement gained
Main Points for the subject covered
Demonstration with explanation given (if necessary)
Customer driving within 10 minutes
Initial level of instruction suitable during practice
Level of instruction reduced within 30 minutes
Route chosen was suitable and flexible
Customer involved at all stages
Feedback and encouragement given
All faults identified (within the subject)
All faults analysed
Remedial action was effective
End of lesson summary was constructive
Next lesson planned and agreed
Lesson was controlled well (with freedom to learn)

Unit 48: Being self employed

As a driving instructor it is more than likely that you will be self employed. (Check very carefully with your training company or “placement” company, many people have been misled into thinking they would get a “job” at the end of their training, rather than a franchise.)

As well as having the freedom to work for yourself, you also have the responsibility to ensure that everyone who needs to know about your status does. Her Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (HMRC) will undoubtedly want to know, and you will need to register to pay your own national insurance. Some mortgage companies will expect to be notified, and often insurance for injury and illness may need to be changed. A quick chat with all of these providers would be sensible and the local tax office can be a great source of information about self employment and tax matters.

If you need help setting yourself up, local enterprise partnerships and council-run initiatives can be useful. A quick search of the internet can find a lot of information and may save you a fortune in set up costs. Often advisors will know what works in your area and can put you in touch with other individuals or small companies who may well be able to help.

You need to plan how you want your business to work, whether you are looking for a part time income or a long term professional career. The skills you have gained can be used for this – recap what skills you have, set SMART objectives, with time scales, and list all of the main points you will need to put into place. Once you make a start on this it is simple and it will help you to keep an objective overview of how well you are doing when you might have had a bad day. Regularly go through these objectives and re-evaluate them depending on how well you are doing, or in the light of new circumstances.

Discussion Points:
Inform the relevant authorities
Seek Advice
Business Plan

Unit 49: Getting work

So you’re a driving instructor now. How do we pay the bills, how do we get established, and how – in the long run – do we build a profitable business?

Recommendations: Free.
This is the best way to get custom, but it won’t help you yet. One customer who has friends could fill your diary in a very short time – with a little luck! Treat every customer like they have lots of friends- build a recommendation scheme that will encourage and reward them to get their friends in with you.

The Directories: 1 line – free, 3 line bold – £120?, quarter column – £400?
Yellow Pages, The Phone Book, Thompson etc – get registered with all of these (this can usually be done online), and make sure you get your free line ad – if someone knows your name, they can find your number. The directories used to be the main advertising for Driving Instructors and many still spend up to £3000 a year on advertising with them. This may not be worth it. Your target audience will predominantly be younger and the directories will not be their first point of call.

The Internet: Name registry – £5/year? Site – Free up to £thousands.
This is where to start. The majority of any work which doesn’t come from word of mouth now comes from the internet. Get registered on as many of the directories as possible and get yourself a website.

At first your website won’t register on ‘standard’ searches (yahoo, google, msn etc), but the directories will send people to you. In the long run you will need your site to work for you.

This means you need people to see your advertisement – get some Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) done on your site – at the very least you should appear on all ‘local’ searches for your area. You should also appear on the first 3 pages of the main three search engines (preferably number 1, page 1 for ‘driving lessons in your area’).

Ensure that you can check who is visiting your site and which pages interest them, this way you can adjust your site to keep people interested for longer and make sure that valuable information isn’t missed.

Even before you qualify, it can be worth getting a basic site (however simple) registered and submitted to the search engines. Search engines (especially google) may take some time to check your site and add them to search results – get started early. A professional, well optimised site should cost around £300 for 5 pages – home, prices, you and your car, the course, area. Instructor forums are good for this info (esp. www.drivertrainingtoday.co.uk).

Local Papers: Credit card size ad in the directory of services – £50? Same size ad in the motoring section – £25?
It is often tempting to put a big ad in and hope that this will do the job, but a safer option is to put a regular ad in every week. People will get used to seeing your name, and after a few weeks you will find that you are getting regular calls.

Lesson prices: First Lesson Free, First 4 lessons £5.99, First 10 lessons £99, oh the list of offers is endless!
Don’t get caught in the trap of offering cheap lessons for any period of time. I offer the first lesson free with no catches which means that people can try my service, then I charge a realistic price for myself and for the area I teach in after this. Average lesson prices vary from around £18 an hour in rural and deprived areas to £25 in the big cities.
Bear in mind that doing 6 lessons of an hour will take around 9 hours, but doing 3 lessons of 2 hours will only take 7.5 hours. This enables you to give sustainable discounts to encourage people to take longer lessons – something that many instructors haven‘t cottoned on to yet.
Payment in advance also safeguards you against customers not turning up or cancelling at short notice, which hits your pocket. Discounting for advance payment even by only one lesson will pay for itself and ensure a lot less aggravation in the long run.
What you need to do is work out how much you need to earn, and how much work you are happy doing in order to get there. Do your sums – silly discounts do not help.

Leaflets and flyers: how much work are you willing to do?
This can be a very cheap way of doing things – try to make your flyers as professional as you can afford, and drop them yourself. Ask local shops, take aways etc to put one up for you – many will do this for free, some will ask a few pence per week. If you have contacts with local secondary schools or colleges, ask whether you can advertise on their notice boards. This is a very hit and miss way of doing things, but one customer from 1000 flyers may well make it worth it.

Answering the phone: hmmmmm……?!
It’s all very well being the best instructor, having your number in the right places, and having the right discounts to draw people in, but if no-one is answering the phone you won’t get any customers. Answer as many calls as possible, as professionally as possible. If you have a message return it as soon as possible; people will move on rapidly if you don’t.

How much is one customer worth?
Well – 45 hours (average amount of hours with an instructor for every test passed according to the DSA) at £20 an hour – £900. If you reckon that could be 2 quiet weeks work, this would equate to around £650 after costs and before tax – paying £20 to get nearly 2 weeks work wouldn’t be unreasonable. While getting established, you should probably reckon on around £50 per customer – some of this may be your time and resources offered free, but some of this will need to be hard cash. Anticipate and plan for this, you will not be able to set yourself up without it.

Discussion Points:
Write your own marketting plan

Unit 50: Independent or franchise?

This is a big question which will need some thinking about. Here are some of the arguments:

For:
They find you work
There is someone to answer the phone
You get a car
They pay for all the advertising
The franchise fee covers everything
You have the back up of a big company
It makes life easier
You get resources and materials provided
“Free” training
A structure within which you can learn how the business works

Against:
They don’t always find you work
Your recommendations may go to another instructor
You may not get a car
You could be advertising yourself with the franchise fee
Apart from tax, fuel, and often the customer introduction fee
You may find your reputaion is affected by weaker instructors in the company
You may have to sign a binding contract
You have to work to “their” methods
You decide what training you want
A structure that doesn’t allow you to structure your own business and career

If you look at each of the columns in isolation you could be easily convinced, but this is a big decision and you should take your time over it. If you are a confident self starter, or have been self employed in another career, you should aim to become independent as the rewards will undoubtedly be higher. However, if you prefer to work within a structure, the franchise option may suit you better.

If you decide to go with a franchise make sure you speak to instructors who are with the company, and look carefully through the contracts you are expected to sign. If you have any doubts about any legal documents you must seek advice. The DIA will often look through legal documents for you, and answer any questions you may have.

Discussion Points:

Write your own list – which is best for you?