We also have to look at the profit issue. Any private organisation is driven by profit. Profit should not be the driving force behind training driving instructors. Many private trainers have got involved with fleet training this has lead to major concerns over the standard of successful candidates. Although DSA are supposed to monitor and check standards they seem to being doing a poor job in this sector.
DSA would also like to qualification to be by means of a vocational qualification. We have been down this road some years ago. At what level do you set the qualification NVQ 1, 2, or 3 maybe higher?
An instructor is either qualified or not there is no in between.
Where does this leave ORDIT
The DSA set up the Official Register of Driver Instructor Trainers (ORDIT) a few years ago; this is a voluntary register regulated by DSA. Many individual and driving schools have spent money and committed time to completing all that’s necessary to be allowed on the register only to have to DSA throw it all away, should their proposal of going to an outside organisation for training be approved.
In fact it states in the consultation “Therefore sole traders will not be able to continue in their current business model”. There are many very successful and knowledgeable instructor trainers on the ORDIT register, there are also many trainer that saw no benefit of being on the register and have continued to train very good instructors. Some ORDIT registered instructors might find work with who ever the DSA appoint as the official trainers of instructors, but the terms and condition under which they are employed could mean they will have to take a big drop in income. The independent ADI trainers not on ORDIT I’m afraid your income for this activity will be gone.