The Future of Instructor Training
Unite are involved in the MDT discussions, and the future of driver training, we are aware of the topics being discussed which include both the training of Driving Instructors, and the use of the trainee licence.
Both of these have caused a lot of debate and also brought out a difference of opinion between some of the National Associations. The training of driving instructors has become a hot bed of debate as to what direction should it be take, Should we update the existing examination or should we scrap it altogether and start a fresh with a new qualification?
What can we do with the existing exam process known as the Part 3; this is as far as I know the only exam where if you look for a syllabus to follow you won't find one, No wonder the failure rate is so high, you have no guidelines at all as to what is expected from you when you attend the part 3 exam.
The test is simply an opinion on the day of one examiner from the DSA, as to whether you satisfy him/ her of your ability to instruct. So how do you know if you have reached the standard to pass this test? Who tells you this? Of course you have to rely on your trainer for this, but what qualifies your trainer to asses if you've reach the required grade?
I've been training Driving instructors for over 22 years and during this time seen a few DSA examiners, SE ADI's, DTAM's whatever they were at the time come and go, each with their own ideas and different expectations of how a potential driving instructor should deliver a Part 3 exam.... I learnt over the years that what instruction suited one examiner didn't always suit the next one. Also during these years any changes that were made on a PST but were never conveyed in any correspondence from the DSA. It was just as important to know what the particular examiner wanted to see and hear, and to train my PDI's to suit that examiner.
If a new examination process is brought in will this have a Syllabus, will we be able to have guidelines to follow, or will it be just the same as it is now; open to different training bodies with different interpretations on how to deliver the lesson? And if so will this improve the pass rate?
The Pass rate for part 3 being so low asks the question why? There are in passing all 10 PST's with confidence. You cannot put a number on the hours needed.
So whoses fault is this? It's split between the training organisations and DSA. The large training schools often run franchises and are keen to ensure that the franchises are let out as much as possible. After all it is a business that has to make a profit. At a meeting recently these training organisations were described as "Sausage Factories"