The marking sheet they use for your driving test is called a DL25. When you take your test, pass or fail you will get a copy of it and an attached sheet which explains what is/was expected of you under all the headings. I wrote about this a little while ago. See this topic to download a copy.
On one of the forums, someone who goes through the DL25 with their pupils at some point prior to their test has asked if this might be seen as just teaching people to pass the test, instead of teaching them to drive.
I suspect that what he meant was that he goes through the DL25 including the explanations sheet that comes with it. Even if he doesn’t, if he explains exactly what is involved under each section then it amounts to the same thing.
The simple and obvious answer is that if you explain what the examiner is looking for in all those possible cases, and especially when something that the examiner wouldn’t be happy with occurs on a lesson, then you are not just teaching them to pass the test. You are giving them a complete picture of what is acceptable and what isn’t.
A prime example is the turn in the road (TIR), or three-point turn as some people still call it. At some stage the pupil will bump the kerb or not look around enough. Certainly if they touch the kerb, most of them will say “you fail if you touch the kerb, don’t you?” This is where the DL25 comes in and provides an ideal teaching opportunity.
I get them to read the part about the TIR, and show them how they are being marked for control and observation/safety:
Turn in the road
Keep a look out for traffic and pedestrians whenever you are turning your vehicle and be prepared to give way to them. Control your vehicle smoothly. Do not let the vehicle mount the pavement. Try not to touch the kerbs as this could damage your vehicle and endanger other road users and pedestrians.
Then the conversation goes something like this:
Me: See that part about mounting the kerb? Is that the same as just touching it?
Them: No.
Me: So what do you think the examiner would do if you just touched it gently as you were stopping?
Them: Well, if I don’t go on the pavement… it says TRY not to touch the kerb.
Me: Exactly! But what if you didn’t even try and stop and bumped the pavement hard?
Them: That’s different, though.
Me: Yes, it is. Because if you’re trying to stop you obviously know where the kerb is. But if you don’t, what does that say about your control?
Them: It’s bad.
Me: Yes. So you can see how the examiner might not look at it the same way you do.
And what about taking more than three moves to get it round? It isn’t called a “three point turn”, so you can take as many tries as you want in theory. But what if you could get it round in three but end up taking five or seven moves? Are you in control?
Them: Ummm. Well, no.
Me: Arguably, no, I agree. So it’s best to get it absolutely right. But it doesn’t say you MUST do it in three goes, and you can never be sure how the examiner sees it. If the rest of your drive is good then it might be viewed differently. One thing you must never do is assess yourself as you’re going along and assume you have failed. Focus on what is coming up and drive the way you can normally drive.
And what about your observations – that’s where they mark under “safely” – what does it say about those?
Them: Just that I’ve got to look for other people.
Me: And…?
Them: Oh, and give way to them.
Me: What does “give way” mean?
And so it continues as necessary, depending on the situation. You can use the DL25 to turn a potentially bland lesson into a turbo-charged one, complete with a bit of “coaching” (hack, spit). The whole thing only takes a few minutes, it dispels any myths they’ve heard, and it makes them think and work the answers out for themselves. It brings them out of their shells, and gets them involved.
We also shouldn’t forget that – like it or not – there IS an element of having to do things in a certain way in order to pass the test, even if under normal circumstances there wouldn’t be a problem with doing them slightly differently.
People who steer clear of the DL25 are missing a trick or two – but I’m sure they’re still Grade 1 Lifeskills Coaches in their own living rooms.
This is an old, old, OLD story. BSM is now owned by the same company which owns the AA. This has been the case since early 2011.
I am beginning to get hits on this search term, or something similar. I’ve also heard rumours.
If it’s BSM franchisees searching, I don’t think you have much to worry about. BSM is not going to disappear just like that – even if the current owners are in a poor financial state, a business that size, in this industry, with that name is not just going to vanish!
I would be surprised if many companies are in absolutely buoyant financial bliss at the moment, so the fact that rumours are circulating is not really a big deal. If it went bellyup, somone would buy it in an instant.
BSMs problems now are the same problems it has always had. It’s just that in a recession, where people are cutting costs and perhaps seeing a bit of a downturn in business, a company like BSM – which relies on the fairly hefty franchise fees it charges – it has nowhere to else to go. It can’t put franchise fees up any more without losing a lot of people, and like most businesses it has been typically greedy and gobbled up any profit it made on overheads. I guess that’s why offices have been shut down progressively.
I fully expect a big change in their structure soon, but like I say it won’t mean that much for ADIs. PDIs, though, might not fare so well…
Of course, there is every possibility that some of those searching are simply voyeurs trying to see if there’s any truth to these rumours. Time will tell.
Cancellation of identity cards: changes to ID requirements
The government has passed legislation cancelling identity cards for British citizens. From 21 January 2011, those identity cards that have already been issued will no longer be legal forms of identification.
This means you’ll no longer be able to use the identity card as a valid document to prove your identity for a practical driving test or for Driver CPC periodic training.
If you don’t have a photo card licence and counterpart to prove your identity but have an old-style paper one, you must bring this and a valid passport.
For more information about the cancellation of identity cards visit direct.gov.uk/identity.
This Mickey Mouse government has got a few people angry at its petty cancellation of the ID card scheme (i.e. just because it was a Labour idea). People paid money for the things, and they aren’t happy that they are not to be compensated for the loss of the privileges the ID card brought them.
Just following on from that earlier post about the DSA Eco-Safe Driving video on YouTube, and my suggestion to look at some of the comments.
…I posted a honest an truthful,but critical response to this and of course it was not approved! Free speech, just like? most of our other liberties are being eroded away by large or corporate organisations.
I wish I’d seen that. YouTube comments usually contain every swear word known to mankind – and nothing else! The DSA moderator’s answer to the original person whose comments were not approved says:
Hi – just to quickly explain our moderation? policy. We check all comments for offensive language before they are published. Comments with no offensive language are published – but it can take a couple of hours from you posting a comment to it being approved.
So, all comments are published as long as there is no offensive language. Clearly, in at least one case, there was offensive language. Some people really do need to read up on the concept of free speech!
But the original complainer doesn’t learn:
Absolute joke. Corporate DSA once again? trying to validate their salaries. Even the stop start technology is a complete waste of time/money/bulls**t co2 propaganda. That’s if you believe in man made co2 .Most well balanced scientist cant agree! Not the paid by Government scientist that will say anything to justify their own budgets. The new test is now actually easier through indi driving. Forget where your going!! Just ASK! one less maneuver also!! Great!!
He must get very frustrated with no one taking him seriously, I wonder if he will ever realise why?
I must admit that I also disagree with the DSA eco-advice about switching off the engine when stopped at traffic lights. The only places I think it is worthwhile are:
at level crossings
at temporary lights when you KNOW they are going to be on red for a long time (those multi-way ones they sometimes set up)
in a traffic jam where you can see the traffic is going nowhere soon
anything similar to the above
It is crazy turning a normal engine off at normal traffic lights. Some lights only let a couple of cars through, and messing about at those is going to really annoy people. On top of that, many people’s cars are likely to not fire up first time (if at all), and that is going to be much more eco-unfriendly than just letting it idle.
New powers to tackle uninsured driving will come into force within months, Road Safety Minister Mike Penning announced today.
Under the new powers it will be an offence to keep an uninsured vehicle, rather than just to drive when uninsured.
Currently every responsible motorist pays an average £30 each year within their premiums to cover crashes involving uninsured and untraced drivers. It is also estimated that uninsured and untraced drivers kill 160 people and injure 23,000 every year.
Mike Penning said:
“Uninsured drivers push up premiums for other motorists and often drive with no regard for other road users, so it is vital that we do everything we can to keep them off the roads.
“More than 400 uninsured vehicles are already being seized by the police every day but it is simply not possible to catch every uninsured driver in this way. That is why we are bringing in these new powers which will help us to take targeted action while freeing up police time to deal with the hard core of offenders.”
Ashton West, Chief Executive at the Motor Insurers’ Bureau, said:
“Today’s news marks a significant step forward in the fight against uninsured driving. This means that as enforcement can take place for both keeping and driving a vehicle without insurance there will be no place for illegal motorists to hide.
“Continuous Insurance Enforcement (CIE) will complement and run alongside existing police roadside enforcement, which has already reduced uninsured driving by 20 per cent.”
Under the new system:
the DVLA will work in partnership with the Motor Insurers’ Bureau to identify uninsured vehicles
motorists will receive a letter telling them that their vehicle appears to be uninsured and warning them that they will be fined unless they take action
if the keeper fails to insure the vehicle they will be given a £100 fine
if the vehicle remains uninsured – regardless of whether the fine is paid – it could then be seized and destroyed
Vehicles with a valid Statutory Off Road Notice (SORN) will not be required to be insured.
The Department for Transport today made the Commencement Order to make it an offence to be the registered keeper of a vehicle which does not have insurance, as well as regulations to support this. Further regulations will be made shortly, allowing the scheme to come into force in the Spring.
I agree wholeheartedly with cracking down on uninsured drivers.
The Driving Standards Agency (DSA) has published a new video on its YouTube channel about eco-safe driving.
Watch the video for tips on how to be an eco-safe driver and contribute to road safety as well as reducing your fuel consumption and vehicle emissions.
As regular readers will know, a version of this blog appears in ADI News. Indeed, some readers originally found the blog via ADI News.
In the December issue I wrote about CPD and questioned its value to me as an ADI in its current form. What triggered that article was several of my own experiences. However, I noticed shortly afterwards that a web forum was looking at the possibility of awarding CPD to people just for being registered users – and charging £10 for the privilege. I mentioned this in the January magazine column.
It should come as no surprise to anyone that most of the material for this blog is prompted by things I experience day-to-day. That includes what I read in newspapers, magazines and – yes – on the internet across many web forums..
I am careful not to mention specific websites in these internet cases.
It seems that someone on one of the forums has taken exception to this. It’s a shame, because all this blog (and the ADI News column) is is a personal take on bits and bobs relating to the industry (and, in many cases, nothing to do with the industry at all). It’s designed to be a bit edgy – to make people think. The “anonymous” part is a bit of fun (like “The Stig”, who most petrolhead ADIs want to have sex with). There’s no way everyone should be expected to agree with me, any more than I am likely to agree with everyone else.
A bit like most web forums, really.
I would hope the person who appears upset can recognise all of this and read the articles accordingly.
The forums have been aglow over recent months on the subject of coaching. It’s quite funny how people think just substituting a word in their waffle suddenly makes them brilliant coaches. Suddenly “I teach people to drive” has become “I coach people to drive”. The irony is that many of them probably don’t do either very well, but it doesn’t stop them using the “C” word in every other sentence.
Some of them might actually be coaching very well, but for most I doubt that they’d recognise coaching if it came and cocked its leg against them.
If anyone asks me what I do, I tell them:
I’m a driving instructor
I teach people to drive
I refuse point blank to use the C word. I had a skinful of it when I was working in the rat race, and it makes my skin crawl now when I hear it. But am I right to feel that way?
A huge part of the problem seems to be that the same kind of people who used to make me hurl when I was in the rat race have started hijacking the coaching issue as it pertains to driving instruction. To that end, they are running around telling everyone what coaching is and what it involves:
communication skills
interpersonal skills
building relationships
create connections
psychological techniques
promoting change
expand contacts
clean language
emergent knowledge
unconscious resources
negative/positive self-belief
personality types
life coaching
performance coaching
self-marketing
body language
inner confidence
This just goes on and on, depending on who you listen to. Phrases like inner confidence and life coaching make me shudder. They’re pure bullshit.
EDIT 24/7/2012: I just want to add something I read recently where a trainer claims – in answer to the question about how to develop a lesson structure – that the following are essential for assessing how a pupil learns:
V.A.K.
Behaviourism i.e. Classical Conditioning
Constructivism – Piaget, Vygotsky
Humanism – Hierarchy of needs (Maslow)
Kolbs learning cycle
Co-operative learning
Cognitive acceleration
I’ve mentioned the rat race a few times. This is exactly the kind of total and utter bullshit we had to deal with. And make no mistake about it – that’s exactly what it is. It’s the equivalent of charging people to breath air. When someone starts spouting this nonsense, their true colours are suddenly and painfully exposed.
The person who quoted these cannot give any real world examples of their use. and application. Merely listing them is supposed to initiate the sharp intake of admiring breaths from those who read it. Or not, as the case may be.
The DSA hasn’t actually said what it expects by way of coaching, and all these ADIs who are allegedly “doing it all the time” – even when they’re in a coma – seem very reluctant to give examples of precisely how they coach when pressed to do so. The reason for that is simple: they haven’t got a clue what coaching is.
They also forget that the DSA is going to take the most direct route possible, and it isn’t likely to require ADIS to gain aromatherapy and crystallography diplomas from the local Clown College in order to remain on the register.
It goes without saying that the GDE Matrix is involved in this – purely because the Clown College life skills department has got hold of it, looked at the table in the back, and seen a way of making shedloads of money out of it. it. But does the Matrix actually agree with those Cuckoo Club Coaches, who seem to believe that levitation, time-travel, and healing hands are mandatory skills for someone who teaches – sorry, coaches – people to drive?
Well, the GDE Matrix Report everyone is referring to (download it by clicking the links above) says that driver behaviour follows this “hierarchical model” – or in plain English, when someone goes out driving their overall performance is governed by these things in order:
car control ability (speed, direction, position, etc.)
handling real situations (junctions, other cars, etc.)
purpose and nature of the journey
general attitudes towards driving and life in general
Just about any ADI will be handling the first three with every pupil they teach. If they aren’t, they shouldn’t be on the Register. We teach them how to handle the car, how to handle road layouts and various traffic conditions, and things which might cause distraction or increase the risk of an accident. Any ADI who isn’t covering these things simply isn’t doing their job properly.
Addressing the 4th item is the one which apparently needs a Clown College diploma in something which mankind has not managed to solve in all of recorded history, and which it is unlikely to solve anytime in the future. In plain English, it is the way the average person behaves generally in their life, and how this carries over into how he or she drives.
As an example, if you have someone who spent their entire time at school pretending to be black in spite of being a pasty white colour (i.e. wearing a stupid baseball cap), plus a shell suit or Burberry clobber, cheap bling, BMX bike, no taste in music, their whole evenings hanging around outside the chip shop smoking, spitting, and swearing at people who walk past, and who was known to the police from about 10 minutes after he was born because of who his parents were, well, that person just might be tempted to drive in an inappropriate manner when he passes his test and buys a Corsa with 4-inch exhaust pipe and blacked out windows. His whole life to that point has conditioned him.
[Some idiot from Manchester has taken issue with this analogy, and thinks it is offensive to black people. It’s supposed to be a swipe at youngwhite people! Slightly built, pasty white youths who dress like rap stars and have rubbish music blaring out of their stereos and who behave antisocially are already a long way away from likely being influenced by a bit of coaching from an instructor. Anyone who has to pretend to be something they aren’t (hence, a white person pretending to be black, when the cap just doesn’t fit) has already got issues. And like it or not, they exist in large numbers out there, which is why I used this example.]
Doesn’t that make you slap your head and go “Of course! It all makes sense now!”
But it gets better, because apparently the one thing that’s been missing from the equation – and which could prevent this unfortunate situation arising – is the role of the Driving Instructor!
Let’s get rid of the Clown College mystique a moment and remind ourselves that “GDE” stands for Goals for Driver Education. The following table is what many people refer to as “The GDE Matrix” or, as it calls itself, “The GDE Framework”. It is basically just a more complicated version of the 4 items listed above, using university-speak to make itself look important. Oh, yes! And it’s upside-down.
Knowledge and Skill
Risk Increasing Aspects
Self-assessment
Goals for life, skills for driving
Lifestyle, age, group norms, motives, self-control, values
Sensation seeking, group norms, complying with peer pressure
Risky tendencies, own preconditions, impulse control
Goals and context of driving
Modal choice, choice of time, trip goals, social pressure
Alcohol, fatigue, purpose of driving, rush hours, competing
A typical young driver who is being taught properly – and that isn’t just by his ADI, but through his schooling and via his parents and friends – will gradually progress across this, starting at the bottom left and finishing top right, but taking in all the other things along the way. Remember that at this stage of the report, all that this table is doing is telling you how someone who is being taught properly learns. It’s telling you something most people already know but which they never had to think about. It’s really just stating the obvious.
The report then goes on to make some recommendations:
An Integrated Driver Education Approach (IDEA) is recommended, where structured professional methods are combined with accompanied practicing.
Translation: We suggest that people should be taught by driving instructors and also get private practice to supplement what they are taught.
Training should start in a structured way from the lowest levels of the driving hierarchy and then continue to allow drivers to learn these skills automatic with an accompanying person.
Translation: We suggest that training should start with the basics, and then people can practice these basics privately with an accompanying driver.
Integrated approach is especially important for the youngest learner drivers before allowing them independent access to traffic.
Translation: Young drivers are at greatest risk.
Integrated approach increases the demands for professional instructors and thus, training of traffic instructors should be improved.
This is where it starts to get scary – and it’s the one the Clown College graduates have gotten hold of. It goes on:
Knowledge on motivational and social aspects of driving (not only technical skill)
Skills for dealing with lay-supervisors
Guiding lay-supervisors in efficient teaching
Translation: Driving Instructors should involve the supervising drivers.
Accompanied driving should include a minimum amount of driving and also a structure and methods to control it.
Translation: Private practice shouldn’t be pointless and allow bad habits to develop.
Interventions of professionals after the accompanied driving phase should support risk awareness and self-evaluation, rather than being technically oriented.
Translation: It’s attitude that leads to accidents.
The process of the integrated driver education approach does not necessarily have to exceed two years for example.
This is where that media story which has taken various forms over the last 5 years about the minimum driving age being raised came from.
Professional driver education should be available to persons who do not have the possibility to follow the integrated approach.
Translation: If someone can’t do private practice, ignore all the stuff we just said and just take lessons with an instructor.
Giving more structure to the training could effectively reduce unnecessary examinations.
Translation: Better training might result in better pass rates.
Although it comes close to the subject – worryingly close if you don’t understand it – it definitely stops short of suggesting that driving instructors should aim to repair inadequate parenting or schooling by turning hooligans into saints.
In fact, the only things the definitive GDE Matrix report does say are just blindingly obvious! It makes it sound all high-falutin’, but it is just stating the obvious.
The DSA is currently running a Learning To Drive study, where they are trialing a new syllabus for possible implementation in the next few years. Undoubtedly there will be some elements of coaching in it, but I suspect the main thrust will be the content. It isn’t going to require that instructors become psychoanalysts – that’s just the stupid interpretation that some have given to the GDE Matrix table.
Like most things in this industry, what some ADIs believe (or want to believe) will be light years away from what really happens.
In the meantime, the Life Coaches are having a ball persuading vulnerable instructors to attend pointless and expensive Clown courses.
Following on from my last post about that BBC programme which looked at new scientific findings about weight loss, I noticed tonight that Marks & Spencer is advertising a new range of “Simply Fuller Longer” meals. They contain high protein – one of the key points made by the BBC programme.
Exclusive to M&S, the range was launched in January 2010. The range was developed with expert advice from scientists at the Rowett Institute of Nutrition and Health at the University of Aberdeen. The Rowett Institute is renowned for its ground-breaking research on effective weight-loss and their work has shown that diets higher in protein result in more effective weight loss as part of a calorie controlled diet.
It’s interesting how these things work, and how people think. Only the night before I watched one of those UKTV Food programmes – Monster Munchies – which is hosted by Matt Dawson (a former rugby player). On this show, they have two teams competing to make giant versions of common well-known dishes or snacks. Usually, the finished articles are disgusting because you’ve seen how much they’ve messed around with them to get them to work.
On the programme I saw, the challenge was to make a giant Scotch Egg. Matt Dawson repeatedly turned his nose up at the idea of eating a Scotch Egg – he didn’t go into detail, but I think the point was that eggs and sausage meat are unhealthy (in his opinion), hence his dislike of the things.
If the evidence about protein is correct – and there’s no reason to doubt it – the occasional Scotch Egg (and the protein it contains) isn’t so bad after all. Particularly if you make it yourself and eat it as part of a calorie-controlled diet.
As I said in that last post, ADIs are often quite sedentary and managing their health and weight is something they need to be in control of.
The programme starts by explaining that visceral fat – fat which fills body cavities and surrounds organs – is the most dangerous kind, and can lead to various health problems including cancer and Type 2 Diabetes. It is this fat which gives people enhanced waistlines even if they aren’t overtly fat, but it is also the first fat to be burnt when a person starts dieting/exercising.
Just stopping eating – as in the classic diet – is no good. You’ve got to consider other things, too.
The 10 things were as follows (all backed up with current scientific evidence):
Don’t skip breakfast/meals – if you do, your brain makes you crave high-calorie foods to compensate.
Use smaller plates – if you change your plate size from 12″ to 10″ and you could eat up to 22% less food.
Calories matter – for example, a chicken dinner with potatoes and vegetables is quite possibly more than you can eat, but a fruit smoothie containing the same number of calories can be knocked back in seconds.
Don’t blame your metabolism – you’re just eating more calories than you are burning.
Protein makes you feel fuller for longer.
The exact same meal served as a soup instead of separate items with a glass of water keeps your stomach full for longer.
The wider the choice, the more you will eat.
Dairy calcium causes you to excrete more fat – twice as much as the non-dairy equivalent diet.
Moderate exercise carries on burning fat for up to 24 hours after you do it. The actual excercise burns very little, but the main effect occurs after you stop.
Even small changes to the amount of exercise you do burns a significant amount of calories – up to 240 just by going up and down the stairs a few times and maybe walking to the shops.
Obviously, you have to make up your own mind. But it is something that a lot of driving instructors really ought to think about – sitting down all day is not good for the waistline!
What IS interesting is that if you Google for information on weight loss, the advice is all old. It advises just eating less and becoming some sort of herbivore. As the presenter of the BBC show said (and he is a trained doctor), when he was at medical school, they were just taught that calories are calories, when modern science is saying absolutely the opposite.
The marking sheet they use for your driving test is called a DL25. When you take your test, pass or fail you will get a copy of it and an attached sheet which explains what is/was expected of you under all the headings. I wrote about this a little while ago. See this topic to download a copy.
The forums have been aglow over recent months on the subject of coaching. It’s quite funny how people think just substituting a word in their waffle suddenly makes them brilliant coaches. Suddenly “I teach people to drive” has become “I 
It’s interesting how these things work, and how people think. Only the night before I watched one of those UKTV Food programmes – Monster Munchies – which is hosted by Matt Dawson (a former rugby player). On this show, they have two teams competing to make giant versions of common well-known dishes or snacks. Usually, the finished articles are disgusting because you’ve seen how much they’ve messed around with them to get them to work.
I just watched a fascinating programme on BBC One called “