I updated an article a few days ago which explained the changes made at least a year ago to the DSA’s internal guidance document (DT1). I explained that they had added a paragraph telling their examiners that if a candidate “cross[ed] their hands” or “[didn’t hold] the wheel at ten to two or quarter to three” they should not be marked down with faults.
I explained that this was not a change, but an addition – a clarification for its own examiners.
I also think I explained clearly enough that Driving: The Essential Skills (TES) had never previously stated that using the pull-push method was the only acceptable way to steer, nor had it ever implied that you would fail your test if you steered in a different way. It simply presented the method as an ideal one – which, when you consider the vast majority of learners, it is.
The implication that you would fail your test for not using pull-push has previously been the domain of the instructor-who-thinks-he-knows-it-all (of which there are many), and the examiner who is doing his job wrong (of which there were very few, but a sufficient number nonetheless to keep the former group going with its misinformation).
So it was amusing to read – yet again – that TES has apparently “dropped all reference on how to steer” and the implication that DT1 has changed completely to suddenly allow other methods of steering. Neither TES or DT1 have done any such thing.
Let me state again that for as long as I can remember, not using the pull-push steering method on test has NOT been marked as a fault. There MAY have been some examiners (quite possibly failed instructors who jumped ship, and who carried the misinformation with them) who saw it as such, but THAT is what the DSA was addressing when it added clarification to its internal DT1 document. And the removal of pull-push as a recommended method in TES is a lamentable move, since many instructors appear to be interpreting it as a statement that you SHOULDN’T use pull-push in vindication of their pre-held negative views about anything the DSA “tells” them to do.
It’s possible that TES has been altered partly in readiness for the official introduction of “coaching” to driver training. Coaching – and the equivalent euphemism, “client centered learning” (CCL) – is misunderstood by most instructors, which obviously means they all consider themselves experts in the subject.
In actual fact – and as the DSA itself points out – CCL is “intended to build on your existing skills” should be “integrate[d] into your existing teaching”. It simply includes “new” subjects that provide the material for learners to drive safely and responsibly (e.g. issues surrounding driver fatigue and the use of alcohol or drugs). For some of us, I doubt that it will add too much that is genuinely new. The new syllabus is aimed at those who literally “only teach people to drive”
But going back to steering, I mentioned in the previously updated article that a good footballer can p
lay “keepy-up” for hours on end – but he seldom has any cause to do it when he is playing a match. However, the skills required to play “keepy-up” are his bread and butter, and without them he would not be a player of a very high standard. Oh, he could thrash his way around the field, and use his muscles and brawn to pole-axe opponents, but that would simply be a mask to hide his lack of proper skill.
The same is true of steering. Being able to pull-push requires very specific coordination skills, and possessing those skills means you are in better overall control.
When I get absolute beginners, nearly all of them cannot steer at all to begin with. Initial attempts are met with us going very wide or too tight around bends and corners. When I explain pull-push, and get them to try it using my diary as a pretend steering wheel, many of them can’t initially get the hand movements synched. But once they get it – and I mean, just ONCE – they have the key and can apply it to their steering. It’s exactly like those wooden Chinese puzzles that you have to take apart and reassemble – initially, you don’t know what to do, but once you know the first move the rest follows.
I’m seeing a lot of the “experts” in CCL suggesting that when a new learner gets in the car they should be allowed to work out how to steer for themselves!
This is absolute rubbish. If you do that, the learner is likely to hit the kerb (and on either side of the road), veer towards other vehicles (parked or moving), or even towards pedestrians (including children). It is no wonder you get the chavvy boy-racers flinging their cars on to roundabouts, around bends, and everywhere else if they’ve had teachers like that.
The correct application of CCL in the case of steering would be to explain the basics maybe using pull-push as a model, make sure they can use pull-push at least haltingly by practising, and then allow a degree or two of freedom (hand-over-hand, one-handed, etc.) as long as acceptable control is maintained.
After all, you don’t teach children to swim by pushing them in at the deep end and standing back. It seems these CCL “experts” would do just that, though.