When driving instructor and pupil are working effectively, there is a shared commitment to achieving goals and both parties are engaged in the process.

What sometimes happens in driving training sessions is that either pupil or instructor seem to be working much more than the other; there seems to be an imbalance of effort.

As a business owner, it clearly would not be good for business if the instructor turns up to work and is demotivated, disengaged and really does not care much for the outcomes. I doubt that business will be operating for very long.

But what about when the pupil is not engaged?  What to do?

The degree to which a pupil accepts responsibility for the learning outcomes in a driving training session certainly does differ. For most 17 year olds, they may still be in an educational environment that is extremely invested in the students outcomes – the success of the OFSTED inspections very much rests on grades achieved. Teachers work extremely hard to maximise outcomes and sometimes the effort levels of the student(s) will not match their teachers. And these pupils can at times, expect there to be the same level of effort from the driving instructor. A pupil who tells the instructor that they were permanently excluded from a school may have a very skewed perception of what ‘learning’ looks and feels like.

But, effort levels aside, it is also true that some pupils who are taking driving training sessions, do not feel obliged to ‘own’ in any way what happens – they take no responsibility. They may have little desire to appreciate the extent of the syllabus or even their degree of progress within that syllabus.  Other than knowing that there is a driving test already booked in the diary, the amount of meaningful engagement in the learning environment is limited. And when these types of pupils come along, they bring with them a warning to the health of your business. What can happen, and one might say it is almost destined to happen, is the amount of progress this type of pupil makes will be lower. Learning is effortful and if a pupil senses no responsibility to accept this point, it will almost certainly lower the amount of learning. Schools manage this in advance by lowering the expectations of the forecasted grades but with driving training, pupils might still expect to be passing a driving test within the timescales of the pre-booked driving test. If this isn’t managed properly, when the pupil hears the instructor telling them they are not going to be ready in time for the driving test and it should be moved, the pupil can be highly dissatisfied because as far as they are concerned, that driving test has been in the diary for 5 months and they thought they were taking it on that date.  It doesn’t even occur to some pupils that the driving test date can be changed.

This can be difficult to manage from a business point of view. An unhappy customer is not good for business; for the reputation or customer reviews. And yet how has this happened? The pupil has not in any way taken responsibility for appreciating the extent of the training programme or their progress within it – and yet still has expected the same outcomes of going to test as planned.

BIG TOM has been operating since 2009, we have encountered plenty of pupils who take this approach and we have created systems to mitigate the impact they have on the business. Safety is a number one priority for this driving school; safety of our pupils/instructors while they practice, safety of DVSA examiners when we present our pupils for a test, and the safety of all other road users once our pupils get their full driving licence. There is too much at stake here not to recognise the potential risk this creates.

But one aspect to this situation that tends to get overlooked is what impact it has on the instructor. The instructor remember is invested in the outcomes; as business owners they WANT successful outcomes, and as the driving test booking date draws ever nearer, for the inexperienced driving instructor, the stress levels increase because although they may be attempting to communicate with the pupil, the message is not getting through. This is generally very poor for mental wellbeing. It is precisely this kind of situation that increases blood pressure, makes instructors feel resentful for the effort they put in, and if not careful, this issue can have devastating consequences to confidence and self-esteem.

What tends to happen in too many cases is that eventually the day comes when the instructor finally decides that indeed, time has just run out to achieve the necessary driving ability required to go to test on the pre-booked date and they communicate that decision with the pupil. What tends to follow is deep resentment and bitterness expressed from the pupil and/or parents, scathing reviews and the pupil leaves the instructor under a heavy grey cloud seeking another driving instructor to take them to test on the same pre-booked date. Why wouldn’t they? The pupil never did accept any responsibility for tracking progress, so being told that the level of progress is just not enough to go to test, would not stop their original plans. The pupil does not, and has never, shared the responsibility for ensuring safety by being trained adequately and does not want to know what ‘standards’ means.

This is all avoidable. It is possible to preserve your driving test pass rates and avoid triggering DVSA parameters. When you come on board with the BIG TOM Franchise, we cover this in the induction training: the systems we have in place to prevent this situation from developing. This is just one example that demonstrates how joining us enables you to preserve mental wellbeing while you work. There is so much more to this franchise than maximising earning potential.

Contact us today for more information 01928 508 833