This blog is going to concentrate on how we help our pupils to achieve their goals.  The three competencies in the GDE matrix are: 

Knowledge and skills 

Risk-increasing factors 

Self-evaluation 

We like to think beyond the mechanical skills of driving, and develop in our pupils the knowledge, understanding and attitudes that will affect how safely they drive independently after their training. The BIG TOM franchise has learner-centred learning as a key value. 

If a pupil cannot appreciate how big a particular risk is while they drive, then how can they accurately decide whether they should take it or not? 

Can a pupil make a connection with the potential risks that are associated with driving over the maximum speed limit, on a country road, without wearing a seat belt? Does it occur to them how important it is to consider where they practice and what they practice? 

We are attempting to develop our pupils’ metacognitive knowledge of how they learn; you might say, how much knowledge they have of themselves being a learner. Our pupils will pass through stages of activating prior knowledge (perhaps as a cyclist using the roads for example), independent practice and structured reflection. 

We are able to offer modelling as a technique to aid our pupils to understand how we as driving instructors, also previous learners, develop metacognitive skills.  

The balance that we are attempting to strike is for the learning to be appropriate for the current standard of the pupil. Challenge is good and motivational but we do not want to overload our pupils where safety can then be compromised.  

How can we assist our pupils to learn by way of controlled practice? As a concept, how able is our pupil to recognise that controlled practice keeps learning meaningful, manages risk and helps them to identify their strengths and weaknesses?

The use of coaching techniques such as scaling, mind maps, the GROW model and scenarios have their place in creating positive learning environments. It is recognised that an engaged, active pupil, is likely to achieve a higher level of understanding and any self-directed outcomes are far more relevant. And direct instruction has its part to play in controlled practice too: keeping things safe in the early stages, providing support in a challenging situation. 

Encouraging a pupil to analyse problems and take responsibility for learning from them very much reinforces learning. We are there to manage practice, but the learning potential comes from within the pupil. A pupil who is not invited to think about why outcomes happen, is being deprived of learning potential. In much the same way, if a pupil is reluctant to take on responsibility for outcomes, that will also adversely affect learning potential.  

The BIG TOM franchise is centred around providing value: assisting our pupils to achieve their goals in a safe training environment. We welcome enquiries from driving instructors who are aligned to these goals.