The following is a snippet, from the induction training programme for BIG TOM franchise driving instructors.

You cannot make someone learn. It’s a fact. It might appear to be a rather unpalletable comment to make, but nonetheless, it is true. So when you are working with a pupil who is learning to drive, but there is no learning going on, then it really is time to step back and discuss what is going on.

The guidance by the DVSA is that as easy, and you might even say, tempting, as it is to analyse why problems are occurring, the fact that YOU are doing so, is restricting the learning potential for your pupil.

When a pupil digs deep and analyses what is happening in driving training, the conclusions and what the ‘fixes’ are, what they discover will be so much more meaningful and long-term than if a driving instructor just simply steps in and tells the pupil what they are doing wrong.

And yet, how tempting it is to immediately, reactively, ‘solve’. We might even think (perhaps sub-consciously) that in doing so, we are providing a service to our pupil. Our perception is that by stepping in when we spot a driving mistake, we are not only demonstrating to our pupil that we are paying attention, but hey, on top of that, we are then going to tell them what they SHOULD have done instead. Wow! Aren’t I just a great driving instructor?! You must think I’m brilliant! I’m doing all this work here, justifying my existence, and proving to you, just how valuable I am for teaching you how to drive! Me, me, me, me, me…..it’s all about me!

No. No, no, no, no, no, no…..no.

This is not how pupils learn. This is what teachers do at school. This is the world of compliance. This is what ‘forced’ learning looks like. (Spare a thought for the poor pupil who is actually feeling what it is like too…. spoiler alert, it isn’t great).

Once you accept this point, which shouldn’t take too long, because our regulator is telling all of us, this is what we should be doing, then, the learning curve of your pupils will start to dramatically increase.  They start to realise that actually, THEY need to discover what is happening, why it is happening and what should be happening. And when they do that, the ‘fixes’ will be personal to them – which is what pupil-centred learning looks like.

It is not to suggest of course, that all pupils will be able to do this, all the time. Direct instruction has its place in learning, especially early learning. But the DVSA want us to shut up sometimes, and let learning develop. When you start to do that, then you WILL be providing a service to your pupils, and this franchise EXISTS to provide a valued service to our customers.