As an ADI, you are very likely to be providing the only formal training behind the wheel that your students receive, if not the only time they spend behind the wheel. Many students won’t drive between lessons and even if they are fortunate enough to have a car (or at least access to one), they probably just travel short familiar distances without any kind of progressive learning taking place between lessons.
Experience from IAM groups has revealed to me many times how someone who doesn’t drive between sessions can hinder their own progress. Too often the teaching from one lesson has been forgotten by the time of the next, and the driver has returned back to their old ways, meaning that they require exactly the same tuition to be given again in the following session. It’s like driving through treacle.

Lightly Whipped Centre

When I was introduced to advanced driving with a great teacher, I was spurred on to learn more and continue improving my skills, and to do so using my own initiative. Once you have caught that specific learning bug, the addictive nature leaves you yearning for more, wanting to achieve and learn more in between lessons. If you can leave that kind of connection or impression with a student, inspiring them to go away and look out for the things that you’ve been covering, go and research online and do it off their own bat, you have found the Holy Grail… you have made safety sexy! Admittedly, it is the single biggest challenge in the road safety and driver training world, but don’t let it put you off, but spur you on. If whatever topic you are discussing can be made to be sexy, appealing and exciting, it’s automatically going to stimulate their interest and their desire to find out more about it. An example from the advanced driving world is the use of IPSGA (Information, Position, Speed, Gear, Acceleration) and driving to the system of car control. If you take any on-board clip of an F1 driver in action, you will see the car approach a corner, change position to find the racing line, slow the car to an appropriate speed, change down to an appropriate gear, steer and then accelerate away. Any footage of any trained driver will show this systematic approach time after time. The topic can often be quite daunting to a student at first, so seeing it put into practice time after time by professionals, especially glamourous or famous ones, can work wonders in reinforcing the learning, stimulating interest and motivation. It is both educational and aspirational.

Chocolate Covered

Getting to know your students, their interests, their hobbies, their hopes and their dreams, will give information to provide training they can and want to relate to. The positive result is willing learning and practice in and between lessons, using their own initiative. It’s exciting, attainable and rewarding for the teacher and the pupil.

David is a Youth Ambassador for IAM Roadsmart, you can find out more about IAM here – www.iamroadsmart.com