ADI Part 3 - Control of the Lesson

Control of the Lesson

This is another subject that could keep us occupied for hours on end, but we'll discuss the basics of 'control of the lesson' here.

When we talk about control, what do we mean exactly? How do we control a driving lesson? It sometimes seems as though there are so many things to think about, it's like trying to balance everything and not knowing which way to turn.

The answer is that you as the instructor have to take control. You are the responsible person. It's your car, your lesson, and your client is sat next to you.

You have a lot of responsibility as a driving instructor, and the SE wants to see you accept it.

Put very simply, there are four main areas that you have to control . . .

the learner, the lesson, your time, and yourself

Let's explore these just a little further . . .

Control of the Learner

You must always be ready to take control of your learner, perhaps by directing their attention, perhaps by taking control of the steering wheel or dual brake.

What you have to do is to use all of your effective communication skills to deal with any situation your learner throws at you, rather than making specific threats before they've done anything wrong. That would get anyone's back up.

Imagine you were giving a briefing, and your learner (SE) sat staring out of the drivers side window, apparently ignoring you . . . how would you deal with that? How would you deal with it differently if it was a real learner on a real lesson, and not the SE?

The truth is that there should be no difference.

What would you do if your learner started 'sighing' and showing signs of intense boredom, whilst you were trying to teach them how to emerge from a junction?

How would you create the motivation to learn and to pay attention?

Think that these situations never happen in 'real life'? Think again. You will come across situations like this throughout your new career. It's how you deal with them that can set you apart from other instructors.

Think about that.

How else can you display control over the pupil? Well, you can ensure that your instruction is active, and not passive. What I mean by this, is that you actively predict the actions of your 'learner', and verbally take control to prevent an undesired situation from coming into existence.

For instance, you may feel that your learner is about to emerge from a junction in a situation that would create danger. A positive verbal command may suffice. Even a simple "WAIT" in an alert tone can be enough. If the learner still decides to move anyway, then you may have to take control by the use of the dual controls.

The overall outcome is the same . . . try to predict any unpleasant situations, and control them before they happen. Prevention is better than cure.

The SE will not crash the car, but a real learner may kill you both.

Control of the Lesson

I recall a conversation with a trainee who rang because he'd just failed part 3 for the second time. He was deeply upset and very worried about his future. He'd clearly spent a great deal of time and money on his training, and was now left wondering what he could do. He was desperate for advice, and we were happy to help him. His story is quite a common one . . .

He'd waited nervously at the test centre for the SE to introduce themselves . . . she came to the waiting area, met the trainee with a smile, and completed the necessary formalities of form signing.

Off they went to the car, a beautiful sunny day. Once they were comfortable in the car, the SE explained the test and informed the trainee that she required instruction in the turn in the road, as she'd never done that before . . .

After the initial Question and Answer session, the two of them set of to discover the mysteries of turning in the road.

Within only a couple of junctions, our eager trainee spotted a fault in the learners steering control. He pointed it out as a fault, and they continued. At the very next junction, the same thing happened. Our trainee again pointed it out, now concerned that it had cropped up again. After all, he's pointed it out.

At the next junction, the same thing happened again. By now, our trainee is really concerned. He asks the SE to "go round the block so that they can practice this steering", which the SE happily did.

For several minutes, the same faults crop up, and the trainee tries in vain to deal with them . . .

Some time later, the SE reminds the trainee that she has never done a turn in the road. They abandon the steering instruction and the trainee begins the full brief on the manoeuvre.

When the brief is over, they move off for the first attempt, when the SE says with a smile "Thank you. That ends phase 1. Please relax for a few seconds whilst I make some notes, then we'll move on to phase 2 of the test"

Phase 2 got under way, and our hero trainee did his very best to deal with each and every situation. He worked hard, although the situation with phase 1 was still playing very much on his mind.

Time flew by, and before he knew what day it was, our trainee was sat in the waiting room whilst the SE marked the test.

Unfortunately, it wasn't a good result. Our hero went home despondent and upset, but to his great credit, he reflected on the experience and decided to learn from it.

Mmm . . . lets investigate what happened. The SE moved off and started emulating typical learner driver faults almost straight away. This is completely normal, both on part 3 and in a real lesson.

The trainee pointed out the errors, but after little further discussion, we established that the trainee hadn't carried out any form of remedial action. Ahh . . . so that's why the faults kept happening.

But what else went wrong?

Well, the trainee became so concerned with the SE's steering control (the trainees fault, not the SE's remember) that he completely veered the lesson off course . . . he changed a turn in the road lesson, into a steering lesson.

Never forget that those little SE driver errors will be sorted and finished with a few quick words and good instruction. Make sure that you are fully aware of the core competencies, and that you can put them into practice.

What can you learn from this? The most important thing to consider here, with regards to control of the lesson, is sticking to the subject.

Remember what it is that you've been asked to teach. All the other areas of driving are important, and errors need to be dealt with, but stick to the subject of the lesson and the lesson plan.

In a real lesson with a real learner, you may have to be flexible with your plans, but you still need to maintain control and to teach in the most effective manner available. For instance, you state the objective of the lesson to be reverse left, but you find your learner having real difficulty with reversing under control. You may decide to be flexible, and simply change the lesson plan to straight reversing instead. You can then create the skills that you need to build on for a reverse left in the near future.

In part 3, it's vital that you stick to the lesson subject. You must always remain flexible in how you deal with anything that arises, but you must teach 'turn in the road' if that's the pre set test.

By the way, our hero trainee from earlier is now a very happy ADI, so this story does have a happy ending.

Controlling Time

Time is precious. You only have so much of it. Not a second to lose.

For each phase of part 3 you have, in reality, about 27 minutes of the SE's time in which to deliver the lesson. In that short period, you have to establish the base line with question and answers, you have to give a briefing, and you have to get the SE underway in the developmental phase of the lesson so that they can learn the new skills.

The SE will be assessing very closely how you manage your time. Spend too much time on the briefing, and you'll have less time to get some practice.

In reality the SE will often give you 'hints', or as I call them 'lifelines', about getting the car moving. I've sat in on many part 3's and it's quite common for the SE to say things like "well, can we get some driving in then?" or even more bluntly "I'm bored now. Can we go?"

Listen for the lifelines and grasp them as tightly as you can. Control how you allocate your time.

Control Yourself

Stay patient, calm, relaxed and ensure that the SE get's the impression that you are enthusiastic about teaching and passing on you're skills. Use good body language and excellent communication skills to stay in control. Make sure that you are the master of your own personal style, control your personal habits and mannerisms.

So, if you stay in control and keep control of the lesson and the learner, you won't go far wrong.

ADIT Team