ADI Part 3 - PST 1 Phase 1

PST 1 Phase 1 Controls Lesson

The DSA classify your learner as a beginner for this pst.

This particular pst causes quite a lot of confusion among trainees. Some think that it must be the easiest of the tests, because the car is normally stationary. Others think it the hardest, because how do you display the core competencies and effectively teach the SE anything?

What you have to remember is that, whatever the pst, the SE is looking for exactly the same skills from the trainee. These are the sub skills of good instruction. Whether the wheels of the car are turning or not makes no difference to what the SE expects of you.

After the initial formalities, you'll get into the drivers seat and the SE into the passenger seat. The SE will direct you to move off and drive towards an area that he or she has chosen for the remainder of the lesson. Although you aren't being tested on your driving ability, the person you most need to impress is sat next to you! So, make it a good standard DSA drive.

Use the drive to talk about the basic controls, such as pointing out the pull push method of using the steering wheel. You can perform a very simple talk through of the cockpit drill, how you're using the controls and how you perform those essential all round observations. Above all . . . keep it simple!

Let's think, as always, where our learner is 'at' in their training . . .

Remember for all phase 1 pst's, that the learner will usually have never been trained in the subject area in the past, so you'll need to place a heavy emphasis on actively teaching in the early stages

For this PST the SE will role play a driver who has had no driving lessons at all. Does that mean that they are an 'empty box', and that they know nothing at all?

Not at all! The learner will no doubt have been a passenger in a car and will have some experience to draw upon. They may have ridden a motorcycle with a clutch, or even driven a car 'off road', so ask and find out

Never forget, safety overrides instruction. Never let your learner do anything dangerous, such as emerge from a junction without taking effective observations, or perform any manoeuvre in a dangerous area.

The Briefing

Once you reach the area the SE wishes to use for the lesson, you'd be best advised to swap seats, so that the SE is in the drivers seat for the remainder of the lesson.

Now, before this is done, exercise your control by asking the SE to check the door mirror and blind spots before opening the passenger door to get out. Also, tell the SE to walk round the back of the car, not the front. Walking round the back gives a greater view of oncoming traffic and oncoming traffic can see you much easier.

For this pst, the briefing merges seamlessly with the developmental phase of the lesson. The whole pst has been described as a 30 minute briefing. That's not completely inaccurate, and is certainly one way of viewing this lesson.

Use the briefing to set the aims and objectives for the lesson. State the objectives positively, as it helps you to remember what the lesson actually is, and the learner knows exactly what to expect.

Use the briefing time to display all the sub skills by keeping control, and establishing the level of instruction. For the purposes of this pst, your learner will be a complete beginner. But never forget that they will invariably have been a passenger in a car before and may have prior knowledge that you'll find useful. For instance, they may have ridden a motorcycle with gears and a clutch, or operated farm machinery such as tractors. Establish these skills, and use them!

The Marking Sheet

The areas shown on the left side of the marking sheet are those directly relevant to this pst. Please be warned . . .

You need to have an excellent knowledge of the pst relevant knowledge areas, but you will not get a green card based on an in depth knowledge of these areas. That is NOT the main part of what you are being tested on. You are being tested on your skills as an instructor, the areas on the right side of the form - the Core competencies and Instructional Techniques.

For this pst, the relevant areas are:

• doors
• seat and head restraint
• seat belt
• mirrors
• accelerator
• foot brake
• clutch
• hand brake
• gears
• steering
• indicators
• starting
• precautions before moving off
• normal stop position
• normal stop use of MSM
• normal stop control

You will need to try to cover these areas in the briefing or on the move, but don't get hung up if any particular skill isn't mentioned or tested. If it doesn't arise, the SE will strike a line straight through it and ignore it for the purposes of assessing your performance.

The simple fact is that these are the basic 'common sense' areas that you'd cover with a learner on a lesson anyway, so they should present you with no great challenge.

Remember, the highest mark you can get for the pst relevant areas, on the left side of the sheet, is 'satisfactory'. Not 'good' or 'excellent', but 'satisfactory'.

Developmental phase

Think about your level of instruction . . . the SE will probably never have formally covered the car controls before, so you'll need to teach actively to start with. Look back at the sub skills pages of the site to check your understanding and knowledge.

You'll be giving a full talk through on the use of the controls, including the SE carrying out the cockpit drill. Only cover the areas that are relevant. Remember, this is a driving lesson, it's as simple as that. For instance, if your test takes place on a sunny day, there's no need to talk about the windscreen wipers and de-misters.

This common myth of having to get everything in often causes confusion and indicates a lack of understanding of what is required for part 3.

You don't have the time to talk about every detail of any specific lesson on part 3. Just stick to the main facts, and tell the SE only the main points of the subject.

For instance, on the controls lesson you will need to talk about the seatbelts at some stage, but you don't need to explain all about the acts and sections of English law regarding seat belts . . . and that rally cars and racing cars have different types of seat belts . . . and that seat belts are made of special material that's really strong . . . and that sometimes we use child restraints . . . and that etc etc etc.

You simply need to teach the SE how to put it on correctly, deal with any faults the SE makes when using the seat belt, and explain that as a driver they are responsible for passengers under a certain age. That's all. Don't waste your valuable time going on about completely unnecessary detail.

Cover the main areas - and cover them well.

If you manage to cover the main controls very quickly, the SE will expect you to move on to cover moving off and stopping. I have to say at this point that this is very rare indeed. I would expect every trainee to halted by the SE without covering all of the controls. Covering all of the controls is completely unnecessary, and the fact that you try to may cause you to rush things and miss opportunities to correct faults.

Don't rush. Don't have any fears of not 'getting everything in'. You don't have to. Simply cover the controls at the same pace as you would with a real learner. The SE will not care less whether you cover everything, or indeed what you do cover. The SE is far, far more interested in your skills as an instructor.

Having said this, make sure that the lesson flows naturally. Don't get stuck on the cockpit drill for the full half an hour.

It's very common indeed for trainees on this pst to cover everything up to the steering wheel, and sometimes to cover the steering wheel, but not get any further. This is not a problem.

Make sure that you know your subject, but don't spend hours memorising every little detail when you could be concentrating on the core competencies and instructional techniques that are vital to your success.

Remember what the lesson subject is and don't change it into a different lesson. You would receive a poor mark for control of the lesson if you allow this to happen.

You will use the core competencies throughout the entire lesson.

Have no fears about 'nit picking' - if you see a fault, identify it and sort it. Remember, bad habits become very strong habits if left to grow. This does not mean, under any circumstances, that you pull the learner over every hundred yards to have 'a go' at them. You can deal with almost all phase 1 faults on the move, using good communication skills and by exercising your control over the lesson and the learner.

If you anticipate a fault, deal with it before the SE makes it. Please ignore the nonsense so widely talked about that the SE will mark you badly for the Core Competencies, unless you allow them to make the errors for you to deal with. Would you do that with a real learner? NO! So don't do it with the SE. Remember, part 3 is a lesson. Simple as that. Much better to fix it when you suspect it's about to happen, rather than to wait for it to happen. To do so could be dangerous, unprofessional and simply downright bad instruction.

Remember, if the learner keeps making the same errors over and over, even though you've mentioned them, consider that you may not have analysed it correctly and put the remedial action in place.

Typical SE Errors

It really is impossible to define a list of the errors the SE will make, but think about the skill level of the learner that the SE will be role playing. The errors will be very similar to a learner at that level. You need to remain flexible in your approach and deal with errors in the way that you think best.

Again, it's impossible to prepare a 'script' or strict lesson plan, because the SE can take you down any 'route' he or she wishes, to test your instructional skills.

Typical errors would include

• failing to check mirrors and blind spots before opening doors
• not closing the doors correctly
• twisting the seat belt, or fastening it incorrectly
• not adjusting the seat properly - reach, rake, head restraint
• moving the head to adjust the mirrors
• touching the mirror glass
• using the wrong feet on the pedals
• failing to co-ordinate clutch and gears
• selecting the wrong gears as you instruct in their use
• not correctly palming the gear stick
• not pressing the button to apply the hand brake - ratchet audible
• pulling the hand brake too hard / not hard enough
• trying to dry steer when practicing with the steering wheel
• the list could go on and on . . .

Phase 1 errors tend to be procedural errors and co-ordination errors. In other words, typical learner errors in using ms-psl correctly or in road positioning, and also in the physical co-ordination of the controls of the car to achieve the lesson objectives.

At the end of phase 1controls lesson, the SE will tell you that the lesson has ended. They will then make some notes on your performance whilst you take a look at your notes for the next lesson. Then, before you know it, it's straight on to phase 2 . . .

ADIT team