ADI Part 3 - PST 3 Phase 2

PST 3 Phase 2 Approaching Junctions

As in all phase 2 pst's, the DSA classify your learner as trained for this pst.

You'll start this pst from wherever the phase 1 lesson ended. Your learner is now a completely different human being to the one you taught on phase 1. Any errors you fixed in phase 1 may reappear on phase 2. Don't make the error of thinking that you fixed those errors earlier, so they won't happen again.

You will complete the briefing on approaching junctions wherever the car has stopped, unless the SE decides to drive, out of role, to a nearby area. This is quite rare though.

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

The golden rule here is to listen carefully to the word picture the SE gives you. All of the phase 2 pst's are pitched at or around driving test standard. This means that your learner should have all the knowledge and skills of the pst subject already. Your job will be to assess their performance, and instruct where necessary.

Phase 2 is very much about assessing performance and developing good attitudes to road safety. You may find that one of the major problems you encounter is a bad attitude, even a 'couldn't care less' attitude to driving. Use all of the core competencies and your communication techniques to identify and deal with anything that crops up.

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

As in all phase 2 pst's, aim for a briefing of around 1 to 2 minutes maximum. If the briefing goes on a bit, the SE will more than likely prompt you to get on with it. Take the prompt!

As I've said above, the learner should already have all the knowledge, so all you have to do is to use question and answers to check their understanding, then get the car moving so that the learner can practice.

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 very short briefing time to display all the sub skills by keeping control, and establishing the level of instruction. To keep things simple, your level of instruction should initially be very low. But you should be acutely aware of everything your learner does . . . or is about to do.

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:

• mirror
• signal
• brakes
• gears
• coasting
• too fast on approach
• too slow on approach
• position
• pedestrians
• cross approaching traffic
• right corner cut

You will need to try to cover these areas in the briefing and 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

When the briefing is over, you'll get the car underway by instructing the SE to move off. Remember, the SE will be role playing a driver at or around driving test standard, so expect them to drive like it.

Think about your level of instruction . . . it's phase 2, so the SE will have been instructed in dealing with emerging before, so you shouldn't need to teach actively to start with. Look back at the sub skills pages of the site to check your understanding and knowledge.

You won't be giving a full talk through, because it shouldn't be necessary. The idea of learning to drive is that the learner can do it all for themselves when they pass the test. They'll never get there if you spoon feed them what they should already know. Because your learner will have had experience of the pst subject, all you need to do is assess their ability and sort out any weak areas.

Contrary to many trainers views, you can under instruct at phase 2, if you are not careful. Don't fall for it, and make sure that your trainer gives you plenty of practice at this. What I mean is that once you've assessed the situation and discovered the root causes of your learners problems, don't just sit back and do nothing. If you need to instruct - instruct! But once the learner has improved, reduce your instruction. This usually happens quite quickly.

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 a lot of phase 2 faults on the move, using good communication skills and by exercising your control over the lesson and the learner, but please remember that your learner will usually be driving faster and you may need to pull them over.

If the learner makes a couple of faults, or even more, you will have to use your judgment, but it's unlikely that you can deal with it all on the move. The SE will just make more faults while you try to sort out faults that happened way back.

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.

You'll probably have the time to negotiate half a dozen or more junctions during the main part of the lesson.

You need to spot the faults that caused them to 'fail the test' or whatever, and use the core competencies fully to sort them out.

The analysis stage at phase 2 becomes ever more important in a practical sense, as there could be several reasons for making any particular error. Usually, if there are several errors, it indicates a problem with approaching the hazard too fast or a problem with attitude.

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.

Practical Advice

The SE will want to get the car moving as soon as possible. Don't be surprised if the SE set's off like a bull in a china shop. You have been warned!

It can be very hard to get the balance right between instructing and assessing. Only you can make the judgment call on the day. Whatever happens, keep the car safe. Be prepared to use verbal commands or use the dual controls at any time necessary.

Look for weaknesses in technique. When you see them, deal with them. Involve the learner using good question and answer. If there are several reasons why an error or series of errors were made, you'll need to delve deeply by asking the learner targeted questions to get to the answer.

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

• errors in ms-psl - out of sequence, mirror checks missed, no signal etc etc
• driving up to the junction too quickly
• turning in the wrong gear
• turning without taking effective observations
• crossing the path of other vehicles unsafely
• incorrect positioning for the turn
• approaching to quickly
• 'swan necking'
• coasting
• the list goes on and on . . .

Phase 2 errors tend to be procedural errors and errors related to attitude . In other words, typical learner errors in using ms-psl correctly or in road positioning, and also in their attitudes to road safety and other road users in general.

Errors related to attitude can be the most difficult to sort out. But sort them out you must! You'll often find on phase 2 that the SE will drive at breakneck speeds up to junctions, and when you mention it, say "why? what am I doing wrong?"

Phase 2 is all about assessing weakness in procedural routines and fixing them, but it's also very much concerned with developing safe attitudes to driving.

At the end of phase 2 approaching lesson, the SE will tell you that the test has ended. You'll usually find yourself back on the test centre car park by now, or at least parked right outside it. The SE will then usually disappear into their office to come to a final mark of your performance, whilst you wait for the verdict. Before you know it, the SE will be out to see you to tell you the result of the part 3 test.

ADIT team