ADI Part 3 - PST 7 Phase 1

PST 7 Phase 1 Approaching Junctions

The DSA classify your learner as part trained for this pst.

With this pst, the chances are that you'll start on the DSA test centre car park, if there is one. If not, you'll start very nearby on the street outside.

One of the first things to mention here is the difference between approaching a junction, and emerging from a junction. There have been instances where the SE has asked for a lesson on either subject, and the trainee has briefed on the other!

We are regularly contacted for advice from trainees who are unsure what the differences are. When you are on the main road and turn left or right into a side road, you are said to approach the junction. When you are in the side road and wish to pull out onto the main road, you are said to be emerging.

You will probably complete the full briefing wherever you park your car at the test centre, 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 . . .

Well, it's likely that they'll have covered the controls and moving off and stopping. It'll be unlikely that your learner will have done much more than this, so your lesson will need to be pitched accordingly. Remember for all phase 1 pst's, that the learner will usually have never been trained in the subject area of the past, so you'll need to place a heavy emphasis on actively teaching in the early stages.

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 1 pst's, aim for a briefing of around 7 to 8 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!

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.

Don't fall for what I've nicknamed the 'empty box' syndrome. No learner is an empty box, they will each have some previous knowledge and skills that can be built upon for the lesson . . . so use good question and answer techniques in the briefing to find out.

For instance, your learner may have used ms-psl before, and may be able to tell you all about it. They may also have turned into junctions on a moped or pedal cycle, and will have done so as a passenger in a car or a bus. So ask them! Any prior knowledge or experience will aid them in judging approach speeds etc.

Use the briefing to display all the sub skills by keeping control, and establishing the level of instruction.

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:

• briefing on approaching junctions
• mirrors
• signals
• 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 pas 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 with very limited experience, so expect them to drive like it.

Think about your level of instruction . . . it's phase 1, so the SE will probably never have done this 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, but only in the skills of this subject. For instance, don't teach the SE to move off unless it's the moving off and stopping pst! 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. Obviously, because your learner will have had very limited experience, you need to be ready to step in and assist with anything, at any time.

Contrary to many trainers views, you can over instruct at phase 1. Don't fall for it.

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.

You'll probably have the time to negotiate half a dozen or more junctions during the main part of the lesson. By the end of it, your learner should be doing much of the work for themselves.

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

• poor use of clutch - setting off to quickly!
• errors in ms-psl - out of sequence, mirror checks missed, no signal etc etc
• driving up to the junction too quickly
• right corner cut
• 'swan necking'
• coasting
• making the turn in the wrong gear
• turning without looking for hazards such as pedestrians
• crossing the path of other vehicles unsafely
• poor co-ordination - foot pedals, steering, gears etc etc
• failing to position correctly for left or right turns
• the list goes 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 1, 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