As driving instructors we should be aiming past the driving test. We want our pupils to pass as a consequence of driving safely, rather than facing the consequences of only being trained for a driving test. The question is how can this be done.
Our pupils should be unlucky if they fail rather than lucky to pass. The more skilful our pupil is, the greater the chance of them passing their driving test. But what about after they pass. We normally will never see them again, or certainly not for driver development.
The reality is that our pupils will normally only spend money on what is measured, which for the pupil is the driving test. Here it is prudent to remember that a driving test only samples parts of the syllabus, which means we should cover as much of it as possible.
Both ourselves and the examiners should be making assessments of our pupils driving. As instructors we should be making formative assessments whereas an examiner will be making summative assessments. So what are the differences.
Examiner (Summative) assessments:
Summative (Examiner) assessments are of a pupil’s learning against a set standard or benchmark. In our case the driving test.
The examiner will take them out and make an assessment of their driving by weighting or grading the faults according to the severity:
- No fault
- Not worthy
- Driver fault
- Serious
- Dangerous
For greater detail of how this is done see the Dave Allen article in this edition.
Instructor (Formative) assessments:
If the summative assessment above is an assessment by a driving examiner of learning and to see how well they have learnt.
A formative (Instructor) assessment is one for learning and will direct the learning.
So knowing how an examiner marks a driving test and how those faults are weighted is your knowledge of their summative assessment. This is not helping you much with your formative assessment of your pupil.
You need to know why they have made the fault and what is the best way for that particular pupil to fix it. In other words, how effectively you can coach a learner (and perform on a standards check) is based on your formative assessment of your pupil at that time and place.
Note here that I have said a standards check. Some might say that a standards check is not real instruction. They might then go on to say that the ability to pass a driving test is not real driving and they really learn after they have passed.
We might say that we have three ways of getting a pupil to do something:
- Rote
- Reason
- Revelation
By Rote
Tell them what to do or possibly show them. The pupil will likely do it with a view to passing their test. Rote learning is imposed with the pupils consent. Its object of passing a driving test is not serving our pupils a life skill and may often as not be cast aside as they really start to drive on their own.
By Reason
A pupil who understands when to check their mirrors and what effect their signals might have on others is more likely to be a safer driver after passing than one who just does the routine of MSM.
By Revelation
Better still a pupil who has reached the conclusion from your searching questions that a well formed MSM with everything nicely timed is more likely to keep it up after passing rather than just letting it go.
The simple thing here is that the more the pupil is actively engaged in the answer the more likely they are to own the solution. More work for you but hugely satisfying when we get it right.
This is why the DVSA wants a client centred lesson. If I tell you to do something and I give you the reasons for doing it, you might very well do so until the circumstances that brought you to me change. This change for most of our pupils is passing their driving test.
At risk of being rather controversial, my personal opinion is that we as an industry are failing our pupils. An overall pass rate of about 50% for the driving test and an accident rate in the first year of about 20% is a damning indictment of our industry.
I know lots of you will be doing much better than these figures suggest. But for every decent instructor like yourself there is another dragging those figures down to 50% and 1 in 5. Remember if you are reading this article my comment above is about the industry in general not someone like yourself.
Fault based driving instruction is faulty. Leave the summative fault based assessments of driving tests to the professional examiner. Make your assessment a formative one. Have a look at the 17 competencies and see how they relate to formative assessments.
© Liam Greaney
driving-pro.com
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