Learning Ownership

One of the shortcomings of working with a pupil within a learning environment that is based around them listening to information only is that it deprives them of the opportunity to own how they learn.  Our Driving Standard is very clear on this point:

".....learners who:

are not engaged by the training
just receive information

are less well equipped to deal with the wide range of challenges they will meet, when they drive independently, than those who are supported to be active learners."

So a professional driving instructor will strive to promote learning by having a pupil actively contributing to the process.   Take the responsibility for maintaining safety as one example.  A pupil needs to be given the opportunity to realise the importance of assessing risk.  Sometimes driving instructors get all consumed in the dealing with driving errors that crop up instead of focussing on the important stuff.  Safety critical incidents must not, ever be ignored.  It sends entirely the wrong message to a pupil if an incident crops up that affected safety and is NOT discussed.  Without thinking we have no learning, and for some pupils, without talking, we have no thinking.  So it is essential that risk is discussed BEFORE specific training takes place, so that if an incident does crop up that affected safety, then between instructor and pupil, the process of risk assessment that was undertaken can be reviewed.  There is no shame in that by the way.  Far from it.  It is logical, justifiable and an effective means of striving for continual improvement.

If you are finding yourself getting frustrated or angry with the outcomes of the training session, then the development need sits firmly with YOU not your pupil.  Raising your voice and venting your anger on your pupil is unprofessional and completely misguided.  Our pupils do not enter our driving school cars with any deliberate intentions of creating safety critical incidents - they simply need to have the skill of risk assessment developed so that when you leave the passenger seat after they pass the test, they can continue to do that risk assessment.

When you are both considering what to work on, allow your pupil the time to actually imagine how this is going to proceed.  Ask them to consider if there are any risks that they can think of in doing what you are both planning on doing.  They need to realise that there are choices about how they learn.  They can control outcomes by giving some thought to where to train, how long, how difficult to make it.  But importantly, having made those decisions, if it turns out that they had made an error on how they thought the session would go (in terms of learning outcomes or safety implications) then that is still very worthwhile to review the process taken in risk assessing.  It is a good sign when a pupil starts to independently recognise the value in reviewing outcomes, but they do need a hand in developing that skill.

Whilst I am making reference there to identifying the responsibility to maintain safety while training, we should not forget the benefit to the learning outcomes of the pupil, by having an engaged pupil.  When pupils can sense that they have the freedom to control learning outcomes it boosts satisfaction levels, learning, motivation and self-worth.  Pupils need to feel they are being fulfilled in the process of learning and driving instructors are no different.  It is vitally important as a newly qualified driving instructor that you can sense the value you are providing - and the DVSA tell us all that the value comes in the development of active learners, not 'compliant' learners.   

In summary, I wanted to introduce in this blog the concept within the DVSA Driving Standard of how we maximise long term learning by encouraging pupils to actively engage in the process.  Pupils learn by thinking.  The "doing" bit of car control is a given, that is the stuff of the lower two levels on the GDE matrix.  What I am referring to here is how instructors can encourage pupils to start taking on the responsibility for their learning process by equipping them with the skills of identification, assessment, decision making and reflection.  Whilst I have used the example of maintaining safety in this blog, you can apply these key skills to any given situation within the learning environment.  And they are just that.... skills, skills that pupils need to be made aware of, practice and develop.   

So today, give some thought to the "how" of your pupils learning, rather than the "what".  Pupils need to be given the opportunity to review how effective their learning is and where any obstacles may exist.

Tom Ingram provides PAYG training for trainee driving instructors.  http://drivinginstructortraining.bigtom.org.uk/