The notion of being a driving teacher does not sound hard, on paper. You know how to drive, you are patient (except in most cases), and you believe that you can transfer this knowledge. But what is the distinction between being a good driver and a driving instructor? That is a wide gap, bigger than most people expect. Training of driving instructors is available because instruction itself is a skill set and only grows in the moment and needs to be taught well. Flexible learning paths are easier to plan when you find out more about each option.

The technical component of the teacher training involves a distance. The trainees learn to assess the capacity of a student instantly, how to give feedback without panicking and even know how to physically step in when all goes amok as there are times when it will. The second valuable time is the time spent on the learning styles of individuals. Not all pick up road positioning and junction timing. Some students need to hear it. It must be tugged out by others. Others just need to commit the error once and then they possess it. The good teachers figure out which type they are teaching within a brief time and improvise.

Among the surprises of many instructor trainees? Its regulation and paperwork side. Conditions of licensing, exams, government standards – well, it is quite a lot. In the UK, the ADI (Approved Driving Instructor) qualification is further subdivided into three parts, and the examinations are not highly permissive to pass. Students come to school with the hope that the school is all about driving and they leave having completed a course to becoming a professional teacher. Humbling, but fair.

There is a psychological dimension to this work that is not addressed adequately. Anxious students carry with them anxiety. even a more experienced instructor will have to deal with a learner who is white knuckled at the steering wheel struggling to achieve 20mph and a quiet road will make tension creep in. some real time training now being spent on instructor welfare how to control stress, how to be calm when a student stalls on a roundabout on the third attempt in a row, how to finish a difficult lesson without taking it home with you. That’s not soft stuff. This is living as a professional.

The instructors who persist, the instructors who have complete lists of clients, and are, truly, good in their reputation, are those who never lost track of their own growth. They rethink the feedback approaches, track highway code changes and sometimes even follow other teachers in order to implement new practices. Training does not literally end when the certificate is issued. That’s not a warning. It is the best part of the job.