Train to become a Driving Instructor
I imagine that the story for most Driving Instructors is similar... nobody left school with it in mind that they would ever do this for a living - we all seem to have made a decision to change our lives at some stage.
In my own case, I got an apprenticeship and became a Design Engineer / Project Manager for a famous company when I left school. I loved the job, but I absolutely hated the politics! I was surrounded by people who just couldn't say "well done" or "that's great, thank you" and there was a time when I was asked to illustrate the amount of waste in one of the projects in graph form for my departmental director's presentation to the board and it had taken all day just to get the colours of the graph right for him!
I had been in Engineering for 15 years when I realised that I had become unhappy and that's how I ended up becoming a Driving Instructor. I have been working as one full time now for 15 years and enjoy a varied and enjoyable working day. As well as being a DVSA Grade A ADI, I am also on the ORDIT and Fleet registers and work as an Examiner for Diamond Advanced Motorists.
Does this story sound familiar to you?
Do you fancy training to become a Driving Instructor?
Many ADI's say that it's lonely "working in the car on your own" but I find it's a very social job, working with people who generally share the same objective that I have - them passing their driving test or otherwise eliminating a problem that they have in their driving. You get to meet some fantastic people from all sorts of backgrounds and you can obviously control how much or how little you work (although it MUST be remembered that as a self employed person, you will earn more if you work more, earn less if you work less and not receive any sickness, holiday or maternity pay).
The qualification process consists of three main tests of your ability...
- Subject knowledge is proven by passing a theory test. This consists of 100 questions (including extra questions for teaching strategies, disabilities and the law) and a Hazard Perception test
- Driving ability is proven by passing an advanced driving test. This test is around an hour long and involves driving in all road and traffic conditions (including motorways where possible) show me / tell me questions and manoeuvres
- Instructional ability is proven when a specially trained Driving Examiner from the DVSA sits in the car and observes a driving lesson with a real pupil. This is a competency based test where the examiner looks for demonstration of various competencies in the driving lesson
I intend to use this blog to discuss the different elements of these tests in detail over the next few weeks / months but in the meantime, if you would like more information about my Driving Instructor Training program, then please get in touch by either visiting our website or giving us a call on 08008 20 20 38 to arrange to meet up for a no-obligation chat - our training proposal is based on trying to guarantee YOUR success so it all takes place locally and is on a one to one basis with the length of training sessions flexible to meet your needs and learning requirements.
