The end for the driver training industry as we know it?
DVSA Changes could mean road safety risks and threaten driver training standards and jobs
Last week a DVSA press release informed the industry that the ADI qualifying process will change from October 2nd 2017. You can see a copy of the release as published by the ADINJC here.
The press release suggests that the change will be an improvement.
There are many who believe that it will have a severely detrimental effect on:
• Road Safety
• Some ADI Trainers
• Some ADI Students
• All ADIs
• Organisations that employ or sub-contract ADIs
The consultation process
There are around 40,000 registered driving instructors and several large road safety organisations in the UK. My research thus far shows that a seeming majority were unaware of any proposed change.
The consultation so far has included a basic questionnaire to 160 trainers, with only a 45% response rate, and consultation with industry representatives from NASP, AA, RED and a small number of individuals.
A large number of driving instructors and others who are legitimate stakeholder groups have been unaware of the proposed change.
A consultation concerning change of this magnitude should be wider ranging and not simply a ‘box ticking’ exercise to demonstrate that ‘best practice’ principles have been followed.
Potential impact of the changes on road safety
The current Part-Three examination is in need of change – this is not under dispute – however, the exam works at a positive level in that:
1. It ensures that a broad curriculum is studied by Student Instructors
2. It tests ability across a range of competencies demonstrating that a candidate can attain a basic standard for teaching beginners, intermediate and qualified drivers
With the new test a situation where, for example, a test candidate arrives for test:
• With a full licence holder
• In an automatic car
• To do a lesson on entering and leaving a motorway
The lesson could have been practised and rehearsed several times in the days/weeks leading up to the test.
If the candidate passes he/she would then be a fully licenced ADI who could take out absolute beginners in a manual car the very next day!
School equivalent
This is the equivalent of:
• Giving a schoolchild a list of A Level questions weeks before the exam
• Asking which single question they would like to answer
• Then allowing them to learn and practise for that single answer
If they then pass they would be granted the full ‘A’ level… Regardless of any gaps and omissions in their knowledge.
Effectively the DVSA are proposing that students can design and practise their own test.
Can you imagine a school teacher qualifying only on the basis of one observed lesson – chosen by the student teacher?
Another serious issue is that the location of many test centres is such that, only a learner that has reached a given level of competence would be a suitable candidate to be the ‘client driver’.
This means that an instructor’s ability to teach basic skills to new beginners will never be tested.
In order to reach ‘part-three’ students must pass a multiple choice theory test and exacting driving test – so it is probable that they will have a good level of knowledge, however, having the knowledge and being able to deliver it to address a broad skill set are two very different things.
DVSA might well argue that all ADIs are tested periodically and that any weakness would be picked up in a later assessment – however, this could be more than a year away, and the same testing criteria still apply. There is no telling what damage could be done by poorly tested, under skilled ADIs.
Easy-fix: As one of the most experienced and longest standing ADI trainers in the UK and as head of training for the largest UK ADI training company have a reasonable grasp of the ‘art of the possible’.
It would be perfectly possible to develop a ‘fast track’ training programme that would get students though the proposed qualification with approximately 50% less training than at present. And with at least 50% less skill.
This cannot be considered an improvement in standards – and it is a potential time bomb for road safety.
Potential impact of the changes for some ADI Trainers
The DVSA does not have to consider the commercial interests of ADIs and Trainers. Therefore I suppose that for some trainers the new system will be ‘just bad luck’.
Large companies like my own will have strategies to deal with whatever changes are ‘imposed’ but it won’t be so easy for individual trainers. I might not like the changes, but if/when they come in I will ensure that we offer the best possible training that any new ‘commercial realities’ will allow. This could mean lower standards.
Some trainers are sole operators who only do ADI training or who do a mixture of ADI training and fleet work – they are not connected with a driving school.
This means that they could find it difficult to provide drivers/learners for the test.
It has already been reported to me (in the lead up to publication of the changes) that some trainers are looking for alternative jobs or sources of income.
Some companies believe that there is a profit opportunity to retrain trainers and that student instructors will then get better training and be better qualified. While I hesitate to use the word ‘naive’ I think the real likelihood is that the changes open up the floodgates for ‘watch this video and pass Part-Three’ products and ‘learn to be an ADI for £400’ (or less) packages.
The changes will undoubtedly lead to the industry losing some of its best trainers – those who run small, often one-person, businesses and who give dedicated personal attention to their clients.
Potential impact of the changes for some ADI Students
Some students will find it difficult or impossible to find a ‘real’ learner for test purposes – this will potentially make qualification impossible for some.
The number of test-centres where Part-Three exams are conducted is set to increase, but unless the exams are available at ALL test centres some students will incur substantial extra costs in exam preparation.
They will need to learn the test area, an area where they will not be working after qualification, and they will have to travel to that area several times with the ‘test driver’ thus incurring extra costs in time and fuel – this could rule out the possibility of qualification for low waged or unemployed students.
It could lead to others breaking the law by taking ‘fuel money’ or other benefits (out of necessity). There is one school of thought that says exchanging free lessons for the learner making themselves available for test is payment in kind – and therefore illegal.
What will happen if the student is let down by the driver on the day? Day off work (lost day’s holiday or lost earnings), travel expenses, test fee?
You can bet DVSA won’t be paying!
It’s probable that more students will be ‘forced’ down the Trainee Licence route; I can envisage a situation where large organisations start to make Trainee Licencing the ‘normal and natural’ route to qualification.
This would make commercial sense.
More Trainee Licences will suit driving schools and some student instructors but will be totally wrong for others because of the cost implications. There are also potential implications regarding the service/standards of instruction offered to the public.
Many students are not interested in the Trainee Licence route. They either want to work for themselves after qualifying, or to qualify and then look for the best franchise to suit their wants and needs.
A ‘default’ situation where students are pushed towards a trainee licence will greatly increase their cost of becoming an ADI as they will usually be bound to a one or two year contract with the associated franchise fees. At best they might be ‘saddled’ with a minimum term car leasing agreement.
Some students in full-time work would find the Trainee Licence option unworkable.
All of this makes the proposals inequitable.
Potential impact of the changes on all driving instructors
There are two areas in which driving instructors could be affected.
1. Lost income to ‘free’ lessons
I estimate that out of five or six thousand people in the qualification process somewhere in the region of 4000 students might want to practise giving lessons at any given time. If 1000 of these students practise with full licence holders there will be 3000 ‘looking for learners’.
If each student does just 10 hours free training with a learner the cost in lost revenue to instructors as a whole could be £750, 000. The likelihood is, however, that over an average 8 to 10 month study/training period my suggested 10 hour figure could be tripled or quadrupled bringing the lost revenue figure to £3,000,000. Spread over the industry this would only cost each ADI around £80… But if you work near a busy Part-Three test location there could be a proliferation of student instructors offering free lessons.
2. Significantly more instructors ‘flooding’ the market place
DVSA have expressed concern about the low qualification rate for ADIs. This exam could change this – with no increase in standards.
One possibility is that the new qualification route will increase the numbers entering the register – if this happened, as has been seen before, there would be downward pressure on driving lesson prices.
More significant is that many experienced instructors may choose to leave the business only to be replaced by under skilled, inexperienced replacements.
We all have to get experience in our work. But the driving instructor is dealing with something that has the potential for life or death from day-one.
The proposed changes will mean that there is a high chance that many new instructors will be unprepared on day-one.
