Checking up on me

You may remember me talking about the dreaded Part 3 exam a few months back. As the name suggests, this is the 3rd (and final) step in the process of becoming a DSA Approved Driving Instructor and the reward is the coveted Green Badge (as opposed to the Pink licence which Provisional driving Instructors have). The Part 1 is an extended Theory Test, the Part 2 is an extended Driving Test (at a high standard) and the Part 3 is a challenging 1 hour test of the instructor's ability to teach - The examiner plays the role of a new, or partly-trained pupil for he first half hour, then a completely different partly-trained, or qualified, driver for the second half hour. Of all the people that set off on the road to become a driving instructor, not even half of them get through the first two parts: The pass rate was 52% for Pt 1, 42% for Pt 2, but only 24% for Pt 3. Anyway, what I am saying, in a very long-winded way is 'it's tough'. So it was a fantastic feeling and a huge relief when I passed my Part 3 last year. After the examiner had told me my result I got out of the car, the clouds disappeared, birds started singing, flowers bloomed and angels played their harps. Then I met Susan.
Susan is another BSM instructor. She had a pupil out on test and, being a warm, sunny day, she was waiting outside. I walked over to give her my good news...
"Congratulations. It's a nice feeling, isn't it?" She replied. "Mind you... the Check Test is worse."

Every so often, the DSA likes to make sure we haven't turned into rubbish instructors by giving us a Check Test. Like the Part 3, you are only given 3 'lives'. So, if you mess up your check test, they ask to see you again in another few months, and if you mess that up, you only get one more chance before they remove you from the register of Approved Driving Instructors.
As I said, in the part 3 the examiner 'pretends' to be a pupil, and much of the difficulty stems from trying to think of the examiner as someone who can't drive, while, subconsciously, you know he/she can. In the check test most instructors teach one of their own pupils, while the examiner sits in the back and observes. An alternative option is to have the examiner do role play again. With some Fiat 500s not having rear head-restraints, there have been reports of some examiners refusing to sit in the back, thus forcing the instructor to take the role play option - but with me STILL having my Corsa, I had the luxury of choosing my option.
Virtually everyone advised me to use one of my own pupils, ideally choosing one that was not too good so that I could demonstrate an improvement in their driving over the hour lesson. I had chosen Inverness as the centre where I wanted to take my check test, mainly because it has much more variety of roads and situations than Elgin, Grantown or Ullapool. However, I only have a couple of Inverness pupils who at the part-trained stage - the others are all ready to take their test - but, unfortunately, neither of them could be available at the time of my test. Oh well, it's not a problem, I thought, I will just ask the examiner to do role play.
A couple of days before my test I popped into Inverness Test Centre to ask whether I would choose the route, or whether the examiner would choose it (as he/she does in the Part 3). The Chief Examiner asked me for a chat and we discussed the check test. Although I explained why I was electing to use the role play option, he was trying to steer me towards taking a 'real' pupil, even if it meant borrowing one from another instructor.
When Jane is driving her school minibus, one of her favourite passengers is Mark, who recently turned 17 and began driving lesson with me. His father is a gamekeeper, so he has grown up driving Land Rovers around the estate. Consequently, after only 12 hours with me, he is taking his test this Saturday. Despite my reservations that, because of his ability, he will not demonstrate much improvement over the hour, in other ways, he is an ideal choice for the check test because he responds to instruction and thinks about his answers when I question him. And we have a laugh in our lessons. Mark has breezed through his lessons so far, but has had to wait to book his test because he kept failing the Hazard Perception part of the Theory Test. Because of this, I thought about theming the check test lesson on hazard awareness, antici                pation, and the use of mirrors.
Mark has a thing about punctuality, so I was a tad concerned when he wasn't at the agreed pick-up point at 1.30pm. Five minutes later he arrived, running and out of breath because he had to run an errand for someone, and we set off for Inverness. The Senior Examiner (SE) was very affable and, after the introductions, we began the lesson. Usually my lessons are quite relaxed, but I had sixty minutes to demonstrate my ability so I think poor Mark was a wee bit shocked at the intensity of the lesson. An instructor should vary the level of instruction according to the pupil's ability - a new learner will get step-by-step instruction for everything they do, a partly-trained learner is encouraged to think more for themselves by prompts and questions, and a 'test-ready' pupil (such as Mark) is almost left alone, with occasional prompts and questions when the need arises. But with limited time, I wanted rapid communication between Mark and I everytime a potential hazard appeared.
I took him around the Crown area of Inverness - lots of parked cars, traffic lights, pedestrian crossings, narrow roads, very closed junctions and, by 3 o'clock, children leaving school. He drove very well.... too well. Any small faults we discussed and corrected on the move, but he barely gave me any cause to pull him over and discuss potentially serious faults. He responded really well to the prompts and questions and, although slightly phased by the increased demand on him, made me very proud.
Back at the Test Centre, Mark sat in the waiting room while the SE discussed the test with me.
"I'm not sure about your planning. By that I mean that I think you should have chosen a different pupil, one with less ability. Then they may have shown more improvement over the lesson." He suggested. (Exactly the concerns I had when deciding whether to take a pupil or do role play).
I explained the choice I had, then he suggested that, in that case, perhaps I should have pushed Mark a bit more by taking him out on fast rural roads. I replied that, if anything, Mark was even more comfortable in those situations and, because I had identified mirrors as his main weakness, I thought the lesson would be of most benefit to him. The SE agreed and said, now that he knew that, I had been correct in my planning.
Unfortunately, he had already marked his test sheet and he explained that, because Mark had been unable to demonstrate much learning, he could not grade me higher than a 4. We chatted some more, I thanked him for his advice (it had been useful) and that was that.
Mixed feelings after. Lots of people, including the Chief Examiner, said that the first check test was really what they call 'an educational' (and it certainly was) and would often be graded as an E (for 'Educational', in case you are not keeping up). However, if it was good enough, I could be graded (a 4, 5 or 6). An E would mean that I would get another check test in a few months time and, as I said earlier on in this post, three successive sub-4 grades would result in removal from the register. So, in many ways, I am pleased with my '4' because, as the SE said, 'they will not be bothering me now for a couple of years'. But..... there is a tiny tinge of disappointment because I thought the lesson went very well (not perfect, but good) and, if I had been able to choose a different standard of pupil, I am sure I could have achieved a higher grade.

Ultimately, I should just heed the SE's advice about check tests. He doesn't believe the grading system is a good one because it is only based on what they see in that one hour. In fact, he was generous enough to say that it was actually refreshing to sit on a check test where the pupil is "above test standard" (Mark was very pleased when I passed on that comment to him). And, although a '6' or a '5' would have been nice, it doesn't bring any greater reward. As it stands, the DSA are happy with my instruction, I am happy with my instruction and, most importantly, my pupils are happy with my instruction, and surely that is the most important thing. And, as for Check Tests, I don't know what you were talking about, Susan. Bring on the next one!