Tips on Becoming an Approved Driving Instructor
Driving instructors teach new driver and provide refresher courses for senior drivers. Driving instructor career provides great flexibility in term of working hour. You choose your own working hours. Any individual could be a self-employed approved driving instructor in UK because there are no age limits or initial qualification barriers. If you love to drive and like to mix with people, you can be the approved driving instructor.
Before you can operate as a driving instructor you need to pass the DSA Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) qualifying exam and become accepted onto the ADI Register. The qualifying exam is made up of three parts:
- Theory Test: Your knowledge of driving theory, rules and regulations will be examined.
- Driving Test: It is an advanced level driving examination which is much like the current exams for learner drivers.
- Practical Test: It checks your ability to instruct. Examiners will check your teaching ability by pretending to be the learner driver.
As these driving instructor exams are very tough, you would need driving instructor training. To give yourself a better chance of passing, it is in your interests to pick the most suitable driving instructor training course. Prior to making any decision, you may need to learn exactly what the course offers, the jobs, training periods and qualification rates. This is important to ensure that you do not get caught out by deceptive claims.
It is recommended by the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) that you need to ask potential training organisations the subsequent questions before choosing which one you would pick to enable you to qualify as an Approved Driving Instructor (ADI).
The trainer
- What ADI grade is your trainer?
- Ask your trainer for the success rate.
- Ask your trainer about the national pass rates for each part of the ADI examinations.
- What is the course fee? Does it include books and test fees?
- What is the timeframe of the whole course?
- Exactly what does the course cover?
- Can you get additional support in the event you fail your qualifying examination?
- Must you pay more for extra attempts?
- Is the course customisable if you need more than the training that is offered?
- Is an assessment of your suitability to become an ADI carried out beforehand?
- What teaching method would be used?
- Would they provide a training record detailing your progress?
- Are you going to share the car with other trainees?
- Are they going to provide times for each of your lessons at the start of the course?
Trainee licence
- Is a trainee licence required?
- Are you guaranteed to get a trainee job? Is the training school likely to provide sufficient pupil for your needs?
Flexibility
- Could you be allowed to train part time while you are working on existing job?
- Will you need longer time if you are attempting to do two jobs at once?
Payment
- What is their refund policy?
- Do you get any refunded fees in case you cannot complete the course?
- What are the duties of your trainer, training center and you under the agreement.
- Will they accept payment in phases?
When You Are Qualified
- Would the students be offered driving instructor jobs for a driving school? How much would you earn and what is your cost?
- What will be the setup cost?
- Would they offer loan?
- If you do the job as a self-employed ADI, are you able to work in the same area as the training school?
- Are you tied to the school for a set period?
Tags: driving instructor jobs, driving instructor training courses, how to become a driving instructor
This entry was posted on Thursday, February 10th, 2011 at 3:21 pm and is filed under Career. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.