DSA
Information for those completing ADI Renewal form
If you
are applying for renewal on Form ADI 37A, there is
currently no need to complete the section asking for
the criminal record disclosure number and this
should be left blank.
The DSA are in the process of contacting all ADIs as
part of the ongoing process of obtaining up to date
Criminal Record Check disclosures and will be in
touch with you about this separately in due course.
You are reminded that from September 3rd
the Theory Test for drivers and motorcyclists will
be changing and the fee will increase.
The
DSA feel that in order to develop better driving
standards it is necessary to increase the number of
theory test questions from 35 to 50.
The minimum pass mark for the new test will be
43. The maximum time allowed for the questions
will be 57 minutes.
The fee for
the Theory Test will increase from £21.50 to £28.50.
Planning for
your Check-Test
Initially,
you might think that it's a good thing to be planning well in
advance, after all, it must be true that the more planning you do
the more likely you are to get a good result. However, this approach
to the Check-Test will, more often than not, not provide the result
that you hope for.
To
understand why planning your Check-test lesson too far in advance is
not a good idea, you need to consider your role as a driving
instructor and how the supervising examiner views that role. Perhaps
an easy way to explain this is by taking one of my e-mails as for
example.
Mr X
wanted to know whether it will be okay to teach 'meeting vehicles'
for the test lesson. "No problem" I said, "When is the test". He
answered that his test was in six weeks time. "How do you know your
pupil will need and meeting vehicle lesson in six weeks time" I
asked, he explained that he was covering meeting vehicles with the
pupil on the next lesson - and that most pupils take a couple of
months to master it and so she would still be learning it in six
weeks.
It's
difficult to know where to start with some people, and I think that
I completely failed to get the message across on this occasion.
Having said this, I'm afraid that anybody who thinks it takes two
months to teach meeting vehicles is in need of complete retraining.
It is virtually impossible, even with a well structured
syllabus, to know specifically what you will be teaching to an
individual pupil in six weeks time; what this instructor was
planning to do was to prepare a 'model' lesson and deliberate
parrot fashion, regardless of the needs of his pupil. When
examiners see a lesson like this it is clear to them that the
lesson has been planned for the instructor and not the pupil ...
A Grade 4 is perhaps all you can hope for with this approach.
The
Check-Test is just another lesson! Every lesson you give should be
well planned and delivered enthusiastically. Any lesson is
suitable... Stories about examiners not liking certain lessons, for
example, the turn-in-the-road, are usually based on the experience
of someone who has tried to deliver a 'set piece' lesson rather than
delivering a lesson that is appropriate to the needs of a specific
pupil on the day. If you deliver a good lesson, any lesson (apart
from a mock test) you will get a good grade, simple as that..
So if you want a Grade 6,
plan the lesson the week before (or after the pupil's previous
lesson) and make sure that it is targeted specifically at that
pupils needs.
The subject is
immaterial!
New No Smoking laws
From July 1st the new workplace
smoking ban comes in to effect. This means that you can no longer
smoke in driving school cars and that you MUST display an
'International no smoking' sign at least 70mm in diameter in your
vehicle.
Although
most school cars are privately registered, they are covered by the
act because their primary use is for business. You can face a
minimum fixed penalty of £150 for not displaying a sign and £30 for
smoking in a a non-smoking place.
Initially,
you might think that it's a good thing to be planning well in
advance, after all, it must be true that the more planning you do
the more likely you are to get a good result. However, this approach
to the Check-Test will, more often than not, not provide the result
that you hope for. 
Although
most school cars are privately registered, they are covered by the
act because their primary use is for business. You can face a
minimum fixed penalty of £150 for not displaying a sign and £30 for
smoking in a a non-smoking place.
