Standards check lesson plan
Your standards check lesson plan is an essential element of your test.
If you teach the wrong thing you will very likely fail and have to take the test again.
Teaching the wrong thing will result in the whole lesson falling apart but there is some good news. It’s easier than you might think to choose the subject that you’ll be teaching because the DVSA will tell you!
The DVSA have produced a help guide for driving instructors called ADI1. You can download ADI 1by clicking here.
Be sure to have a good read through because it contains vital information which you need to know to pass.
In section 4.25 of this document you’ll see how examiners put pupils into one of four categories. All you need to do is identify which category of pupil you are taking and then the DVSA give you a step by step guide to what they expect to see you teaching that pupil.
It’s easy!
My video below explains this in more detail and if you want more help then you can see hours more standards check videos on my website.
Don’t teach YOUR favourite topic!
The biggest thing instructors do wrong on a standards check is to teach their favourite topic.
You get your letter, book your test and then think “I love roundabouts and I’ve got a great route that pupils always love and works really well. Who have I go that I can do that with?”. You find a pupil and build them up so they’re at the stage where they’re ready to do roundabouts by the time your test comes around. You go and do your best lesson on your best route…and fail.
Every week I get emails from instructors saying “I have a standards check and I’m going to do roundabouts”. When I ask why they’re doing roundabouts they say because they like them and there are lots of them around.
The reason they fail is that it’s easy to tell when a driving instructor is teaching THEIR favourite topic – not what the pupil needs to learn!
There is no need to over plan your lesson. You shouldn’t know what you’re going to do until the lesson with that pupil before your standards check. You set the aim of the next lesson based on that one, not based on something you’ve been planning for months.
Teach what the pupil needs to learn
Examiners want to see instructors who listen to what the pupil wants to improve on and then forms a plan to achieve that safely. What examiners don’t want to see is you driving route which has nothing to do with the pupils needs. Many instructors make that classic mistake and are surprised when they fail after having driven their “perfect route”.
It may even be a perfect route for someone but if it isn’t addressing the pupils needs then it’s useless!
If you watch my standards check diary series you’ll see that I over planned my last standards check and the whole plan went out the window within 5 minutes!
Remember the purpose of a driving lesson
The most important part of any driving lesson is that the pupil learns something. They should be able to do something at the end of the lesson that they couldn’t do at the start. If not they should at least have a better understanding of the topic or skill that you are teaching.
There’s an easy way to check if your lesson plan is effective and working: ask the pupil! Ask the pupil what they’re learning and check their understanding with open questions to see if they understand.
Ask them how they feel about what they are learning and how you can help them more if needed.
A common mistake made by many instructors is to wait until the end of the lesson and THEN ask the pupil how it’s going. It’s too late to ask when the lesson is over and you have no chance to do anything about it.
A good lesson plan will constantly evolve and adapt to meet the pupils needs as the lesson progresses.
Don’t do manoeuvres on a standard check!
One of the worst things you can ever do on a standards check or a part 3 is to teach a manoeuvre. The video below explains why this is disasterous and you will almost always fail for doing so.
I hear about this all the time when instructors think they’ll make it easy for themselves by doing a manoeuvres. They’re not working as driving instructors anymore and you can find out why when you watch this video.
Now your standards check lesson plan will work
Those are just some of the basics of planning lessons. If you want to learn more then see my other standards check videos.
If you prefer to read then visit all my other standards check pages to learn more.
Here I am planning a lesson on crossroads with Lucy
