Something that a lot of people don’t know, is that once someone has qualified as a Driving Instructor, they have to be regularly assessed (called a check test) by an Examiner who will look at the standard of their teaching.
Everything from the advice and knowledge, to the Instructor’s appearance and the way they behave is marked. The test is an hour long, and afterwards the Instructor will be given an overall grade of 1-6 (6 being the highest). Each section is given a grade, and the final grade is a reflection of all the marks put together.
The exception to this would be if the ADI was newly qualified. If this is the case, the check test would be classed as an ‘educational’. So advice will be offered by the Examiner, but no grade will be given.
Moving onto the grades, below is a brief guide of what each grade means:
1 – An extremely poor overall standard, with incorrect or dangerous instruction. No recap, improvement in pupil’s skills or summary at the end.
2 – A poor overall ability, with several issues with the Instructor’s knowledge. Very little lesson structure.
3 – An inadequate performance, with some lack of ability. Gaps in knowledge and poor choice of route.
4 – An acceptable lesson. Some minor deficiencies, but overall good fault identification and remedial action.
5 – A good lesson. Minor weaknesses might occur, but all faults were recognised and dealt with well. Good attitude and feedback with the pupil.
6 – An overall high standard, with no significant weaknesses. Quick to recognise faults, and dealt with them in the best way. Very professional at all times.
Someone who gets a 5 or 6, is tested again in 4 years. A grade 4 results is another one in 2 years, while a 3 -1 will have another in around 8-12 weeks. Someone who fails to improve to a 4 or higher risks losing their licence to teach people to drive.
Keep in mind that this check test is a one hour snapshot taken every few years. There are some very good grade 4 Instructors, and some not so good grade 6s. Saying that, if you are trying to find an Instructor, and you’ve had no recommendations, their grade is one place to start (but unfortunately, without the results sheet, there’s no way you’ll know they’re telling the truth).
Just for a bit of extra info, below are some figures taken from March 2011, showing the number of Instructors at each grade.
Grade 1 – 0
Grade 2 – 54 (0.1%)
Grade 3 – 303 (0.6%)
Grade 4 – 24,526 (52%)
Grade 5 – 15,644 (33%)
Grade 6 – 2,845 (6%)
Ungraded (New) – 3,449 (7%)
Total On Register – 46,821
Rob Laird
RPL Driving
Driving Lessons Romford
Driving School Hornchurch
