Spent most of my life in financial services but due to personal circumstances, divorce, death of my spouse and ultimately Bankruptcy, I am no longer able to follow that profession.
My father was a Driving Instructor who taught the Police to drive, I love driving and my career in financial services involved a 10+ year stint as a trainer so I thought a good career for the future was working as an Approved Driving Instructor.
An approved Driving Instructor has some reasonably strict requirements as you will be working with many young people aged 17 yrs and up, so as you can imagine, you need a CRB check, clean licence and not have any outstanding prosecutions.
I researched the usual routes people take, Red, AA, LDC but with my current job and income levels there was no way I could avoid to buy in to a franchise system which requires a typical spend of £2,500-£3,000 for training etc so I decided to move forward under my own steam.
I commenced the CRB check via the gov.uk website for a total cost of £6 (very cheap compared to other ways) in November and have just heard it is complete and my certificate being printed.
I spoke to a friend that is an existing ADI and he is helping me a great deal by giving me access to his website for Hazard and Theory questions. As you can probably imagine, the test standard for an ADI is much higher than that for a normal driver and your theory includes questions regarding how to train a new pupil. This is called Part 1 (of 3 parts).
It is a 100 question multiple test requiring 85% pass mark and a minimum of 20 of 25 correct in each of the 4 sections to pass. So far I have taken 3 mock tests and score 95%+ in each so Feeling reasonably confident so far. Hazard Perception is the second part of the Theory (as I am sure you are aware), which involves watching fairly poor quality videos and flagging up hazards as they develop into something where you need to take action. There is a 5 second window to flag the hazard as it develops and points are awarded 5-4-3-2-1 as the time passes. You can't just randomly click as once you hit 6 clicks in 5 seconds you are disqualified from that clip. Having said all this, it is relatively straight forward, 14 clips in total, 13 with a single hazard and 1 clip with 2 hazards. My first run I score 85% with a required score of 76% (57 out of a possible 75 points).
As soon as my certificate comes back I will be booking this part for a cost of £83.
Part 2 is the Driving Test. This is like to a normal driving test but you are only allowed 3 attempts to become an ADI. The eyesight part is stricter than the normal test allowing for the fact that as an ADI you will need to be able to spot hazards earlier than your student. If you fail the eyesight test it will count as one of your 3 attempts so highly important you have a good sight test prior to your test rather than waste the £111 fee and the attempt!
Part 2 is passed if you make no more than 6 minor faults, I was feeling reasonably confident (my Bike test I only made 2 minors) for this part, thinking I would only require some minor tweaking to get to test standard, but that went out the window when I did my first lesson with my friendly ADI!
For those who have driven for years, the way in which they expect you to drive is very specific and the volume of mirror and corner checks of a certain type is very specific. I would have failed my test in the first 100 yards!
If you fail the part two 3 times, you have to retake Part one after a 2 year wait has elapsed.
If you pass you have 2 options, 1. Book your Part 3 Driving Instructor Test or 2. Apply for a Trainee Instructor Licence https://www.gov.uk/trainee-driving-instructor-licence-the-rules details here, which lasts 6 months and allows you to work as a Trainee and Earn money whilst getting valuable experience for the part 3. To apply for this licence you need to have done 40 hours of ADI training, this can include accompanying an existing ADI and working with them with one of their students, so is not too difficult to achieve if you have the time.
Part 3 is the ADI test where you will roleplay being a driving instructor with the examiner playing the part of 2 different students. The test costs £111 takes about 1 hours and covers:
The list of test centres where this can take place is quite restricted and your result will be a grade from 1-6. 1 being Extremely Poor or dangerous and 6 being Very High. (4 is Satisfactory).
If you pass then you have 12 months to apply for your Badge or you will have to take all 3 parts again. The badge costs £300, must be displayed on your windscreen whenever you are working and must be renewed every 12 months for a cost of £300. If it lapses then you have 12 months in which to renew it before you will need to retake your 3 parts!
I am hoping to qualify by June 2015, and will update my progress here.
Thanks for reading
My father was a Driving Instructor who taught the Police to drive, I love driving and my career in financial services involved a 10+ year stint as a trainer so I thought a good career for the future was working as an Approved Driving Instructor.
An approved Driving Instructor has some reasonably strict requirements as you will be working with many young people aged 17 yrs and up, so as you can imagine, you need a CRB check, clean licence and not have any outstanding prosecutions.
I researched the usual routes people take, Red, AA, LDC but with my current job and income levels there was no way I could avoid to buy in to a franchise system which requires a typical spend of £2,500-£3,000 for training etc so I decided to move forward under my own steam.
I commenced the CRB check via the gov.uk website for a total cost of £6 (very cheap compared to other ways) in November and have just heard it is complete and my certificate being printed.
I spoke to a friend that is an existing ADI and he is helping me a great deal by giving me access to his website for Hazard and Theory questions. As you can probably imagine, the test standard for an ADI is much higher than that for a normal driver and your theory includes questions regarding how to train a new pupil. This is called Part 1 (of 3 parts).
It is a 100 question multiple test requiring 85% pass mark and a minimum of 20 of 25 correct in each of the 4 sections to pass. So far I have taken 3 mock tests and score 95%+ in each so Feeling reasonably confident so far. Hazard Perception is the second part of the Theory (as I am sure you are aware), which involves watching fairly poor quality videos and flagging up hazards as they develop into something where you need to take action. There is a 5 second window to flag the hazard as it develops and points are awarded 5-4-3-2-1 as the time passes. You can't just randomly click as once you hit 6 clicks in 5 seconds you are disqualified from that clip. Having said all this, it is relatively straight forward, 14 clips in total, 13 with a single hazard and 1 clip with 2 hazards. My first run I score 85% with a required score of 76% (57 out of a possible 75 points).
As soon as my certificate comes back I will be booking this part for a cost of £83.
Part 2 is the Driving Test. This is like to a normal driving test but you are only allowed 3 attempts to become an ADI. The eyesight part is stricter than the normal test allowing for the fact that as an ADI you will need to be able to spot hazards earlier than your student. If you fail the eyesight test it will count as one of your 3 attempts so highly important you have a good sight test prior to your test rather than waste the £111 fee and the attempt!
Part 2 is passed if you make no more than 6 minor faults, I was feeling reasonably confident (my Bike test I only made 2 minors) for this part, thinking I would only require some minor tweaking to get to test standard, but that went out the window when I did my first lesson with my friendly ADI!
For those who have driven for years, the way in which they expect you to drive is very specific and the volume of mirror and corner checks of a certain type is very specific. I would have failed my test in the first 100 yards!
If you fail the part two 3 times, you have to retake Part one after a 2 year wait has elapsed.
If you pass you have 2 options, 1. Book your Part 3 Driving Instructor Test or 2. Apply for a Trainee Instructor Licence https://www.gov.uk/trainee-driving-instructor-licence-the-rules details here, which lasts 6 months and allows you to work as a Trainee and Earn money whilst getting valuable experience for the part 3. To apply for this licence you need to have done 40 hours of ADI training, this can include accompanying an existing ADI and working with them with one of their students, so is not too difficult to achieve if you have the time.
Part 3 is the ADI test where you will roleplay being a driving instructor with the examiner playing the part of 2 different students. The test costs £111 takes about 1 hours and covers:
- core competencies
- instructional techniques
- instructor characteristics
The list of test centres where this can take place is quite restricted and your result will be a grade from 1-6. 1 being Extremely Poor or dangerous and 6 being Very High. (4 is Satisfactory).
If you pass then you have 12 months to apply for your Badge or you will have to take all 3 parts again. The badge costs £300, must be displayed on your windscreen whenever you are working and must be renewed every 12 months for a cost of £300. If it lapses then you have 12 months in which to renew it before you will need to retake your 3 parts!
I am hoping to qualify by June 2015, and will update my progress here.
Thanks for reading
