Standards Check Professional Development Day, a sell-out success!

We had a fantastic Professional Development Day (PDD) at the stunning Heritage Motor Centre in Warwickshire on 18th November, as we delved deeper into the forthcoming Standards Check and helped delegates better prepare for delivering on the National Standards in their every day work. The Check itself then becomes more of a mere snapshot of your usual high performance, than a nail-biting cross examination of your competence.

Alastair Peoples, Mark Magee
being question by Mike Frisby, DIA

We also received the latest industry updates delivered by expert speakers from the DSA, Alastair Peoples, new CEO of DSA & VOSA and Mark Magee, ADI Registrar. Mr Peoples also set out his vision for the DSA and plans for future development. Visit our Youtube channel here to see more of these speeches and highlights from the day. Driving Instructors were also able to voice their concerns and questions on the latest Standards Check and find out more about the criteria for examiner assessments.

The day consisted of five top interactive workshops that guided driving instructors through the different criteria of the DSA Standards Check Form SC1, ensuring all delegates felt confident and prepared, especially with the ability to ask questions when needed.

We also trialled out a new 'In-car Coaching' workshop, thanks to Hitachi for providing the cars, which received great feedback as it enabled people to experience peer assessments, free pointers on their teaching approach and an insight into client centred learning. These sessions were led by renowned driver coaching experts, including Ian Edwards and Louise Walsh that run the DIA Certificate in Coaching.

Louise Walsh reviews how the in-car coaching worked on the day: "I thought that it was a success. I was skeptical if I'm honest but with the freedom to be a little bit individual depending on the needs of the group in the car was good. The feedback was encouraging and it made my day when one ADI whispered in my ear "best session of the day, thank you". I was surprised how little understanding many had and the lack of ability to make even a very basic session 'client centred'... Yet many thought they were!"

We also held a new workshop from Goodyear Tyres that greatly impressed our delegates, as they produced an interactive workshop demonstrating tyre performance during different weather conditions. This workshop, entitled ‘Winter Tyres; Dispelling the Myths,’ aimed to banish the misconceptions around Winter tyres and provide delegates with a deeper knowledge on what a Winter tyre is and why the UK weather makes them more necessary than you might think.

Commenting on the day, Goodyear brand manager Michelle Fisher said: " We gained some valuable insights from working with driving instructors during these workshops. They provided us with great feedback and many suggestions as to how we can improve education around the need for Winter tyres with a broader audience. The commitment from driving instructors to continuously learn and educate themselves in order to educate others really stood out . We look forward to working with delegates in the future on our shared aim to improve education for drivers and road safety in the UK."

Specsavers eye tests

Champagne Prize from
Face for Business

We would also like to take the opportunity to thank sponsors Specsavers and Face for Business for producing engaging exhibition stands at our event. Heaps of ADI's took part in Specsavers eye test and had an 100% pass rate, which shocked and delighted Suzanne Randall who took the tests. Face for Business provided free trials for their telephone service and a bottle of champagne!

If you missed out; Plans will be announced soon so keep and eye out and to guarantee yourself a place add yourself to our reserve list by emailing lyndanazer@driving.org. We will offer early bird tickets at £69.00 to Members and £79.00 to Non-members before they go on sale.