Challenges of Being a Driving Instructor and How to Overcome Them

 

Learning to drive is a challenging activity but teaching new learners to drive safely is an even bigger trial. Driving instructors are responsible for preparing skilled, confident, safe, and responsible drivers. But this is no easy feat. Achieving these goals requires instructors to have a separate and specific skill set and values. This is where driving instructor courses come in. These courses are designed to give instructors all the right tools and techniques required to mould new learners into safe and responsible drivers. The job of a driving instructor has its problems and setbacks. From dealing with students’ temperament to maintaining a calm and healthy learning environment, a lot is expected from driving instructors. While courses like TLI41222 help prepare instructors to become good teachers, certain challenges persist. This article will highlight the key challenges that driving instructors face and how to overcome them. 

Challenges Faced by Instructors

Instructors must train new drivers in vehicle handling and maintenance and teach them the traffic rules and regulations. But more than that, they must also instil moral values that compel students to be accountable for road safety. It’s easier said than done. In trying to teach new drivers, instructors also face various challenges. Let us look at these challenges in brief:

Nervous or Anxious Students: 

Nerves are quite common in those learning to drive for the first time. However, when a driver is nervous or anxious, the chances of mistakes increase significantly. Instructors are also likely to get nervous or frustrated with those students who get extremely nervous quite often. However, losing your cool will not help in any way. Instead, instructors should stay calm and also try to calm down their students. Reassure students that nothing will go wrong, help them believe in their abilities and ease their nerves. It will build their confidence and help them get over their anxiety gradually.

Different Learning Styles and Abilities: 

Every individual has a different learning style and their grasping powers also differ. As instructors, you must realise this fact. There will be many students who have a different learning style and may not easily understand things the way others do. Some people may understand theoretical concepts and verbal descriptions while others may require practical demonstrations or personal experience to learn the same. Instructors should try to understand each student’s learning style and adapt their teaching methods accordingly.

Staying Calm and Focused: 

The job of a driving instructor requires a lot of patience, concentration, and observation skills. However, if you find yourself losing patience or focus, remember instructors are humans too. You might lose focus, get angry or irritated, and want to unwind. When you feel your patience and control slipping, take a break and give yourself time to calm down. Practice meditation, breathing techniques and other methods to improve your concentration and get calm. Once you’re feeling better, start again. Taking time to relax and unwind can help you focus better and focus on your students instead of your frustrations.

Overconfidence in Students: 

Some students lack confidence in their abilities and need reassurance and a confidence boost. However, you will also find some students being overly confident in their driving skills and other abilities. Anything in excess is bad, even if it's confidence. If you notice your students losing focus or making mistakes in their overconfidence, try to handle them carefully. Let them know their mistakes and give them solutions to their mistakes but positively and encouragingly. Letting them down gently would help them understand their mistake but without making them lose their confidence completely.

Unpredictable Traffic Conditions: 

Some students may be good drivers otherwise but lose their cool in heavy traffic conditions. When teaching such students to navigate traffic, make sure to stay calm and ready for unexpected issues even when the students are panicking. To avoid chaos and confusion later, plan your routes carefully and after considering traffic and road conditions. It will help you teach the students to manage testing and stressful traffic without losing their cool or becoming overconfident.

Staying Updated Professionally: 

Driving education is a dynamic and robust field. New technologies keep replacing old ones giving vehicles more features. Traffic rules and regulations also get updated regularly to go with the changing times. To keep up with these changes and stay updated is very important for driving instructors. Without the knowledge of these changes, they cannot teach students about them too. Instructors can attend refresher courses or new driving instructor courses to learn the latest techniques and tools used by instructors. Staying in touch with the latest trends can help you improve your teaching style and convey relevant and important information to the students.

Driving Instructor Courses for Professionals

A common misconception is that good drivers are also good teachers. This is indeed not true as being a good driving instructor involves more than the knowledge of operating a vehicle. Being a driving instructor involves a lot of challenges and struggles. As seen earlier, a driving instructor must have many other qualities like patience, concentration, good judgement, perception, communication, etc. to become an expert driving instructor. Driving instructor courses can help you become an expert professional in giving driving instruction. If you’re an aspiring instructor, you must be aware of the above challenges before looking for a course. And if you’re still ready to start a career in teaching driving, reputed institutes like the Academy of Road Safety offer many accredited courses to help you become certified instructors. So stop wasting time, join a course today and become an expert instructor!

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