It is too easy to be so focused on dealing with the goals and needs that were set at the beginning of the session,
hat real learning does not end up taking place.
It ends up with your pupil becoming frustrated and underwhelmed with the whole situation.
Think about the first three areas of the 17 competencies.
Did the trainer identify the pupil's learning goals and needs?
was the agreed lesson structure appropriate for the pupil's experience and ability?
Were the practice areas suitable?
These ALL should link together with this category.
If all of the above is being maintained then it should not be necessary to adapt the lesson
However, let's create a scenario where clearly the lesson should be adapted or even cancelled.
It is 8am on the morning of your pupils lesson.
It's been a few weeks since your pupils last lesson, they have been on holiday and have only returned from a long flight in the early hours of the morning of their lesson.
You arrive at their home and ring the doorbell. You wait for about a minute and no answer, so you ring again a couple of times.
Again you wait about a minute and still no answer, so you knock the door just in case the doorbell isn't working.
Still no answer!
Eventually you walk back to your car and send a text message to your pupil and hang around for a few minutes.
Still no reply, so you try giving them a call.
You let the call ring and ring, eventually there is an answer.
"mmmmm ello! who is this?"
"Hi there, it's your instructor sleepy head. Time for your driving lesson"
"Ohhh yeah, what time is it?"
"It's ten past 8"
"Oh god, sorry, i'll be out in a minute"
You hang around and ten minutes later your pupils head appears at the passenger side of the car, the side you are sitting in.
You make a bit of a joke "you not driving today then"
When in reality, this is exactly what should be happening.
The lesson should have been adapted immediately and cancelled before it even started.
You pupil is clearly jetlagged and not in a fit state of mind physically or mentally to take on the challenges of driving a car.
This is possibly a worst case scenario but the reality of what a competent driving instructor should be doing.
To allow your pupil to get behind the wheel of a car in this state is irresponsible and down right dangerous.
You have a duty of care to your pupil, yourself, and every other road user.
So let's create a more realistic everyday type of adaption to a lesson.
You have a pupil who has been taking regular lessons for some weeks now.
They are about 15 hours in to their training and want to build their skill set on entering roundabouts with more confidence.
You have the route all planned out that will help build you pupil's confidence and also challenge them as the lesson progresses.
On the journey to the training areas with your pupil driving, they keep stalling at every junction as they move off.
After four or five of these stalls at junctions you pull in with your pupil and have a little discussion as to what might be causing the stalls.
Your pupil is a little dumbfounded as to why it is happening as they are usually really good with clutch control and hardly ever stall.
You also discuss with them about the potential issues and dangers with stalling while entering a roundabout and ask if they would like to go somewhere for a little while just to work on the clutch control before progressing to practice on the roundabouts.
You pupil thinks this is a great idea as they don't want to be stalling on a roundabout that will cause issues for everyone on them including themselves.
You find a relatively quiet road and continue to practice moving off and stopping.
Weirdly, your pupil continues to keep stalling!
You then realise that you don't remember seeing them adjust the drivers seat when they got in, and your last pupil was really tall.
You ask your pupil whether they adjusted the seat when they got in, and all of a sudden they also realise that they didn't.
Your pupil adjusts the seat and they continue to practice moving off.
This time zero stalls and your pupil chuckles about how silly they were to not have adjusted the seat as they usually always adjust the seat the second they get in.
Dangerous situation averted, clutch control sorted, and confidence building on roundabout re-introduced to the lesson plan.
The lesson goes great from here on in, the pupil finishes the session on a really good high, feeling that they have not only built their skill on roundabouts but have also learned that if they don't carry out their cockpit drill prior to beginning the session, it could cause them issues further down the road.
LESON ADAPTING carried out when appropriate to help the learner toward their learning goal!
