Author: Jackie Willis

Are you concerned about the Standards Check? Think you know what is required but would like some quick and easy reassurance? Maybe you really don't know what is required, don't like to ask, and would just like something easy to help you to decide just how much further training, if any, you are going to […]

What is Irlen Syndrome? Irlen Syndrome is a little known problem affecting the way the brain processes images from the retina, but is also far more wide-spread than you would believe considering most people have never even heard of it!  So why should something I describe as being wide-spread, be so little known? Well first […]

Yes, I'm really sorry, but I threw in a 'red herring' in my last blog article, 'Driving Lessons Must Be Client-Centred'. I hope your blood pressure didn't go too high? But, for all that, I only received one email expressing disappointment with the phrase, 'probably the indie'. So why did I use this apparently ill-considered phrase? […]

Is this really going on in driving lessons? I have just booked in a new pupil for their first 'assessment' lesson. This lesson does not commit the pupil to any further lessons but allows the opportunity to assess whether they feel comfortable with me as their instructor, whether they think they will enjoy their lessons […]

As driving instructors, it can be very easy for us to focus our attention exclusively on road safety for our learner drivers, and our youngest charges in particular. Road safety reports relating to the issue of safety for this particular group is, unsurprisingly, prolific. Here is just one example I found this week, targeting the […]

Do a high number of drivers behave stupidly? It appears some driving instructors have a very low opinion of most other drivers. What message is this sending out to learner drivers? Whilst in Norwich yesterday, I was reminded of a recent Facebook thread, concerning light-controlled pedestrian crossings, where the question was asked what ADIs would do […]

10 days before Christmas, I got a puncture, nearside front. Tyre was completely flat! Didn't discover this until I got back home from Norwich having driven on the A47 dual carriageway! Car felt fine, except for what I considered to be bad cornering on my part on a roundabout, and a slight pull to the […]

This image needs no introduction, although its meaning does require a little more thought. You see, the French phrase 'Je suis' means 'I am', that is true, but it also means 'I follow', from the verb 'suivre'. A well-known French saying illustrates the two meanings very well: Je suis que je suis que je suis […]

Right, now for something completely different – I'm going to take the Santa Slimming Challenge because I'd like to be slim, and fit, for Christmas this year!  So, let's do this together and 'get primal' with the 'Primal Blueprint' from Mark Sissons. I found Mark's website, to save buying any of the books before I know […]

Some time ago Ed Marshall, one of our regular contributors on CCL and coaching techniques, asked the question about CPD and why we should be bothered to do it. As you would expect, his presentation set out to explain the benefits of doing CPD and the different ways this can be achieved. Dile members can […]

What are we doing wrong? Time and time again I am offered learning content on CD so I can 'have something to do' while driving! People see driving as 'boring', time that needs to be filled with something more useful! Young, and not-so-young drivers don't seem to see any problem in checking their phones while […]

  Live webinar 14th August 2014 @8pm. Register now The title of this Phoenix Risk Solutions CPD course is 'Standardising Fleet Training'. However, experience of the course showed it is actually all about delivering driver training in a client-centred way using coaching methods. The PRS Standardised Fleet Training assessment sheet closely mirrors the SC marking sheets, which […]

I went onto Amazon this morning to finalise the purchase of six albums I had placed in my basket. I decided I wanted the physical CD for these, as opposed to download MP3 only and had accepted I would have to wait for the albums to arrive in the post. So, I placed my order and […]

What exactly is it that makes local residents so angry? As an ADI for the past 11yrs I have occsionally had to deal with this problem. Thankfully very rarely, in fact fingers of one hand, but it can be upsetting when it does. In each case it has been because the resident has reached the […]

When people are scared about something, especially when that something involves change, they will make excuses and accusations to avoid embracing the change and/or facing their fears. The common 'excuse' for doing nothing with regards to the new SC is, "I have a good pass rate/my pupils recommend me so I don't need to do […]

This blog post contains examples of client-centred learning with some of my current clients. It is intended to show examples of what can be done, not as a definitive, 'this is how to do it' post. I hope you will find this useful and find ways you can adapt the situations to your own clients. […]

In my last article I showed you how education that puts the individual receiving that education at the heart of the process, has been around for many years – in my early years of teaching in the primary sector, child-centred teaching was expected, following the publication of a report from a committee chaired by Lady Plowden. […]

This is the first in a series of articles concerning teaching skills. It is not intended as the definitive 'how to' series but as a collection of my personal experiences and beliefs built up over a period of 30 years teaching children from age 9 up to 18 in UK middle and secondary schools, followed […]

That night the shock set in! Headache, cold, shivering, despite the heat in the room.  It was just a brief visit to the supermarket for the dog food I had forgotten to buy – for myself I would have gone without but not for my dog! It was early evening, cold and raining, headlights glaring […]

The advert may convince you that automated emails can give you that personal touch with your clients, but is that how your clients, or prospective clients see them? I had some lovely feedback this week from one of my learner drivers. She was telling me about how she came to choose me as her driving […]

Every month I write a short road safety article for our local Parish magazine. The following is a recent submission I thought you might like to consider for both your learner and qualified drivers. What a wonderful summer we have had this year!  Makes you feel so much better, doesn’t it?  I was lucky because […]

Internet theft!  A scam!  "Never thought it would happen to me!" – isn't that what everyone says?  Well, it happened to me and I'm kicking myself! I thought I'd done everything to protect myself, scoured the page for hidden smallprint, terms and conditions, nothing visible.  But this was a single page website, a 'landing page', and […]

The conference took place on Oct 6th 2013, with a special celebration dinner the night before.  The dinner celebrated the 40 years the ADINJC has been in existence, with a fun quiz at the start, many questions going back well before the 40yrs and Professor Peter Russell showing his memory is as sharp as ever (sharper than most […]

Do your learners find thinking too hard?  If so, do they like you to give them full instruction so they don't have to think?  Full instruction works well for some, so long as the instruction is gradually removed, and has been the cornerstone of driving instruction ever since the driving test was first introduced!  But […]

The eyes are vital in driving so do not ignore your learners' eyes! The Dile is all about helping you to develop your skills further so you can offer the very best training to your clients. I am sure you remind your pupils, after they have passed their tests, that their learning now begins!  And […]

Well, what a fabulous weekend I had this weekend, attending a fun-packed conference in Birmingham with a network marketing group I'm involved with. I experienced some of the best business training imaginable, met some amazing people, clapped, cheered, laughed and cried at the stories told on the stage by people who'd made a success of their […]

This age old probelm of correct use of signalling continues to raise its head!  Ged Wilmot wrote an excellent blog post on this topic way back in 2010, and he has just re-posted it as ADI's like myself keep on using it to help others!  You will find Ged's 2010 post on signalling on Ged […]

Time and time again, when I take on a new client who has been taking lessons with another instructor, they tell me tales of having been 'shouted at' by their previous instructor. Most of these are young learners, so they are very vulnerable, and many of them suffer from lack of confidence (well is it […]

The consultation period for modernising driver training, a momentous change to our industry, but a change that could be very much for the better IF the DSA gets it right, has now closed!  It was a ridiculously short consultation period for such a major change, and without proper consultation with those who work 'at the […]

The Dile has been live for 5 months now and in that time we have held 13 webinars and one panel discussion, all of which have been uploaded to the site video library. One webinar has been deleted because a further update was recorded later (the Fresh Insight Conference). The frequency of these webinars is now […]

On August 16th I received a call from Radio Norfolk, just after 9am, asking if I'd go on the phone and give my views on the new fixed penalties for motorisits caught tailgating or hogging the middle lane. I'm afraid my response was not quite what was expected when I said I couldn't see how […]

This article is brought to you by our friends at  The Roadio Magazine, the magazine for driving instructors: Go on. Give yourself a pat on the back. You’ve logged onto TheDile.com and in so doing you’ve already indicated you’re in the top 10% of driving instructors. How so? Well, the very fact that you’re here […]

On Monday August 12th we were delighted to welcome the ADINJC to Norwich to deliver their 2013 free training roadshow. A number of ADI's had travelled from further afield, including Antony Wharton from Southampton, who was up in Norfolk for something else at the same time so it was good to see him at the […]

Another free webinar for August which is technolgy related! This time Phil Hirst, Aim4Success.tv, is here to tell us all about the app he and his business partner have created from his popular book of the same name, Learn Driving in 3D. He will show us how we can get the best out of the […]

This free webinar, presented by Colin Martin from Instructor Apps, is a follow-on from Colin's webinar on August 7th, where he showed us how to create a PayPal account for business and how to create a PayPal payment button to add to our websites (recording available in the video library in the member area of the site). […]

Free Webinar, August 15th starting at 8pm. This is the second in a series from Tony Lane, an ADI from Boston in Lincolnshire who also specialises in building and maintaining WordPress websites. He delivered his first webinar, a basic introduction to managing a WordPress webasite, back in May (you will find the recording in the […]

I had a learner driver return for lessons this week, following a 6 week break after an accident on her moped. Having taken her out for her first 2 driving lessons, I wasn't totally surprised. She'd told me about having been caught speeding at 70mph in a 30mph limit! Not sure this was an accurate […]

Watch "Understanding Car Crashes: It's Basic Physics" on YouTube This is a most fascinating and informative video, made easy to understand, on the physics of a crash, and the effects on the vehicle and its occupants. It's 22mins long but doesn't feel like that once you are watching – time goes in a flash! Driving […]

Do you know your roots from your routes?  This fleet registered ADI offering advanced driver training doesn't seem to judging by his website entry: …a test for one and a half hours over a variety of roots… Well at least it gave me a good laugh first thing in the morning picturing all thoses drivers on […]

Help your pupils beat test nerves! What an enjoyable and informative event we had last night at The LofaWay2BeatTestNerves Webinar! Diane Hall ADI, author of the highly acclaimed book 'LofaWay2Pass', demonstrates how you can help your pupils reduce their driving test nerves, as well as their nerves for specific situations when driving, such as hill starts. […]

Our cottage has an adjoining cart-shed style open fronted garage which currently hosts four active swallows nests.  The clash of their airborne incontinence above (once) shiny cars is a small price to pay for observing Nature’s miracles literally on, or rather above, our doorstep. Recently I spotted a part-grown swallow chick cheeping happily from the […]

Diane Hall ADI, author of the highly acclaimed book, LofaWay2Pass, introduces you to a technique which will help your learners to eliminate their test nerves, as well as help nervous drivers become more confident on the road. And, so you can go away and find out straight away if it works, she will be showing […]

  Watch this; hear what I say; read all about it; just do it! These phrases represent the VARK learning styles, visual, aural/oral, reading/writing, kinesthetic So, what's your preferred learning style? You can find out (roughly) by filling in this questionnaire. Personally I like to see and hear then read all about it, write some notes […]

  Well, effective use of technology, what an interesting webinar presentation we were treated to last night!  To be honest, it got better as we got further into it (so often the case – think of books, films, TV series), and we ended the session with some interesting questions and interaction with attendees, 2 of […]