Training to become an Approved Driving Instructor (ADI)
About LDC
Learner Driving Centres (LDC ) was acquired by Teaching Driving Limited in June 1991. Since then LDC has become the third largest national driving school in the UK and the second largest Officially approved trainer of driving instructors with over 40 DSA ORDIT qualified trainers strategically placed around the UK. LDC now have over 600 successfully established driving instructors, the vast majority of whom qualified with LDC using the LD driving instructor training course described below. You could be part of that team earning an annual income of between £25,000 and £40,000 once you had successfully completed the necessary training. No formal qualifications are needed to train to become a driving instructor, however, you do need to be good with people and take pride in your driving.
About the qualification needed
Before you can operate as a driving instructor in the UK you have to pass the Driving Standards Agency (DSA) Approved Driving Instructor (ADI) qualifying examination. The ADI examination is in three parts, a theory test (multiple choice tick test plus hazard spotting video test), a practical driving test (very similar to the standard practical driving test for learners) and a practical test of your instructional ability (where the examiner plays the role of a learner as you give him or her a driving lesson). While parts 1 and 2 of the qualifying examination are relatively straightforward to pass, Part 3 does involve you learning a whole host of new skills, which does take time and effort to master. To pass the qualifying exam you need good training, to be sure you need the best, you need the highly acclaimed LD driving instructor training course.
DSA Government approved instructor training – ORDIT
To help protect the public from poor training standards the Government along with the Driving Instructor Industry introduced the Official Register of Driving Instructor Training or ORDIT for short. ORDIT is managed by the DSA and has the support of all the major driving schools and trade associations within our industry. As an absolute minimum you should ensure that you only train with a company on this register and that your trainer is a properly qualified DSA ORDIT trainer.
How long will it take?
Because the ADI examination is structured into three parts it inevitably takes a few months to qualify . Therefore expect to spend somewhere between 6 to 18 months training on a part time basis. Please note, although the whole training could be undertaken in 6 to 8 weeks full time the exam waiting times make it very difficult to pass all three parts of the ADI exam in under 6 months. However, if you train with a real driving school, such as ourselves, you are allowed to operate and earn money as a trainee driving instructor after you have passed the second part of the exam and have completed sufficient training to do the job safely. This enables you to get up to six months part time or full time practical experience in preparation for the third part of the exam as a trainee instructor. However, it is not essential that you do this, you can wait until you have passed all three parts of this exam before you take up your guaranteed position with us.
How LDC conduct the training
Training is normally
undertaken on a part-time basis around your existing job or indeed any other commitments you may have. We use state of the art open learning resources (i.e. home study materials with support from our training department) combined with localised in-car training to enable us to tailor the training to your individual needs. Therefore the training is as long or as short has it needs to be.
Why genuine driving schools offer the best training
LDC operates a very successful and profitable driving school, which is why you represent a real asset to us once qualified and why we will pull out all the stops to get you qualified. On the other hand many instructor training companies and so-called ‘colleges’ (including those masquerading as driving schools) make virtually all their money from instructor training and are therefore, in the main, only interested in providing the contracted hours of training in the cheapest possible way. So despite what they may say once they have done the training you are very much on your own. If you want to fully understand the advantages of being trained by us, as a genuine driving school, compared with an independent training organisation/college.
College type buildings
Some training companies have invested in high profile (and expensive) college type buildings. However, driving instruction is a very practical skill and academically orientated classroom training is of limited value to developing the skills you need. Those who have such facilities tend to use them for selling rather than for training. LDC on the other hand has invested heavily in its training programme, materials and trainers. Nobody can match the quality of our training programme, the training materials we provide or indeed the trainers we assign. Nobody has invested more and nobody can match our record.
The cost of training
In the UK it is standard practice to charge for training to become an Approved Driving Instructor. This is because it is so easy to move from one driving school to another and contracts which required you to stay with an organisation for any given length of time became impractical to enforce. The cost of such training is typically around £3,000.However, because we are a real driving school with a genuine need for instructors we subsidize the cost of the training and charge just £2,345 for a training course that is second to none. See below for details of the course provided.We also have various schemes to help you spread out this cost including a “pay as you train” option and Government sponsored career development loans. When viewed in relation to your future earnings once qualified the above investment is very small and quickly returned. Upon qualification and joining our driving school you can also become eligible for the following savings:
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We firmly believe our combination of subsidised training and incentives to join cannot be beaten.
LD Instructor Training Course
This course is made up of three separate overlapping mini-courses, one for each of the three parts of the DSA qualifying ADI examination. Because the DSA only allow three attempts at the second and third parts of this exam, it is vital that you choose your training provider with care. To pass, you need good training; to be sure you need the best.
Theory is relatively easy to learn but skills take time and practice to develop, hence, the reason why we overlap the courses such that the Part-Two training is started while undertaking Part-One and Part-Three training is started while undertaking Part-Two. This dramatically speeds up the learning process because you are not left waiting to pass the current Part before you begin preparation for the next - a much smarter approach. We also provide you with our unique student centered open learning course programme from day one so that you are not held back waiting for information or direction from us, thus enabling you to make use of every spare moment you may have.
The Part-One Course
(The ADI Theory - Multiple Choice and Hazard Perception Test)
To prepare for this test you use our highly modern open learning Part-One course with support from our central training office and the local LDC trainer assigned. Support is provided by telephone, fax, email and our special LDC student Internet support forum.
This central support is also available for Parts 2 and 3. Optionally, the local LDC trainer will provide regular students meetings or workshops for Parts 1, 2 and 3. Usually a small attendance fee is charged for these optional meetings.
The Part-One programme is composed of five stages. At the end of each stage you will submit an end of stage exam to us for marking and feedback. No writing skills are needed; you simply need to tick the answers you believe are correct. Once you have completed this five-stage programme you use our unique PC ADI Theory Test CD-rom software to undertake six final mock tests, which we are confident, cover the precise questions that will appear on the actual test.
Once you have mastered the theory you will need to become familiar with the computerised Hazard Perception Test using our unique Hazard Perception CD-rom software with over 280 unique Hazard Perception Test simulation clips.
In 2005, of those who completed their training with LDC, 99.5% passed Part 1 of the qualifying exam.
The Part-Two Course
(The Driving Test)
The Part-Two course is made up of a programme of self-development exercises and study using our modern open learning Part-Two DVD (2.5 hours of video), test guide and workbooks.
In addition your local LDC DSA ORDIT qualified trainer would tailor a programme of in-car training to meet your specific needs. This in-car training would usually be spread over several sessions and be provided on a one-to-one basis to ensure no time was wasted waiting for or watching someone else drive. In the unlikely event that you do not pass any attempt at this part of the exam additional free in-car training is provided to help you pass the next time.
In 2005, of those who completed their training with LDC, 95.5% passed Part 2 of the qualifying exam within the three attempts allowed.
The Part-Three Course
(The Instructional Ability Test)
Using our unique open learning course package of DVDs (about 15 hours of video), Instructional Skills manual, test guide, workbooks, prompt sheets and laminated colour presenter you will learn about the Part 3 test, the instructional standards sought and the practical exercises you need to develop the skills to pass this test.
This leads onto and integrates with a comprehensive practical programme of in-car training with your local LDC DSA ORDIT qualified trainer. Again this in-car training would usually be spread over several sessions and be provided on a one-to-one basis - thus ensuring that quick learners are not held back or that those who need more time do not feel hurried. As with the Part-Two course in the unlikely event that you do not pass free additional training is provided.
It may also be appropriate to offer you a trainee licence at this stage on either a part -time or full-time basis to allow you to acquire additional experience training real learners. Not only does this help you prepare for Part 3 it also provides a means to earn an income whilst training. Please note this experience is not necessary to pass this final part of the qualifying examination - the course itself is more than sufficient. Nevertheless it is a useful potential option to have as some people just find it easier to learn on the job.
In 2005, of those who completed their training with LDC, 85% passed Part 3 of the qualifying exam within the three attempts allowed. In the extremely unlikely event that you fail a third attempt at Part 2 or Part 3 we will provide further free training once you can start again such that exam success is almost assured sooner or later.
National pass rates
The latest published pass rates for the industry as a whole (2004/2005) are as follows:
Part-One 51%, Part-Two 45%, Part-Three 28%. In the year 2005, of those students who completed the necessary training with LDC, 99.5% passed part 1, 95.5% passed part 2 and 85% passed part 3.
The next step
A full information pack and application form to become a Learner Driving Centre instructorcan be obtained by calling 0141 8120492 or by completing the contact form . Please also let us know where you got our web address from including the reference number if out of the local press.
Become an LDC Driving Instructor - Information Brochure
If you have Adobe Acrobat on your PC you can click on the link below to download a PDF version of the above brochure:
Information Brochure
Legal minimum requirements to become an ADI
However, even before you consider becoming a driving instructor you must have had a relatively clean driving licence for at least three and a half years (i.e. no more than 5 points overall). You must also be able to provide two character references and you must be able to read a number plate at 90 feet (i.e. 23 feet more than required for the L test) with glasses if normally worn. Certain criminal convictions (if not spent) may also exclude you from becoming a driving instructor. The DSA can be contacted on 0115 901 2500 should you have any queries regarding this.