DVSA Part 3, Standards Check, Part 2 Driving Tests with Graham Hooper, ORDIT trainer, Coach & Mentor

Making Sense of the Goals for Driver Education · Part 8 of 14 · Borrowed or built?

Having worked up through the four levels, the series now turns to the three columns. The first, knowledge and skills, is the one every ADI knows best. But it is easy to forget that it runs through all four levels, not just the bottom two.

Knowledge and skills at every level

Level	Examples of knowledge and skills
4. Goals for life The person	Understanding how your values, habits and friends influence the way you drive
3. The journey Context and purpose	Planning routes and timing, judging fitness to drive, managing a sat nav, knowing when not to drive
2. Traffic Other road users	Rules and signs, hazard perception, positioning, speed and space, gap judgement
1. The car Control	Controls, steering, clutch and speed control, safety checks, driver aids

Most courses of lessons are rich in the bottom two rows and thin in the top two. Part of the value of the matrix is simply showing that gap.

Knowing is not doing

Part 1 started with the gap between knowing and doing. A learner can know the rule, describe the procedure and still get it wrong when the pressure rises. Chapter 5 of Coaching for Driver Development calls this one of the most consistent challenges in driver education. Traditional instruction is very good at closing the knowledge gap. It is far less effective at closing the gap between knowledge and consistent, confident, independent performance.

Borrowed understanding and built understanding

In Chapter 7 I put it this way: when you instruct, the learner borrows your understanding. When you coach, the learner builds their own.

Borrowed understanding works well on familiar routes with the instructor beside them. It tends to fail on unfamiliar roads, under pressure or when the situation does not quite match what was taught. Built understanding transfers. The learner has worked it out, so they can work it out again somewhere new.

When teaching is exactly right

None of this means teaching is the enemy. The decision guide in Chapter 4 is clear. New skills, safety-critical information and anything unsafe right now call for teaching or instruction. The point is to teach what needs teaching, then hand the thinking back to the learner as soon as it is safe to do so.

Checking understanding without testing

There is a difference between checking understanding and testing recall. “What is the rule at a mini roundabout?” tests recall. “Talk me through what you will do at the next mini roundabout” checks understanding and puts the learner in charge of the thinking.

Another simple habit: before explaining something, ask “What do you already know about this?” You will often find the learner knows more than you expected, and what they get wrong tells you exactly where to start.

On your next lesson

Three small things to try this week.

1. Start with what they know. Before your next explanation, ask: “What do you already know about this?”
2. Let them teach it back. After you teach something new, ask the learner to explain it back in their own words, as if to a friend.
3. Reach one row higher. Include one piece of Level 3 knowledge in a lesson this week, such as planning a route or judging how long a journey will take.

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Go deeper

In the book: Coaching for Driver Development, Chapter 7 (The Coaching Goal in a Driving Lesson) and Chapter 4 (Coaching vs Teaching vs Mentoring).

Live session: Module 3, Essential Coaching Skills in the Car. This session covers the coaching goal and the lightbulb moment, and the skills that help learners build their own understanding rather than borrow yours.

I deliver the five Coaching for Driver Development modules live on Zoom, one module a week. You can book any module on its own or join the complete series. Contact me at grahamhooperadi@hotmail.com or visit grahamhooper.blog.

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Previous: Part 7: Level 4: Goals for Life and Skills for Living
Tomorrow: Part 9: Column 2: Risk-Increasing Factors
Read the full series

Sources

• Hatakka, M., Keskinen, E., Gregersen, N.P., Glad, A. and Hernetkoski, K. (2002). From control of the vehicle to personal self-control: broadening the perspectives to driver education. Transportation Research Part F, 5(3), 201–215.
• Hooper, G.J. (2025). Coaching for Driver Development: A Complete Framework for the ADI Coach. GJH Consultancy.