The great Client centred Learning Hypocrisy
Client-Centred Learning... But Is Instructor Training Practicing What It Preaches?
If you spend any time in modern driving instructor training, you'll hear one message repeated over and over again: Client-Centred Learning (CCL) is the future.
Trainee instructors are taught that every lesson should be tailored to the individual. Goals should be agreed together, questions should encourage self-reflection, and the learner should be actively involved throughout the process. On paper, it's an excellent philosophy and one that aligns well with how many people learn best.
The irony is that some of the biggest providers of driving instructor training don't appear to apply these same principles to their own trainees.
Client centred with 20 others!
How can a trainer genuinely claim to be client-centred when they do zoom sessions delivered to 20 or 30 trainee instructors in a single classroom or online session?
Every trainee arrives with different strengths, weaknesses and experience. Some have never taught before, while others may already be working on a trainee licence with dozens of hours behind the wheel. Yet everyone receives exactly the same presentation, at exactly the same pace, regardless of what they actually need.
You cant teach 20 people individually
The very foundation of Client-Centred Learning is adapting your teaching to the individual.
It means discovering what the learner already knows, identifying the gaps in their knowledge, agreeing realistic goals, and helping them develop solutions through discussion and guided practice.
That's difficult enough with one person. It's totally impossible with a room containing 30 people.
Imagine asking a trainee instructor to use open questions, encourage self-evaluation and adapt every lesson to the pupil's needs, only to spend their own training sitting silently through a PowerPoint presentation with little opportunity for individual coaching.
The message becomes contradictory. The theory says one thing, while the training experience demonstrates another.
Large group sessions certainly have their place. They can be excellent for introducing new topics, explaining the ADI standards, discussing legislation or sharing experiences.
They are also more affordable and allow providers to reach more trainees. But they shouldn't be presented as the solution for developing teaching ability.
EVERY training session should be Client centred!
If you pay for training and you're left with loads of questions and encouraged to pay for more 1 to 1 training.
You are being badly let down! ALL your training sessions should mean YOU can cover the topics YOU want, ask the questions YOU want to, and not be pushed into the background
Teaching is a practical skill. Like learning to drive, it improves through observation, feedback, coaching and individual practice.
Watching someone explain client-centred learning isn't the same as experiencing it.
Real development happens when a trainer watches you, analyses your decision-making, asks challenging questions and helps you improve your own instructional techniques.
Perhaps the industry needs to ask itself an important question. Are we teaching Client-Centred Learning because we genuinely believe in it, that's its best for the trainee or because it's a great money maker where I can get lots of trainees to pay for a classroom session?
The best instructor training providers don't simply tell trainees to use client-centred learning.
They do it, each time, every time!
They adapt sessions to the individual, provide regular one-to-one coaching, challenge thinking, encourage reflection and personalise development plans.
In other words, they teach instructors in exactly the same way they expect instructors to teach their pupils.
Maybe that's the real test of quality.
If a training provider truly believes in Client-Centred Learning, the first people who should experience it are the trainee instructors themselves
Driver Training Ltd have been ORDIT registered driving instructor trainers for 20 years provide ALL driving instructor training on a 1 to 1 basis. We have never and will never teach you in a classroom environment