Becoming a driving instructor can be a very rewarding career. You get to work with different people, watch learners grow in confidence and eventually see them achieve something that can make a huge difference to their independence.
But there are also parts of the job that I didn't fully appreciate when I started.
I've been teaching learner drivers for many years, and looking back, there are a few things I wish I'd understood earlier. If you're training to become an Approved Driving Instructor (ADI), working towards your Part 3, or you're a newly qualified instructor, hopefully my experience will help.
1. I underestimated how important the admin would become
When you're training to become a driving instructor, most of your attention is understandably on learning how to teach.
Once you start working with your own pupils, though, you quickly realise that teaching is only one part of running your business.
There's your diary to organise, enquiries to follow up, lessons to book, cancellations and changes to deal with, payments to keep track of, practical test dates to remember and pupil information to manage.
None of those things is particularly difficult on its own.
The problem is that once you have a busy diary, there are lots of little pieces of information to remember at the same time.
If I were starting again, I would put a simple system in place for managing my pupils and admin from the beginning rather than waiting until I became busy.
2. I wish I'd tracked pupil progress better
This is probably one of the biggest things I would change.
When you only have a few pupils, you might think you'll remember exactly where everyone is up to.
Then your diary gets busier.
You've taught several pupils in a day, dealt with messages and cancellations and perhaps had a couple of days off. When you next see a pupil, remembering exactly what happened during their previous lesson isn't always as easy as you expected.
What did you cover?
What went particularly well?
What still needed some work?
What did you agree to concentrate on during the next lesson?
Keeping a simple record after each lesson can make a huge difference.
It doesn't need to become another complicated administrative task. A few useful notes and a clear goal for the next lesson can be enough to help you pick up where you left off.
It can also help you see a pupil's progress over time rather than relying entirely on memory.
3. Intensive courses can put a lot of pressure on the instructor
This is something I would think very carefully about if I were starting again.
Intensive driving courses can sound attractive. A learner wants to make rapid progress, you book several hours or days into your diary and you know exactly what you'll be doing during that period.
In reality, I found them stressful.
One issue that isn't always considered is what happens if you, the instructor, become ill.
If you've promised somebody a large number of hours within a short period, suddenly being unable to work can create a major problem. Finding somewhere else in an already busy diary to replace all those hours isn't easy.
It can also make taking your own time off more difficult because you've committed yourself to delivering a course within a particular timeframe.
There is also a lot of teaching and concentration involved for both the instructor and the learner when lessons are packed closely together.
Other instructors will have different experiences, and intensive courses may work very well for some businesses.
Based on my own experience, however, they aren't something I would recommend offering. I prefer regular lessons because they give both the pupil and instructor more flexibility.
4. You don't need to have everything figured out immediately
One thing I've learned over the years is that you continue developing as an instructor long after qualifying.
Different pupils teach you different things about being an instructor.
Some need lots of explanation. Others learn much better by having a go. Some pupils progress quickly, while others need considerably more time and reassurance.
You'll gradually develop your own way of teaching and running your business.
Looking back, I think having good organisation behind me would have made that process considerably easier.
Why these experiences eventually led me to ADIZY
The admin and pupil-progress side of the job is particularly important to me because it's one of the reasons I eventually created ADIZY.
I didn't want another complicated system that gave me more work to do.
I wanted somewhere simple to keep the useful information together: my pupils, diary, lesson records, progress, notes, enquiries and other everyday information I need as a driving instructor.
That's the thinking behind ADIZY.
It's deliberately designed around the everyday work of ADIs and PDIs rather than trying to turn every part of running driving lessons into a complicated process.
If you're just starting out
My biggest piece of advice would be to think about how you're going to organise yourself before your diary becomes busy.
Have a simple way of keeping track of your pupils.
Make a few useful notes after lessons.
Record what needs more work and what you want to tackle next time.
And think carefully before committing yourself to services such as intensive courses that can remove a lot of flexibility from your diary.
You won't get everything right from the beginning. I certainly didn't.
But putting a few simple systems in place early can make life much easier once the pupils, lessons, messages and test dates start adding up.
Kevin McDiarmid
Driving Instructor & creator of ADIZY