What is it?

If your reaction to the above is the same as mine was when I was living in ignorance, then this blog is for you.

Four times a year the ADINJC hold a half day member’s meeting which allows members to meet with the ADINJC governing committee members, network with other members and benefit from external speakers, within and without the driving instruction industry, but all experts in their field which may benefit you and your business.

What happens then?

The first part of the day is taken up with ADINJC administrative stuff and if you are a numbers nerd who enjoys statistics, there will be something in it for you – not so much for me.

However, one of the main benefits of being a member of the ADINJC is that you can contact them if you encounter a problem that is so bizarre that it falls outside the knowledge that you have as a driving instructor.

For example, does accruing 6 points on your licence whilst training as a PDI immediately disqualify you from becoming an ADI?  My reaction would be yes, I think it probably does.  In fact, it doesn’t but the registrar cannot consider those 6 points until you have qualified at which point they may refuse to enter you on the register or they might accept your application regardless.

Furthermore, even if you contact the DVSA with that question, there is no guarantee that they will answer the question correctly or that they won’t subsequently change their advice.  By using the ADINJC as an intermediary, they will be able to fight your corner for you.

Some of these are reported back at the member’s meeting and they can be a real eye-opener.

What’s in it for me?

I have attended many training courses throughout my working life, some technical and some professional.  Technical courses tend to be full of information where I need all of it i.e., you can’t exactly prepare a presentation if you don’t know how Windows Powerpoint works.  They are teaching you a skill and you need to learn all of it to use even part of it.

Professional courses tend to be different.  They can be full of disparate ideas, theories and suggestions which can be adopted in part or in whole.  Sometimes they can be mostly full of information which you already know and don’t really need to be reminded of – but then there’ll be a little nugget, some new, shiny idea that you’ve never even got close to considering and nuggets, as any reasonably competent prospector will tell you, are worth their weight in gold!

ADINJC member meetings are a gold field when you are looking for nuggets and there are nuggets aplenty.

Presentation – David Mann

The benefit of having external speakers can be massive.  David Mann is the National ADI Enforcement Delivery Manager for the DVSA so if you are a PDI, he is responsible for the availability of Part 2 and Part 3 tests and if you are an ADI, he is responsible for the availability of Standards Checks.  That makes him a prime target for instructors as we all have a beef with the DVSA, right?  However, he quickly got his audience on-side and acknowledged the problems that we faced but only accepted responsibility for those he can change.

Lots of statistics followed and I could list them all here but I’m not going to.  A couple of nuggets though, 44,052 currently on the register, in excess of 5,000 PDI’s currently in the system.  22,000 part 2’s and 10,000 part 3’s delivered so far this year.  Astonishingly those tests are delivered by just 45 examiners who cover the entire country.

David also explained what the examiner training consisted of and dispelled a few myths about the standards check (SC), all of which was very interesting.  For example, you do not need to mention the dual controls at the beginning of the SC but you do need to cover it if you use them during the lesson.  The term ‘wheels moving’ is also a myth; you can stop at the side of the road, if it makes sense.

Whilst I could regurgitate everything that David said, I know I would not be able to do it justice and would be unlikely to get it perfectly right.  If you want all the nuggets that he was so freely handing out, then attending the meeting is the only way to go.

Adrianne Carter

Adrianne is a communication expert on interpreting non-verbal behaviour.

Although I was really interested in what she was going to say to us, I’m sure I wasn’t the only one going into her talk worrying that she was going to dissect my personality just by looking at me!  I wonder if that was why I sat towards the back?  Of course there was nothing to worry about.

Adrianne, obviously used to this kind of presentation, took us through the seven basic faces, which just for fun, I’ll let you work out for yourself:

  1. H____ (5) ☺️
  2. S_____(6)😨
  3. D________(9)🤢
  4. S________(9)😯
  1. S__(3)😔
  2. C______(7)😌
  3. A____(5)😡

She talked a little about how to deal with certain emotions, based on the non-verbal clues, like how to deal with fear, born out of a feeling of a ‘lack of control’.

One of the thought-provoking questions she asked was “Why do we always take pictures of our successful students after test when actually we should be in the photo as well?”  If we are using it for marketing purposes then surely we should be, saying ‘I did this’ and looking and being confident.

Finally she imparted some nuggets about confidence, having it and dealing with things that would detract from it.  If you lack confidence, then the statistics would say that you are definitely not the only one.  Supremely self-confident people are definitely in the minority but that doesn’t mean you can’t show that you are confident.

Why should I join?

Quite simply, the benefits outweigh the costs.  Premium membership, direct from the ADINJC, is £4.50 per month.  However, if you sign up through MyDriveTime, it is just £2.50 per month – that’s about 5 minutes worth of lesson time.  You will get more than that from one member’s meeting just in terms of the odd nugget or freebie.  For example, Adrianne offered everyone at the member’s meeting an evaluation of their non-verbal communication completely free, a service which normally costs £25 – that’s the equivalent of 10 month’s membership – completely free.

It all counts as CPD as well and if you have declared to the DVSA that you are committed to it, then you need to do some!

That plus the benefits that you get as a member, things that you need as an ADI, make this an absolute no-brainer.  The benefits include:

  • Comprehensive Support, because we all need advice from time to time
  • Specialised Assistance, for those really obscure problems that might crop up
  • Exclusive Discounts, to help with rising costs which affect us all
  • Resources including templates for your driving school
  • Comprehensive, discounted PI/PL Insurance for you as an instructor
  • Industry Representation, via the ADINJC, direct to the DVSA
  • Continuous Professional Development, through discounted training courses and workshops
  • Member meetings, 4 times a year with nuggets aplenty

I cannot hope to list all the benefits of being a part of the ADINJC but having attended this most recent members meeting I am more convinced than ever that the benefits vastly outweigh the costs and membership is as essential a part of a driving instructor’s business as a car to teach in!

To confirm that what I have told you is an accurate representation of the ADINJC – although I haven’t told you everything – and to sign up, go to the Partners page on the MyDriveTime app or click this link and then follow the process through.

…and finally

Just in case you haven’t managed to work out the seven basic faces above, they are Happy, Scared, Disgusted, Surprised, Sad, Content and Angry.

As always, if you find any issues with this blog or anything else, please contact us at support@mydrivetime.co.uk.