What Does it Take to Become a Driving Instructor?

The old saying goes: “Every man to his trade”. The most important thing is to find your occupation among thousands, constantly improve your skills and get the main advantage of it – help people. Today we will touch on one of the most interesting professions - a driving instructor and what it takes to become a good one. People who teach others driving can typically celebrate both, Driver’s Day and Teacher’s Day. Therefore, it is not only important to be an excellent driver, but it is also crucial to be a good teacher (at least at heart).

Apart from this, there are some certain steps to be taken to become a driving instructor and get your first client. To start with, you should know that approved driving instructor in the UK should:

· be at least 21 years old;

· have held a full UK manual driving license for more than 3 years;

· take a criminal record check. Even if you already have it, you would need to have a new one in order to start driving instructor training.

You will also need to sit a series of exams to prove you have the skills required to teach driving. Get ready for the exams based on your driving ability, teaching skills and theory of the road.

The theory and hazard perception test is a computer-based test consisting of multiple choice section (100 theoretical questions) to be passed within 90 minutes, and hazard perception section of 14 short videos containing developing hazard to be noticed.

Practical driving test will reveal your driving skills to ensure your driving competence and safety required to instruct others. This test is one-hour long and only 6 minor errors are allowed.

Practical test of your ability to instruct is considered to be the toughest one and consists of 2 parts. Each part lasts for 30 minutes and will allow the examiner to assess your knowledge and organization.

Overall, you have a two-year period to complete all three tests. On average, it takes from 6 months to 2 years to complete all three.         

Still dream of becoming a professional driving instructor? Here is the checklist of skills needed:

· Perfect driving ability

· Good knowledge of teaching

· Great ability to give instructions to the high standards

· Good geographical knowledge

· Great communication skills

· Easy adaptation to different types of people.

Though working as a driving instructor is great, since in most cases you would have flexible hours and due to the nature of the work you would be able to meet loads of new people, a person willing to start a driving instructor career should have a huge amount of patience and professionalism.