Inner belief drives behaviour

When you are working with a pupil it is wise to really pay attention to what they say and how they behave because if you can get into the habit of properly listening and watching, it will give you an insight into beliefs and attitudes.

Regarding listening, take this example here which you will find on my twitter feed “tukkr”.

A person by the name of “Rico” recently put up on his twitter account:

“Ever think of how disappointed your driving instructor would be if he saw you now?”

Which I re-tweeted with the message to my followers of:

“Ever wonder why the insurance premiums for newly qualified drivers are as high as they are?”

To which (I can only assume) Rico was thinking was a question directed to him and he responded:

“Uhhhh no literally never….”

Which prompted me to say:

“Which is precisely my point”

Rico’s initial post would tend to suggest that he has some appreciation that how he is now driving is not to the standard that was expected of him when he was with his driving instructor.  True?  The thought has had to come into his head (possibly been mulling around there for a while) for him to take the trouble to tweet it…. in other words, no-one has forced Rico to tweet this thought.  All he has fallen short of doing is writing it in the first person; he could have written for example:

“I wonder how disappointed my driving instructor would be if he saw me now”

His actual tweet is a question, with the object being an imaginary third person, this alternative is a ‘reflection’ demonstrating a form of self-evaluation.

So as a driving instructor, if you have an interest in the ability of newly qualified drivers to stay safe once they pass their driving test, then you might look at the above exchange and wonder what to make of it.  I wonder if “Rico” was as open with his attitude to road safety, post-test, while he was training with his driving instructor for example.  Perhaps he was….. just perhaps….. he was.

The purpose of Rico’s tweet?  It may be completely random, possibly having no “point” to it whatsoever.  However, with over 500 followers he might be feeling a bit uncomfortable with how he is driving currently, and he might be wanting to hear the views of his peers.  (Never under-estimate the influence of peers on our pupils when they are learning to drive, and driving post-test).  So it is possible that he is needing some affirmation of his beliefs.  What response did he get?  At the time of writing, his tweet has 166 impressions, 18 engagements, 13 profile clicks, 1 like and 1 reply.  The solitary reply?

“idk he’d be pretty fuckin proud”

So listen to what your pupil says, it is a window as to how they truly feel.

The other thing to look out for is behaviours.  Again, this is another opportunity for those who are interested in these things, to gain some insight into beliefs and attitudes.  For this one, let me take the example of a driving instructor who never observes their pupil taking a driving test.

Firstly, let’s think of why WOULD an instructor observe a driving test.  They would see first hand what happens, so should there be need for further development in any aspect, they have witnessed it rather than relying on either the examiner’s de-brief or their pupil’s recollections.  Secondly, by observing tests it would enable the instructor to perform really accurate mock tests for their customers.  Thirdly, by seeing a variety of examiners doing their work, possibly from a variety of test centres, the driving instructor would personally feel trust in the professionalism and training of the examiners and that opinion would be reflected on to their pupils.  Lastly, but by no means least, the pupil might unconsciously or consciously gain a great deal of benefit by having their instructor in the car at the time of the test – for whatever reason…. it matters not.

Now, let’s think why an instructor WOULD NOT observe a driving test.  They might be fearful of the outcome; rather suspecting the pupil will fail or even worse have an accident, and they don’t want to be seen to be directly connected with failure.  They do not want to be held to account – in their view, whatever happens in the car on that driving test is solely down to the pupil…. nothing to do with them.  It may be that they just have no regard for their pupil’s wishes at all about the benefits of them observing the test, instead, they want a bacon roll and cup of tea at the test centre.  They may get nervous on behalf of pupils, and would prefer not to endure the experience.

My point is, by choosing NOT to observe driving tests, that behaviour offers a direct window into the attitudes and beliefs of the driving instructor.  I don’t say this in moral judgement, no blog or opinion is ever going to affect change in itself, change will only ever come from within.  No amount of tweets to Rico will change his mind, it will be Rico and only Rico who changes his attitude.

To summarise.  Pay attention to what your pupils say, don’t say, how they behave, the choices they make while training with you.  This offers a window into their inner beliefs and if we take the trouble to notice this, we can discuss it with them, and help raise their awareness.  Our inner consciousness is a mightily powerful influencer, and often we are not aware just how powerful it is!

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