BIG TOM recognises that a learning environment which is centred around the needs of a pupil makes for happy customers who can see they are making progress refining skills.
Perhaps one helpful hint for BIG TOM customers is to consider learning to drive as a practical activity of refining skills and techniques. Endlessly focussing on “driving faults” makes for a very negative learning experience. The BIG TOM skill refining model shown here is one example of how we ensure that training is centred around the needs of our pupils.
Either you or your BIG TOM driving instructor will recognise that there is an opportunity to improve a particular skill. This skill may be a practical skill involving the controls of the car eg gears, steering, foot pedals or alternatively it may be a mind skill such as forward planning, judgement, assessment. Either way, there will be symptoms that occur to highlight a training need. Rather than simply focussing on the symptom (fault based training), at BIG TOM, pupils are invited to discover the root cause reason for what is happening. Getting practised at doing this analysis will set you up very well for continued learning post driving test. Once you have an idea why something is happening, you can of course meaningfully practise methods to address it. Things can generally go one of 2 ways from here. Either you recognise you have sorted that little gremlin out and it’s time to celebrate success! Or if it is not properly sorted then a re-think is needed about the root cause (things are sometimes not what they first appear). This is no great shakes, in fact, again, this is an important experience because it raises your awareness that skill development can be affected sometimes by pretty hidden inner thoughts and feelings.
The point is that in this kind of learning environment everything that is happening is based around you. You naturally pick up the skill of raising awareness of strengths and weaknesses, you get practised at evaluating your ability and you feel much more involved in the learning process. Contrast this approach with the alternative of simply having to comply to demands being barked out at you, where you don’t really know why you are doing things and the learning is very superficial and forced. On the BIG TOM Intensive Driving Course, we facilitate learning techniques that encourage long-term learning that will help you to develop as a safe, competent, confident driver for many years to come. All you have to do now is choose which learning environment you would prefer to learn in.
