Coaching Vs Instruction
Every year tens of thousands of people are killed on European roads
with 100's of thousands injured – some disabled for life.
Perhaps the only way
to totally remove death and injury from our roads is to introduce
automated transport systems; but, the full implementation of such
systems is still the stuff of science fiction. What we can do,
however, is improve the way we train road users, especially in the
area of risk assessment and decision making.
Goals for Driver
Education
You will probably not have heard of the 'Goals for Driver Education'
(GDE) Matrix. The GDE Matrix sets out a hierarchical model for
driver training; the Matrix is split into four levels.
Most current driver
training is focused on levels 1 & 2 (see below) of the Matrix,
however, research has shown that accidents occur because of factors
relating to levels 3 & 4; hence the need for change. In order to
achieve the change we will need to shift the focus of driver
training more towards the higher GDE levels.
The lower levels of
The Matrix cover basic vehicle control and traffic skills (road
procedure) – these are generally covered well by instructors using
current training methods, however, basic instructional methods are
less effective (if at all effective) for the higher level 'thinking'
skills.
There is ever mounting
evidence that coaching is more effective than traditional training
methods in changing attitudes and behaviours, this makes it an
excellent tool to help the development of the higher level skills
shown in the Matrix. But for this process to be really effective,
coaching has to start as early as possible in the training process
so that the 'thinking and decision making muscles' can be exercised.
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information on coaching >>
