About IDEA
We train driving instructors. And the people who teach them.
IDEA is the Innovative Driving Education Academy. We run a clear route for driving instructors. New instructors start with the Level 5 award. Experienced instructors take the Level 8 diploma, which teaches them to train others.
Your training happens at a local driving school we have approved. Every school works to the same national standard, so you get the same quality wherever you live.
The pathway
Four stages, one route. Start free, finish as a qualified trainer.
Free ADI study
Free study materials for the three DVSA instructor exams. Anyone can use them. You do not need an account.
Browse the study hubLevel 5 award
The starting qualification for new instructors, delivered with an approved partner driving school.
About Level 5Level 8 diploma
The train-the-trainer diploma for ADIs who develop other instructors. Enrols online.
About Level 8Partner network
Qualified trainers deliver IDEA training locally, to one national standard.
Meet the partners
Credit-rated by the Scottish Qualifications Authority
In April 2025, SQA credit-rated both IDEA awards onto the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF). Credit-rating places an award on a national qualifications framework: an independent body reviews it and gives it a level and credit points. It is what makes an IDEA certificate checkable, comparable and worth holding.
Credit-rated by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA)
Both awards sit on the Scottish Credit and Qualifications Framework (SCQF).
Introduction to Driving Education Award
Diploma for Teaching the Introduction to Driving Education Award
DVSA-aligned · Unit 9: FAA Level 1 Award in Awareness of Safeguarding (RQF) · Ofqual 603/5635/2 · Nuco Training Ltd
Local delivery, national standard
IDEA training runs through approved partner driving schools across the UK. Your partner signs you up, runs your in-car training, and helps you unit by unit. The qualification is the same wherever you study it.
Assignments are marked by qualified trainers and independently verified, and every certificate carries a serial number that anyone can check. That is the deal: local delivery, one national standard.
The company behind IDEA
IDEA is run by Innovative Driving Education Academy Ltd, a UK-registered company directed by Neil Wightman and Tommy Sandhu.
- Directors
- Neil WightmanTommy Sandhu
- Company number
- 15749902
- Registered office
- 4 Wheelwright Buildings, Hen Lane, Coventry CV6 4LB