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ADI Part 3: Instructional ability

The teaching test: national standards, lesson planning, client-centred learning, risk management and mock-test practice. The largest part of the hub.

37 topics · 1 video

PDI theory practiceOpen your quizzes, mock tests and scores. New here? Get access to all three parts for £24.99 once, with no end date.Practise Part 3

Topics 01–10

  1. 01Part 3 overviewWhat the ADI Part 3 exam involves: giving a real client-centred lesson to one of your own pupils while a DVSA examiner marks 17 competencies across lesson planning, risk management, and teaching and learning strategies.
  2. 02The National Standard and SC1 formThe DVSA National Standard framework behind ADI Part 3, the three assessed areas on the SC1 marking sheet, and the 0-30, 31-42 and 43-51 grading bands.
  3. 03What makes a good instructor?Great instruction is customer service; eight habits, from clear communication to consistency across every channel, that make learners feel supported and create safer drivers.
  4. 04The legal stuffThe legislation every driving instructor must work within, from the Equality Act and UK GDPR to road traffic law, health and safety duties, consumer rights and safeguarding.
  5. 05Learning needs and stylesHow to adapt driving lessons for learners with dyslexia, dyspraxia, ADHD, autism and general learning difficulties, and how the four VARK learning styles shape your teaching.
  6. 06Lesson structureHow to structure driving lessons using a layered, learner-focused approach, from pre-lesson assessment and subjects versus skill sets to the four-layer Lesson Plan Cake.
  7. 07The GDE Matrix and GROW modelThe Goals for Driver Education Matrix and the GROW coaching model, with example coaching questions for every stage of a client-centred driving lesson.
  8. 08Lesson planningBuilding individual lesson plans through skill brainstorming, learner assessment, tailored support, shared responsibility and confirming that learning has stuck.
  9. 09Route planningHow to plan driving lesson routes for beginners and experienced learners, and how to adapt a route in real time when traffic, weather or progress demands it.
  10. 10Giving route directionsHow to give clear, well-timed route directions using the Alert, Direct, Identify method, so learners can prepare early, act smoothly and stay calm.

Topics 11–20

  1. 11Client-centred learning (CCL)What client-centred learning is, how DVSA examiners assess it during Part 3, and the five pillars that make a driving lesson genuinely learner-focused.
  2. 12Questioning techniquesHow to use parked, on-the-move and follow-up questions, six coaching moments to watch for, and the shift from closed to open questioning.
  3. 13Body language: your silent superpowerHow posture, gestures and a calm presence shape a learner's confidence, and why what you do not say often speaks the loudest.
  4. 14Giving feedback that drives learning forwardHow effective feedback shapes safer, more confident drivers and turns mistakes into powerful learning moments.
  5. 15Adapting the lessonResponsive teaching is not about abandoning plans; it is about shaping lessons around real learners, real conditions and real progress.
  6. 16Risk management and responsibilityHow to balance safety, independence and shared responsibility during ADI Part 3 lessons, and how examiners assess the way you manage risk.
  7. 17InterventionKnowing when to step in, and when to step back, is a core skill of an effective driving instructor.
  8. 18Trainee badge vs going straight to Part 3Understand your two routes into Part 3, the pink trainee badge or going straight to the test, with the costs, rules and trade-offs of each.
  9. 19Booking your ADI Part 3 testHow to book the ADI Part 3 test on GOV.UK, what you need to log in, the pupil you have to bring with you, and the rules on rescheduling and cancelling.
  10. 20Control and junctionsThe 21 control-, mirror-, signal- and junction-related fault categories on the learner's driving test marking sheet, with driving, serious and dangerous examples of each — what you apply when marking a pupil's mock test.

Topics 21–30

  1. 21AwarenessThe awareness and planning fault categories on the learner's driving test marking sheet, the mock test pass criteria, and how to close a mock with a result and useful feedback.
  2. 22Conducting mock testsHow to prepare learners for success with realistic, structured mock driving tests, from routes and manoeuvres to sat-nav setup.
  3. 23Part 3 video libraryA library of 117 training videos to guide you through ADI Part 3 preparation and training, alongside the written topics in this part.
  4. 24Coaching frameworks — SMART goals and the debrief cyclePractical coaching tools for driving lessons — setting SMART goals with a learner, running a client-centred lesson cycle, and debriefing faults through discussion and analysis rather than correction.
  5. 25Driving instruction acronymsA quick reference to the common acronyms used in UK driving instruction — routines like MSPSL and IPSGA, hazard drills like LADA, and teaching aids — with where each fits in a lesson.
  6. 26The DL25 driving test reportEvery marking category on the DVSA driving test report, how driving, serious and dangerous faults are recorded, and how to use the DL25 form to run mock tests and structure a debrief.
  7. 27FISH — Fault, Impact, Solution, HelpA four-step reflection tool for debriefing a fault with a learner — establish the fault, explore its impact, let them find the solution, then agree the help they want. The questions to ask at each step, and how it fits See it, Say it, Sort it.
  8. 28Scaling and the SEDSS debriefHow to use a 0–10 scale to turn a vague "that felt alright" into something measurable, and the five-step SEDSS conversation — Scale, Evidence, Development, Support, Success — that turns the number into an agreed goal.
  9. 29Coaching conversation models — OSCAR, CLEAR, GREAT and TEBFour alternatives and companions to GROW for structuring a coaching conversation with a learner driver, what each one is good at, and the TEB model for surfacing the thoughts and emotions sitting behind a behaviour.
  10. 30Ask, don't tell — cutting out over-instructionMost instructors talk too much. How to convert instructions into questions using the five question stems, worked before-and-after examples, and the five habits — listen first, stay neutral, be specific, allow silence, celebrate progress.

Topics 31–37

  1. 31The four-step lesson planA coaching lesson plan you can run from sixteen questions — reflect and set the goal, explore what the learner already knows, understand and support the skill gaps, then close with outcomes and reflection.
  2. 32Worked skill-set lesson plansFour subjects broken into teachable skill sets — left turns, right turns, roundabouts, and road signs, markings and sat nav — with the coaching focus for each skill and the reflection questions to close the lesson.
  3. 33A full course of lessons — subject progressionThe complete list of lesson subjects from cockpit drill to mock test, grouped into six stages, with the skill each one develops, the outcome to look for, and which levels of driver education it touches.
  4. 34Coaching the quiet pupilWhat to ask and do when open questions get one-word answers — small talk, low-risk questions, offering choices, reflecting observations back, and allowing silence — and what the learner is doing on the other side of it.
  5. 35Why people fail Part 3The five things that most often cost trainee instructors their Part 3 — rigid lesson planning, a teaching style that ignores the learner, never handing over responsibility, feedback that only corrects, and letting an incident pass without a proper debrief.
  6. 36What the examiner is looking forThe DVSA examiner guidance behind the SC1 form — what a 0, 1, 2 or 3 actually means, the three automatic fails, why scores have to be consistent with each other, and the evidence of competence and lack of competence the examiner watches for on each of the 17 competencies.
  7. 37How examiners decide what to markThe DVSA examiner guidance (DT1) definitions of a driving, serious and dangerous fault, the rule on habitual faults, and the three tests examiners apply — the first rule of assessment, the sixteenth fault, and adding and taking away.