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The Instructor College
Current TV ads by Red Driving school and The Instructor College suggest that it's easy to become a driving instructor, that you'll easily earn £30,000 per year as a driving instructor and that you get a "guaranteed placement" with a local driving school. Do these claims stack up?
Firstly, although it's easy to sign up for training, and you can carry on your existing job while you train, you need to recognise that the majority of people who sign up for an Instructor Training Course fail to qualify.
Secondly, the claim that you will earn £30,000 needs to be carefully assessed. Is this before or after expenses? As you will effectively be self-employed, you will not be getting a guaranteed salary. A "guaranteed placement" is not a salaried position. There is no guarantee that any driving school will definitely provide you with enough work to earn £30,000. It is probably true to say that the majority of driving instructors do not stay with the driving schools attached to the big training organisations because they do not get allocated enough pupils. Of course this is ideal for the training organisation as this gives them another space to fill!
Remember that your training fees are paying for their expensive tv adverts and sales staff.
BSM
Before the advent of the Instructor College, BSM were the main national Instructor training organisation. Many of the same accusations about The Instructor college (TIC) have been made about BSM. Many regard BSM's success as being about image and marketing rather than the quality of their training.
Independent Instructor Trainers
There are many smaller, local driving schools that offer excellent Instructor training. Of course the standard of training may vary from one organisation to another. The advantage of going to a local organisation are:
local reputation
you are more likely to be able to talk with the actual trainers rather than sales people
less likelihood of high pressure selling techniques.
Visit our directory of instructor trainers