The Instructor

In this episode, Terry is joined by Rebecca Morris from Protect Young Drivers to explore one of the biggest challenges on our roads: young driver risk.Rebecca shares how Protect Young Drivers is evolving from a simple resource into a growing national movement, and how instructors can play a key role. There’s also discussion around graduated licensing, the proposed minimum learning period, and why collaboration across the industry has never been more important.If you care about developing safer drivers, not just test passes, this conversation will make you think.A Safer Start for Young Drivers | Protect Young Drivershttps://www.gov.uk/government/publications/road-safety-strategy🔥 Get More Than Just Test Passes - Join the Premium MembershipIf you're a driving instructor who wants to teach better, earn more, and stand out from the crowd, the Premium membership is where it happens. With exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else, from expert sessions to confidence coaching, business building, and beyond, this is the stuff no one else is giving you.👉 Start your free 7-day trial now: Sign up hereGet the Workbook for selected EpisodeWhen you join the email list, you’ll get a custom workbook to help you reflect, take action, and apply each episode’s message to your real-world lessons. Plus, weekly tips that actually make a difference.Sign up for The Instructor email📲 Stay Connected via WhatsAppQuick insight, links to key industry documents, and a prize giveaway on Mondays.Join the channel: whatsapp-link.comThe Instructor Podcast uses a variety of social media channels, including a Facebook group. You can join the group or follow us on the following platforms:FacebookLinkedInInstagramYouTube

In this archive episode from 2021, Terry speaks with performance psychologist Simon Hartley about mindset, motivation, and what it really takes to perform at your best.Drawing on decades of experience working with elite athletes, leaders, and organisations, Simon explores the characteristics that world-class performers share, including passion, curiosity, resilience, and a powerful sense of purpose.The conversation dives into defining success on your own terms, avoiding the trap of chasing external validation, and simplifying what you do so you can focus on what really matters.For driving instructors and business owners alike, this episode is packed with ideas around self-belief, resilience, and building a career that genuinely aligns with the life you want.A thoughtful conversation that’s just as relevant today as when it was first recorded.🔥 Get More Than Just Test Passes - Join the Premium MembershipIf you're a driving instructor who wants to teach better, earn more, and stand out from the crowd, the Premium membership is where it happens. With exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else, from expert sessions to confidence coaching, business building, and beyond, this is the stuff no one else is giving you.👉 Start your free 7-day trial now: Sign up hereGet the Workbook for selected EpisodeWhen you join the email list, you’ll get a custom workbook to help you reflect, take action, and apply each episode’s message to your real-world lessons. Plus, weekly tips that actually make a difference.Sign up for The Instructor email📲 Stay Connected via WhatsAppQuick insight, links to key industry documents, and a prize giveaway on Mondays.Join the channel: whatsapp-link.comThe Instructor Podcast uses a variety of social media channels, including a Facebook group. You can join the group or follow us on the following platforms:FacebookLinkedInInstagramYouTube

To mark International Women’s Day 2026, this special episode of The Instructor Podcast is hosted by Emma Fonnaland, who brings together Kate Monk, Diana Todd and Emma Cottington for an open and honest conversation about women in the driver training industry.The discussion explores how each guest entered the profession, the challenges they’ve faced along the way, and the experiences that have shaped them as instructors. The conversation touches on topics such as being underestimated due to age or gender, balancing family life with the job, and why empathy, support and human connection matter so much in driver training.Along the way, there are also lighter moments as the guests share personal stories, memorable learner experiences, and advice for women considering a career as a driving instructor.🔥 Get More Than Just Test Passes - Join the Premium MembershipIf you're a driving instructor who wants to teach better, earn more, and stand out from the crowd, the Premium membership is where it happens. With exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else, from expert sessions to confidence coaching, business building, and beyond, this is the stuff no one else is giving you.👉 Start your free 7-day trial now: Sign up hereGet the Workbook for selected EpisodeWhen you join the email list, you’ll get a custom workbook to help you reflect, take action, and apply each episode’s message to your real-world lessons. Plus, weekly tips that actually make a difference.Sign up for The Instructor email📲 Stay Connected via WhatsAppQuick insight, links to key industry documents, and a prize giveaway on Mondays.Join the channel: whatsapp-link.comThe Instructor Podcast uses a variety of social media channels, including a Facebook group. You can join the group or follow us on the following platforms:FacebookLinkedInInstagramYouTube

The very first Instructor Boardroom brings together a panel of familiar voices from across the industry to tackle the big questions facing driving instructors today. Terry Cook is joined by Tom Stenson, Andy MacFarlane, Laura Joyce, Ray Seagrave, Emma Cottington, Chris Bensted and Dan Hill for a wide-ranging discussion shaped by real questions from instructors.From the changing demand for manual and automatic lessons, to the challenges of pricing, test availability and supporting PDIs, the group share their honest experiences from different parts of the country. They also explore how instructors can stand out in a crowded market, the importance of ongoing CPD, and why investing in yourself is the key to long-term success.Packed with practical insights and frank opinions, this opening Boardroom session offers plenty of food for thought for anyone working in driver training.🔥 Get More Than Just Test Passes - Join the Premium MembershipIf you're a driving instructor who wants to teach better, earn more, and stand out from the crowd, the Premium membership is where it happens. With exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else, from expert sessions to confidence coaching, business building, and beyond, this is the stuff no one else is giving you.👉 Start your free 7-day trial now: Sign up hereGet the Workbook for selected EpisodeWhen you join the email list, you’ll get a custom workbook to help you reflect, take action, and apply each episode’s message to your real-world lessons. Plus, weekly tips that actually make a difference.Sign up for The Instructor email📲 Stay Connected via WhatsAppQuick insight, links to key industry documents, and a prize giveaway on Mondays.Join the channel: whatsapp-link.comThe Instructor Podcast uses a variety of social media channels, including a Facebook group. You can join the group or follow us on the following platforms:FacebookLinkedInInstagramYouTube

In this latest Six 4 Sixty, Terry’s joined by a proper Road Safety Justice League — six heavy-hitters from across the sector, for a fast-paced, insight-packed roundtable on what’s really going on in UK road safety right now.First up: the new UK Road Safety Strategy - what it gets right (targets, Safe System thinking, young driver focus) and what it still dodges (funding, enforcement, GDL, and moving quicker than the world changes). Then the conversation turns to young drivers and brain development: how instructors can bridge the gap with habits, routines, preparation, scenario work, and practical “if/then” planning, without blaming or stereotyping.They dig into the big one: how driving instructors can make a real difference beyond “pass the test,” including engaging parents and linking in with road safety organisations. There’s also a blunt discussion on instructor quality vs safety outcomes, consistency, and what the UK should steal from other countries (spoiler: GDL keeps coming up).Plenty of straight-talking, evidence-led challenge, and loads to nick for your next lesson.Find more from the guests here:Olly TaylerRebecca MorrisIan EdwardsDr Liz BoxStuart LovattDr Ian Greenwood🔥 Get More Than Just Test Passes - Join the Premium MembershipIf you're a driving instructor who wants to teach better, earn more, and stand out from the crowd, the Premium membership is where it happens. With exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else, from expert sessions to confidence coaching, business building, and beyond, this is the stuff no one else is giving you.👉 Start your free 7-day trial now: Sign up hereGet the Workbook for selected EpisodeWhen you join the email list, you’ll get a custom workbook to help you reflect, take action, and apply each episode’s message to your real-world lessons. Plus, weekly tips that actually make a difference.Sign up for The Instructor email📲 Stay Connected via WhatsAppQuick insight, links to key industry documents, and a prize giveaway on Mondays.Join the channel: whatsapp-link.comThe Instructor Podcast uses a variety of social media channels, including a Facebook group. You can join the group or follow us on the following platforms:FacebookLinkedInInstagramYouTube

The new Road Safety Strategy has landed. The reaction has been loud, emotional, and often misdirected.In this episode, Terry Cook doesn’t break down policy line by line or defend government decisions. Instead, he slows the conversation down and explores what this moment really represents for driving instructors.This strategy isn’t just a set of proposals. It’s a cultural signal, a shift in how learning to drive, risk, responsibility, and readiness are being discussed publicly and politically for the first time in over a decade.Terry examines why the UK hasn’t gone backwards on road safety, but has stood still while others improved. He challenges the idea that teaching to pass a test is enough, explores why defensiveness from instructors is understandable but limiting, and explains why this moment gives instructors permission to step into a clearer, more confident role.Listeners don’t have to agree with everything in the strategy. But they do need to decide how they respond to it.This episode is about opportunity, leadership, and choosing where to stand as the conversation around road safety moves forward.🔥 Get More Than Just Test Passes - Join the Premium MembershipIf you're a driving instructor who wants to teach better, earn more, and stand out from the crowd, the Premium membership is where it happens. With exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else, from expert sessions to confidence coaching, business building, and beyond, this is the stuff no one else is giving you.👉 Start your free 7-day trial now: Sign up hereGet the Workbook for selected EpisodeWhen you join the email list, you’ll get a custom workbook to help you reflect, take action, and apply each episode’s message to your real-world lessons. Plus, weekly tips that actually make a difference.Sign up for The Instructor email📲 Stay Connected via WhatsAppQuick insight, links to key industry documents, and a prize giveaway on Mondays.Join the channel: whatsapp-link.comThe Instructor Podcast uses a variety of social media channels, including a Facebook group. You can join the group or follow us on the following platforms:FacebookLinkedInInstagramYouTube

Terry Cook is joined by Chris Bensted, Tom Stenson, and Stewart Lochrie to look back on 2025.Together they unpack the wins, the failures, and the frustrating feeling that change in the industry is happening… just not always where or how people want it.Topics include failure to change, CPD beyond “ticking boxes”, Part 3 heartbreaks, collaboration across the industry, the rise (and misuse) of AI, neurodiversity, road safety, events, and why many instructors still stop developing the moment they qualify.There’s reflection on what’s shifted in 2025, what’s improved, and why 2026 might finally be the year when things start to click.Check out:The DITCBright CoachingDrive-Up🔥 Get More Than Just Test Passes - Join the Premium MembershipIf you're a driving instructor who wants to teach better, earn more, and stand out from the crowd, the Premium membership is where it happens. With exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else, from expert sessions to confidence coaching, business building, and beyond, this is the stuff no one else is giving you.👉 Start your free 7-day trial now: Sign up hereGet the Workbook for selected EpisodeWhen you join the email list, you’ll get a custom workbook to help you reflect, take action, and apply each episode’s message to your real-world lessons. Plus, weekly tips that actually make a difference.Sign up for The Instructor email📲 Stay Connected via WhatsAppQuick insight, links to key industry documents, and a prize giveaway on Mondays.Join the channel: whatsapp-link.comThe Instructor Podcast uses a variety of social media channels, including a Facebook group. You can join the group or follow us on the following platforms:FacebookLinkedInInstagramYouTube

In the fourth and final instalment of In Conversation with Lee Jowett, Terry and Lee focus squarely on the DVSA, and a proposal that has sparked debate, frustration, and deep concern across parts of the industry.At the heart of this session is a simple but uncomfortable question:How can we assess driving instructors against standards that the assessment itself makes impossible to demonstrate?Lee explains in detail why KIT’s proposal calls for a return to full one-hour Standards Checks and Part 3s, not for convenience, but because the current format fundamentally undermines the very National Standards it claims to be based on.This conversation explores:How shortened assessments inevitably prioritise “car moving” over reflection, awareness, and coachingThe mismatch between DVSA guidance and DVSA assessmentWhy testing always shapes training, whether we like it or notHow instructors are being trained away from the behaviours that actually reduce serious collisionsLee is clear: this is not about him, KIT, or ownership of an idea. It’s about aligning assessment with evidence, guidance, and decades of research into what actually creates safer drivers.There’s also a direct call to action, not blind agreement, but engagement:Read and understand the proposalShare it if you believe in itRaise questions with organisations, associations, and MPsOr, at the very least, push something that moves the industry forwardCheck out KIT here.🔥 Get More Than Just Test Passes - Join the Premium MembershipIf you're a driving instructor who wants to teach better, earn more, and stand out from the crowd, the Premium membership is where it happens. With exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else, from expert sessions to confidence coaching, business building, and beyond, this is the stuff no one else is giving you.👉 Start your free 7-day trial now: Sign up hereGet the Workbook for selected EpisodeWhen you join the email list, you’ll get a custom workbook to help you reflect, take action, and apply each episode’s message to your real-world lessons. Plus, weekly tips that actually make a difference.Sign up for The Instructor email📲 Stay Connected via WhatsAppQuick insight, links to key industry documents, and a prize giveaway on Mondays.Join the channel: whatsapp-link.comThe Instructor Podcast uses a variety of social media channels, including a Facebook group. You can join the group or follow us on the following platforms:FacebookLinkedInInstagramYouTube

In the third instalment of In Conversation with Lee Jowett, Terry and Lee take a hard, honest look at where the driving instructor industry actually is right now.Lee opens by describing an industry at a crossroads: full of potential, but vulnerable if meaningful change doesn’t happen. While there are positives, particularly the mindset of newer instructors, there are also serious concerns about qualification processes, inconsistent training standards, and the absence of effective oversight.Together, Terry and Lee explore:Why the industry feels fragmented and inconsistent from top to bottomHow inadequate or outdated training models continue to slip through the cracksHow “trainer culture” and public posturing can undermine trust and developmentThere’s also balance. Both acknowledge:The growing hunger for CPD among newly qualified instructorsThe positive impact of industry events, conferences, and communitiesThe value of trainers who continue learning rather than resting on their reputationLooking ahead, Lee reflects on what he’s proud of from 2025, particularly supporting other instructors to develop into thoughtful, credible trainers, echoing the role mentoring once played in his own career. He also shares cautious hopes (and real apprehensions) about what 2026 may bring if structural change continues to stall.Check out KIT here.🔥 Get More Than Just Test Passes - Join the Premium MembershipIf you're a driving instructor who wants to teach better, earn more, and stand out from the crowd, the Premium membership is where it happens. With exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else, from expert sessions to confidence coaching, business building, and beyond, this is the stuff no one else is giving you.👉 Start your free 7-day trial now: Sign up hereGet the Workbook for selected EpisodeWhen you join the email list, you’ll get a custom workbook to help you reflect, take action, and apply each episode’s message to your real-world lessons. Plus, weekly tips that actually make a difference.Sign up for The Instructor email📲 Stay Connected via WhatsAppQuick insight, links to key industry documents, and a prize giveaway on Mondays.Join the channel: whatsapp-link.comThe Instructor Podcast uses a variety of social media channels, including a Facebook group. You can join the group or follow us on the following platforms:FacebookLinkedInInstagramYouTube

In this second In Conversation session, Terry and Lee Jowett step back from techniques, tests, and trends to ask a much bigger question:What actually matters in our industry?The discussion centres on outcomes, not instructor comfort, not box-ticking, and not social-media perfection, but what genuinely comes out the other end of driver training and onto the roads.Lee challenges some deeply ingrained habits within instructor training, particularly the industry’s historic focus on skills and knowledge alone. He argues that while these matter, they don’t explain why serious collisions happen, and therefore won’t be enough to prevent them.Check out KIT here.🔥 Get More Than Just Test Passes – Join the Premium MembershipIf you're a driving instructor who wants to teach better, earn more, and stand out from the crowd, the Premium membership is where it happens. With exclusive content you won’t find anywhere else — from expert sessions to confidence coaching, business building, and beyond — this is the stuff no one else is giving you.👉 Start your free 7-day trial now: Sign up hereGet the Workbook for Every EpisodeWhen you join the email list, you’ll get a custom workbook to help you reflect, take action, and apply each episode’s message to your real-world lessons. Plus, weekly tips that actually make a difference.Sign up for The Instructor email📲 Stay Connected via WhatsAppQuick insights, new content, and useful updates direct from Terry.Join the channel: whatsapp-link.comThe Instructor Podcast uses a variety of social media channels, including a Facebook group. You can join the group or follow us on the following platforms:FacebookLinkedInInstagramYouTube