At the side of the road, the pupil can give full attention to the questions being asked and delve deeply into their thoughts, beliefs, attitudes and emotions.
Closed questions to gauge and improve knowledge and understanding around the goal of the session when setting up the goal for the session after practice and when adapting.
Open questions, particularly after practise during reflection periods, help the learner understand how their thoughts, feelings and attitudes impact their behaviour. Giving time in between practise enables the learner to connect the dots and leads to greater self-awareness. Enabling the learner to better self-manage their behaviour post-test.
Leading questions should be limited to when the car is moving to manage risk, telling someone how to behave is not effective in the real world, helping someone to understand themselves, and the impact their personality traits and states, as well as emotions and distractions, will have on their ability to drive well is far more effective post-test. Leading questions such as ‘don’t you think it’s dangerous to break the speed limit?’ Are far more likely to cause the pupil to give you the answer they think you want, inhibiting them from exploring their thoughts.
An open question such as ‘How do you feel/What do you think…about people who break the speed limit?’ is likely to be far more effective as a way into your pupil’s thoughts and beliefs. Followed by a conversation using more open questions such as ‘is there a situation where you could be im where you might have to break the speed limit?’ and ‘how will you cope with that?’ Later some closed questions around their perception of the risks, ‘What are the risks here?’ ‘How could that impact you?’.
