Overview of the GDE
The Goals for Driver Education (GDE) are set out in a matrix which helps ADIs structure their coaching across four levels and three competencies. If we coach across all levels and columns, we are far more likely to produce self-aware young drivers.
Article One: GDE Overview
The Goals for Driver Education (GDE) are set out in a matrix, which helps us address our responsibilities as ADIs to our learner drivers by giving us a framework through which to structure our coaching. If we coach across all the levels and columns of the GDE then we are far more likely to produce young drivers who will be self-aware and able to reflect on a 'near miss' once they pass their test, learn from it and take steps to prevent something similar from happening again.
Once we accept that skills- and fault-based approaches to teaching do not encourage learning to take place on a deep and meaningful level, we can start to tackle the learning to drive process more effectively. It does not take any extra time to coach the learner driver so that they understand how their personality, values and beliefs impact on the way they control the vehicle. Without a coaching approach the learner drives to impress their driving instructor and to get through the driving test; once they pass the test, their true personality emerges and they enter the 'expressive phase' of learning to drive – very risky if they are not aware of their strengths, limitations and development needs.
This is where the GDE Matrix is really helpful. The framework consists of four levels and three competencies.
The 4 Levels of the GDE
Level 1: Vehicle Manoeuvring
This level is all about vehicle control skills. The student learns:
- Vehicle maintenance
- How to use the controls
- How to move away and stop on level roads and gradients
- How to change gear and use clutch control
- How to deal with junctions, roundabouts and pedestrian crossings
- Where to position the vehicle
- How to steer
- Where to look
- How to carry out the manoeuvres
- Etc.
Level 2: Integrating with other road users
This level develops the learner so that they can integrate with other road users and get to grips with different traffic situations. The student learns:
- Visual scanning
- Hazard perception
- Use of speed
- Judgement and decision making in traffic situations
- Road holding
- Vehicle limitations
- Eco-safe driving
- Etc.
Level 3: Goals and context of the Journey
This level looks at journey-specific considerations. The student learns about:
- Motivation for the journey
- Route planning
- Distractions
- Passenger influence
- Eco-safe driving (specific to the journey)
- Effects of alcohol and drugs on driving
- Etc.
Level 4: Goals for life and skills for living
This level focuses on the personality of the driver and how their thoughts and beliefs impact on their behaviour generally and driving behaviour specifically. The student learns about:
- Crash statistics
- Typical risky personalities
- Attitudes to risk
- Personal belief systems
- Personal goals for life
- Personal skills for living
- Etc.
The 3 Competencies of the GDE
There are three competency columns that run across all four levels. For each level the student must:
- Learn the knowledge and skills relating to that level
- Understand the risk-increasing factors relating to that level
- Know how to identify and self-evaluate strengths and development needs relating to that level.
The GDE Matrix can be summarised as follows:
| Goals for Driver Education | Knowledge & Skill | Risk increasing aspects | Self Assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Goals for life and skills for living (Level 4) | Lifestyle, age, group, culture, social position etc., vs driving behaviour | Sensation seeking, Risk Acceptance, Group norms, Peer pressure | Introspective competence, Own preconditions, Impulse control |
| Goals and context of driving (Level 3) | Modal choice, Choice of time, Role of motives, Route planning | Alcohol, fatigue, Low friction, Rush hours, Young passengers | Own motives, influencing choices, Self-critical thinking |
| Driving in traffic (Level 2) | Traffic rules, Co-operation, Hazard perception, Automatisation | Disobeying rules, Close-following, Low friction, Vulnerable road users | Calibration of driving skills, Own driving style |
| Vehicle control (Level 1) | Car functioning, Protection systems, Vehicle control, Physical laws | No seatbelts, Breakdown of vehicle systems, Worn-out tyres | Calibration of car control skills |
Hatakka, Keskinen, Glad, Gregersen, Hernetkoski, 2002
Traditionally, driver training focuses on the lower levels of the GDE (Vehicle Manoeuvring and Integrating with other road users) because this is what the driving test requires. Traditional driver training doesn't need to take account of the second and third competencies of the GDE framework (Risk increasing factors and Self Assessment), because the driving test doesn't assess these.
As ADIs we carry a huge burden of responsibility, which is to do our utmost to ensure that the young people we teach to drive will have the skills they need to keep themselves safe once they are driving unsupervised. We are relieved of our burden as soon as they pass their driving test because, as far as they and their parents are concerned, we have addressed our responsibilities by getting them through their driving test. (Of course, we may see our students again, post-test, but this is not guaranteed and maybe the ones who don't choose to return for Pass Plus are the very ones who would most benefit.) However, when the road crash statistics show us that one in five newly qualified drivers will be involved in a serious crash within the first year of passing their driving test, surely we have to seriously consider where that burden sits and how we can reduce it before the learner even takes the driving test?
Addressing the GDE pre-test empowers students to take responsibility for their learning, their driving and their lives and, in doing so, reduces their risk of being involved in a serious crash when driving unsupervised.
Source & reference
This article was written by Susan McCormack and originally published on FionaDrive.com. It is reproduced here with attribution. The GDE framework referenced is from Hatakka, Keskinen, Glad, Gregersen, Hernetkoski, 2002. TITLE EVIDENCE: The supplied WordPress source opens with the headings "Article One" and "GDE Overview", which can reasonably be established as the original article heading/title from this source. The existing record's title "Overview of the GDE" was previously set and may have been verified from authoritative WordPress metadata. The supplied source shows "GDE Overview" as the heading. This discrepancy is recorded but the existing title is NOT replaced without further verification from Greg. Both "Article One" and "GDE Overview" are preserved in the article body as a heading. PUBLICATION DATE: The existing record carries published_date and original_published_date of 2015-02-22. The supplied WordPress source does not contain a publication date. The existing date is retained. Verification status: previously set, not re-verified against WordPress metadata in this reconciliation. AUTHORSHIP DETERMINATION: The existing record attributes authorship to Susan McCormack (author field: "Susan McCormack"). This was investigated during prior migration by comparison with the companion article "Goals for Driver Education - 4" (record 6a85ee5b9a484b489beeea24), which was confirmed as third-party material by Susan McCormack, Managing Director, Tri-Coaching Partnership. Article One ("Overview of the GDE") is part of the same GDE series shared on the historical FionaDrive site and is likewise attributable to Susan McCormack / Tri-Coaching Partnership, not Fiona Taylor. Fiona Taylor is NOT recorded as the author. The supplied WordPress source does not explicitly state authorship, so the attribution rests on the prior series-level determination rather than a standalone byline in this source. If authoritative evidence later establishes Fiona as a co-author or the author, this should be corrected. RESEARCH CITATION: "Hatakka, Keskinen, Glad, Gregersen, Hernetkoski, 2002" preserved exactly as supplied in the article body. Not expanded, no publication title added, no academic reference created. Fiona did NOT author or independently verify the research. Susan McCormack did NOT author the research. No claim made that Fiona conducted or verified the research. HISTORICAL MATERIAL: All GDE, driver-training, driving-test and road-safety material treated as historical professional material. NOT modernised into current DVSA guidance. Statements concerning what the driving test requires or assesses, traditional driver training, Pass Plus, young/newly qualified drivers, the "one in five newly qualified drivers" crash statistic, typical risky personalities, risk acceptance, peer pressure and sensation seeking are preserved as historical source wording and NOT independently validated or presented as current fact. No current collision statistics, DVSA standards, research findings or modern GDE evidence added. GDE MATRIX RECONSTRUCTION: The supplied WordPress HTML flattened the tabular/matrix material into sequential text. The existing record reconstructed it into a semantic HTML table with columns (Knowledge & Skill | Risk increasing aspects | Self Assessment) and rows (Level 4, Level 3, Level 2, Level 1). The column/row relationships were unambiguous from the supplied source for all cells. No missing cells, wording or relationships were invented. The two empty spans in the source for Levels 1 and 2 were treated as WordPress padding artifacts; the three content blocks for each row map to the three competency columns, consistent with the standard GDE matrix as published by Keskinen et al. RECONCILIATION CHANGES: "Etc." restored to the end of all four level lists (was dropped in the original migration). A trailing period restored to the third competency in the ordered list. No other wording changed. No em dashes introduced. The en dash in "expressive phase – very risky" preserved from the original source (en dash, not em dash). IMAGE: image_url: null. No historical article image supplied. No substitute image used. RELATIONSHIPS: None. related_workshop_ids: [], related_product_ids: [], related_testimonial_ids: []. No automatic links to Beyond the Test, Scaling, Mind Mapping, Go Solo or any current FionaDrive Workshop/Product. Conceptual similarity to Fiona's present GDE/coaching work is not sufficient evidence of a direct historical relationship. LEGACY URL: null. No verified historical FionaDrive public URL available. CATEGORIES: Updated to Instructor Development (primary), with Coaching, Learner-Centred Practice and GDE. No new category created.
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