I was invited by Patrice Bessone, national president of the Conseil National des Professions de l’Automobile (CNPA) Education Routière – the National Council of Automobile Professions, Traffic Education Section to join him in a round table discussion at the CNPA National Congress held this year in Reims.
The panel also included
- A representative from the French Ministry of Transport
- Michel Goepp, President of Codes Rousseau representing MOVING – the federation of national and international traffic publishers
- Jeroen Smeesters President of FEDERDRIVE, the Belgian association for driving schools and EFA permanent representative in Brussels.
It seems that French driving schools are under attack from their own government who wish to push the increased use of digital media. I was able to explain that in GB the increased use of technology has, in my opinion, clearly increased the knowledge base of new drivers but has done very little to increase their understanding. I believe that can only be developed by properly trained, qualified and motivated professional driver trainers.
The translators were brilliant and managed to get across my comment that digital learning fulfilled the aims of the old Martini advert – any time – any place – anywhere but did not really do the most important thing which is to match the Coca Cola slogan you can’t beat the real thing. As I explained teaching driving is about real teachers teaching real learners on real roads.
I was also able to explain some of the headlines from the EFA Minimum Standards for Driving Schools and that whilst the structure of the way that driver training is delivered varies considerably between countries in Europe, there is a link between high quality trainers producing high quality new drivers. The proposed Minimum Standards includes standards for:
- Driving School Managers
- Driving School Procedures
- Driving School Teaching Materials and Equipment
- Driving School Buildings
- Driving School Vehicles
- Driving School Quality Assurance
The CNPA National Congress is a major event for driving instructors and schools in France and there were around 1,000 delegates and a large exhibition of driving school products including cars, simulators and teaching materials as you can see from these pictures.
It was a great privilege for me to have been asked to attend and speak on behalf of EFA and I hope to welcome some of the French delegates to the EFA- Congress 2015 being held in Scotland in October.
Pressure of time meant I had to do the trip to Reims which is about150 kilometres (90 miles) east north east of Paris in a day. It took four car trips, two flights and five trains. In addition I walked (according to my phone) approximately 9.5 kilometres (6 miles) round airports and railway stations. A bit tiring but a very worthwhile trip.
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