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How to become a defensive driving instructor? |
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Each state would have specific requirements on how one can become a defensive driving instructor. If you want to be a defensive driving instructor in your area, you first step is to check the qualifications required for driving instructors in your state.
Let us take the state of Texas as an example.
The Texas Education Agency is the government body authorized to issue licenses for driving safety instructors. TEA is also the agency that issue licenses to driving schools and course providers.
The first step to become a defensive driving or driving safety instructor is to take instructor-development courses that course providers normally offer on a periodic basis. These course providers would usually have varied terms and conditions for taking you to their instructor development classes. Some of the things that a prospective driving instructor should ask include:
• How much does the school charge for the class?
• Do they loan or give instruction materials and videotapes?
• Are there workbooks and handouts available for students? How much do they cost?
• What are the policies and administrative procedures that the course provider expects you to follow after you have been endorsed to teach their course?
• How much are you required to give to the course provider for each student that you teach?
It should be noted that prior training as driving instructor in another state other than where you want to teach is usually not considered to make a teacher eligible. In Texas, for instance, the course providers have unique instructor development course and you would be required to complete one of those courses to obtain a driving safety instructor license.
Other considerations that state authorities such as TEA look at when approving licenses for driving instructors include good moral character and reputation. The applicant must not have driving with influence convictions within seven years, no felony convictions, have not owned or operated a school or course provider with serious violations or unpaid debts, among others.
Once an applicant receives his driving safety instructor license, he should take note that he is only allowed to teach only the course where he got training and endorsement. It is possible, however, for a driving instructor to take several driving courses and get respective endorsements to teach for each of the course. The instructor must also keep in mind that he can only teach in a licensed school, or in an approved classroom location of that school, and the school must have approval to teach that specific course.
As a driving instructor, the teacher is not authorized to give completion certificates to the students who graduate from his class. Instead, he is to give a list of the names of the student that successfully completed the course to his course provider. It is the course provider that is authorized to issue the completion certificates to the students.
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