For one of the Transform staff obtaining a Defensive Driving qualification has been an arduous twelve-month uphill battle. Amber has found the study extremely intensive and the criteria to qualify like jumping through moving fire hoops. She has now successfully completely all the necessary requirements to qualify.
The last hurdle being to present all eight hours of the material to a mock class, on video call to her instructor in Wellington. Enduring poor phone connections that disconnected the calls multiple times was an issue that she persevered with. In addition, wearing an earpiece so she could hear the comments from the instructor had her pause mid-sentence several times. Knowing what was going on everyone would patiently wait, and smile for the directions to stop allowing Amber to complete her sentence.
The evaluations from the accessor were very positive and he was extremely happy that Amber knew the material and could deliver it to his standards. One comment being that if she were being audited, there would be nothing to critique her about.
Her delivery was seamless and everyone in the group enjoyed her teaching style, feeling like they had understood the material and gained a load of important information to assist them on their driving journey. This included the fully licenced drivers in the group.
From here she will be able to deliver the eight-hour programme in the Putaruru community to help locals on a restricted licence obtain a full licence, six months earlier. From the number of students that have gained a restricted this year, the defensive driving programme is promised to be highly sought after. The Transform office already gets a steady stream of enquiries seeking this programme, so there won’t be any problems filling a class roll, even though it will not be funded. The first class is ready to roll in mid-October.
Amber has done an exceptional job balancing work commitments, study, and young children to make this goal a reality. Even though there were times when she wondered what on earth she had done!
