Just wondered how much those of us that are doing training receive as payment - if anything.
Our local authority pays around £6-£7 (couldn't tell you exactly but it's 6 something). Personally I think this is a little low seeing as sports coaches receive about £10 an hour - and it doesn't take account of travelling time to and from the sessions, although they do pay for 15 minutes either side in recognition that you can't turn up and leave spot on the hour.
How Much Do They Pay
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Paul Power
- Posts: 217
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keepontriking
- Posts: 472
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- Location: Hampshire
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Paul Power wrote:£6-7 per hour??
Tell them to shove it.
Can't imagine any teacher working for £6 an hour, can you?
Our LA allows
Instructors to claim the National Minimum Wage (£5.52 I think). But then they are highly experienced and qualified instructors, as they a undertake comprehensive training programme of two and a half hours in a meeting room on how fill the paperwork in!
But what about riding bikes with the trainees?
Heaven forbid - no that is definitely not allowed.
Far too risky.
And don't even think about reconnecting little Johnny's brake cable.
Send him off to ride home.
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Paul Power
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keepontriking
- Posts: 472
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There are two sides to the cycle training quagmire.
Up until late 2007 I was involved in Cycling Proficiency training for Swindon council. This was given to local Primary schools for year 6 pupils in the main, occasionally year 5's would be trained. This I did on a voluntary basis, the kids paid nothing and I received nothing other than the satisfaction of contributing to road safety and the sheer enjoyment of working with the children. I am also a Driving Instructor, so I may also have had a couple of leads through this training too!
With the introduction of Bikeability, there is funding available and the parents are expected to make a small contribution too. With 6 pupils allowed per instructor this means that the training should be paid at a much more realistic amount than the pittances mentioned above.
We are making a serious contribution to road safety with the training we give, so it should be paid appropriately! I just wish funding was also available for level 3 training.
It is well known that a persons attitude to road safety becomes set at around the age of 11, just at the age Cycling Proficiency or Nat Stds level 2 is targeted. This should be compulsory, even part of the national curriculum - if it was, this could make a huge difference to the road safety figures, particularly those including children.
I am hoping to arrange more training at level 3 - it would be interesting to see if the road/traffic experience will shorten the time needed to learn to drive. Theoretically it should.
Nigel
Up until late 2007 I was involved in Cycling Proficiency training for Swindon council. This was given to local Primary schools for year 6 pupils in the main, occasionally year 5's would be trained. This I did on a voluntary basis, the kids paid nothing and I received nothing other than the satisfaction of contributing to road safety and the sheer enjoyment of working with the children. I am also a Driving Instructor, so I may also have had a couple of leads through this training too!
With the introduction of Bikeability, there is funding available and the parents are expected to make a small contribution too. With 6 pupils allowed per instructor this means that the training should be paid at a much more realistic amount than the pittances mentioned above.
We are making a serious contribution to road safety with the training we give, so it should be paid appropriately! I just wish funding was also available for level 3 training.
It is well known that a persons attitude to road safety becomes set at around the age of 11, just at the age Cycling Proficiency or Nat Stds level 2 is targeted. This should be compulsory, even part of the national curriculum - if it was, this could make a huge difference to the road safety figures, particularly those including children.
I am hoping to arrange more training at level 3 - it would be interesting to see if the road/traffic experience will shorten the time needed to learn to drive. Theoretically it should.
Nigel
adinigel wrote:...I am hoping to arrange more training at level 3 - it would be interesting to see if the road/traffic experience will shorten the time needed to learn to drive. Theoretically it should...
Nigel
A National Standard Level 3 Certificate as a prerequisite to a Provisional Driving Licence would be the single most powerful tool in improving road safety imaginable, in my humble view.
Another Nigel...
nigel_s wrote:adinigel wrote:...I am hoping to arrange more training at level 3 - it would be interesting to see if the road/traffic experience will shorten the time needed to learn to drive. Theoretically it should...
Nigel
A National Standard Level 3 Certificate as a prerequisite to a Provisional Driving Licence would be the single most powerful tool in improving road safety imaginable, in my humble view.
Another Nigel...
Not sure how it would make much difference in that sense. Would you care to elaborate?
Nigel
adinigel wrote:nigel_s wrote:adinigel wrote:...I am hoping to arrange more training at level 3 - it would be interesting to see if the road/traffic experience will shorten the time needed to learn to drive. Theoretically it should...
Nigel
A National Standard Level 3 Certificate as a prerequisite to a Provisional Driving Licence would be the single most powerful tool in improving road safety imaginable, in my humble view.
Another Nigel...
Not sure how it would make much difference in that sense. Would you care to elaborate?
Nigel
Sure.
It's my feeling that a skilled cyclist makes better driver. With better understanding of roadcraft from an early age, better understanding of road conditions and surfaces, better understanding of road hazards. As a cyclist you are part of the world around you. In a car you are, to a large degree, sheltered from it in more ways than one. Many youngsters seem to graduate from the back seat to the drivers seat without even learning how to cross the road. A youngster who's learned to cycle to Level 2 at 10 years old and progresses to Level 3 in his/her early teens will be an experienced road user by 17 and literally streets ahead of their contemporaries with no road experience at all.
Then there's the added bonus that all drivers will be cyclists, too. No more "us and them".
nigel_s wrote:Sure.
It's my feeling that a skilled cyclist makes better driver. With better understanding of roadcraft from an early age, better understanding of road conditions and surfaces, better understanding of road hazards. As a cyclist you are part of the world around you. In a car you are, to a large degree, sheltered from it in more ways than one. Many youngsters seem to graduate from the back seat to the drivers seat without even learning how to cross the road. A youngster who's learned to cycle to Level 2 at 10 years old and progresses to Level 3 in his/her early teens will be an experienced road user by 17 and literally streets ahead of their contemporaries with no road experience at all.
Then there's the added bonus that all drivers will be cyclists, too. No more "us and them".
I couldn't agree more! I'd also add that Motorcyclists make better drivers too. Any two wheel experience makes a driver more aware of road surface conditions which cannot be bad. It is also likely that experience as a 'lesser' road user makes a driver more symathetic.
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billynibbles
- Posts: 30
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- Location: Hounslow (to where the population of Southall drives every day with no apparent regard for cyclists)
byegad wrote:I couldn't agree more! I'd also add that Motorcyclists make better drivers too. Any two wheel experience makes a driver more aware of road surface conditions which cannot be bad. It is also likely that experience as a 'lesser' road user makes a driver more symathetic.
I also couldn't agree more - having been a cyclist, then a motorist and now I'm returning to 2 wheels more and more as a cycling instructor, there's so much more 'road craft' to be learned by being outdoors on two wheels. You're more aware of your own fragility (let's not be too morbid and say mortality) but you're alive - you can smell spilt diesel, you can see the oil's rainbow patterns on a wet road, you've probably already learned the hard way not to turn right over a wet manhole cover (yes, why are they always in the middle of a T-junction?*), and you probably helped write the unwritten law that disembarking bus passengers have a random distribution across road and cycle path (basically, anywhere except the damned pavement). If nothing else, all my current experience on two wheels is making me a better driver!
*Probably a T-junction in the sewer too!
