Mick Knowles ORDIT Instructor Trainer - KIT

03/11/2026

If your pupil can’t tell you what they’re working on, the lesson has already gone wrong.

Goal setting isn’t you announcing the lesson. It’s agreeing it together.

Here’s a simple test you can try on your next lesson.

Mick

31/10/2026

Failed your Part 3 and not sure why?

Send me your report. I’ll go through it and tell you honestly what I see, where the marks went and what I’d work on first.

It’s free, and there’s no obligation. Sometimes you need someone who’s been doing this a long time to look at it with fresh eyes.

Email me at [email protected] or message me here.

I offer in-car training in and around Yorkshire and online training anywhere in the country, if you decide you want help afterwards.

Mick

29/10/2026

The pink licence is a training licence. Treat it like one.

I see too many PDIs who are busy on the pink licence, booked up with pupils, earning money, and getting no closer to passing Part 3.

It’s understandable. You’ve invested a lot; you need the income, and lessons feel like progress. But teaching the same way week after week isn’t training. It’s just working.

DVSA has made this clear in the new code of practice. Trainee licences are “for genuine learning, not a shortcut to get instructors working before they’re fully qualified.”

So ask yourself honestly:

When did you last have proper training?
Is anyone watching you teach and telling you straight what they see?
Are you getting better, or just getting busier?

If the answers make you uncomfortable, that’s your sign. Make space for training, even if it means moving a few lessons. Qualifying is the goal. The pink licence is just how you get there.

Mick

27/10/2026

Stop telling your pupil what they did wrong. Ask them.

When a pupil spots their own fault, they own it, and they’re far more likely to fix it. It’s also exactly what the examiner wants to see on Part 3.

Try it on your next lesson.

Mick

24/10/2026

The new code of practice isn’t just for ADIs. If you’re a PDI, it applies to you too.

I’ve written a blog on what’s changing and what it means for you while you’re training and out on the pink licence.

Worth ten minutes of your time before it catches you out.

www.mickknowles.co.uk/blog/new-code-of-practice

21/10/2026

25 years in the Royal Engineers taught me one thing about training people.

I joined as a Sapper and started my training at Chepstow in September 1986. Over the years that followed, I was trained, and I trained others, more times than I can count.

The lesson that stuck with me is this. You don’t train until someone gets it right once. You train until they can’t get it wrong.

To get someone there, you need more than one way to teach it. If something isn’t working, repeating the same explanation is pointless. You need lots of different tools to teach the same thing, so that when one doesn’t land, you can try another.

That’s exactly how I work with PDIs. Passing Part 3 isn’t about one good lesson on the day. It’s about building habits that hold up under pressure, and having the tools to adapt when your pupil isn’t getting it. So on test day you do the right things because that’s how you teach.

That takes proper training, honest feedback and time to reflect. Not the bare minimum.

If that sounds like the kind of help you need, you know where I am.

20/10/2026

A great day of training today, which started off with helping an ADI back into the industry after a short period out!

She now has a clearer idea of how to get back out there and is already putting plans in place!

If you would like a 1-2-1 to discuss anything business- or instructor-related, you can find my availability here:

www.mickknowles.co.uk

18/10/2026

Your pink licence gives you experience. But what shows it is developing you?

Months on a trainee licence do not automatically mean progress. It should be a planned development period, not an alternative to qualifying. Keep a training and reflection record from day one, gather evidence against the Part 3 competencies, spot recurring weaknesses early, and plan your route to test, with a contingency in case you need more time.

This is one tribunal decision, not a universal rule, but the lesson stands.

Read my blog here: https://www.mickknowles.co.uk/blog/your-pink-licence-gives-you-experience-what-shows-it-is-developing-you

A tribunal decision on a refused third trainee licence is a useful prompt for every PDI and trainer. Here is how to make the pink licence a planned development period, not a drift towards the test.