CBR examiner trainers train ARK rider examiners in Estonia

This spring (14-15 May 2009) ARK (the Estonian Motor Vehicle Registration Centre) organised a special category A training day for all ARK driving examiners. This year’s training was remarkable in that it was carried out by professional category A examiner trainers from the Dutch driver testing organisation CBR (Peter de Haan and Tom Blauwhof).
ARK arranges at least two days periodic training for our driving examiners every year. To date, only our local examiner trainers from ARK have provided specific training for the examiners. Occasionally we have involved specialists from other Estonian institutions in the examiners periodic training process in order to give some variety to the training. However, periodic training has never been provided by examiner trainers outside Estonia.
This year we had a wonderful opportunity to invite two category A examiner trainers from the Netherlands (CBR) to Estonia to train our ARK examiners. We believe that this kind of learning process will enable us to broaden our horizons and to reassess how we evaluate candidates and how the test is organised.
The ARK examiner training days that were conducted by Peter de Haan and Tom Blauwhof consisted of two parts: theoretical and practical training.
In the theoretical training day many different topics were introduced and explained in detail to the ARK examiners:
  • general conception of the of the Dutch driver testing system;
  • introducing general principles of the category A practical driving test;
  • assessment philosophy of the Dutch practical driving test;
  • communication with the candidate during the practical driving test.
The second part of the training was purely practical training. Peter de Haan and Tom Blauwhof introduced, explained and demonstrated one by one all special manoeuvres (12 in total) that are used and assessed in the Dutch category A manoeuvre test (stage I) that is separate from the practical driving part (stage II). After each demonstrated manoeuvre, the CBR trainers gave the Estonian examiners the opportunity to perform each of the manoeuvres and they then received constructive feedback from the trainers. From a professional point of view, the practical training day was a very interactive and worthwhile event for both the ARK examiners and CBR trainers.
The practical training day that took place at ARK generated a lot of interest in the Estonian media. Two Estonian TV channels (TV 3 and Kanal2) came to observe and film the training. A series of interviews were also given by ARK representatives, ARK examiners, the Estonian training provider and Peter de Haan from the CBR.
The training days were highly appreciated by the Estonian driving examiners. They all learned a lot from the highly professional CBR trainers. All in all, this was a remarkable event in the history of Estonian driver testing.
Eveliis Nagel
Head of examination division of the examination department
Estonian Motor Vehicle Registration Centre (ARK)
Phone: +372 620 1215