Professional Ethics, Instructor Duties and Legal Responsibility
What the exam tests
This domain tests whether you understand the instructor's legal position and can act ethically under pressure. The examiner looks for honesty in assessment, respect for confidentiality, correct vehicle and insurance arrangements, and a clear sense of when to stop a lesson.
Legal framework
- The federal professional qualification (Fahrlehrer/in mit eidgenössischem Fachausweis) is separate from the cantonal authorisation to teach for remuneration.
- The instruction vehicle must be licensed, insured for the purpose and fitted with dual controls where required.
- The instructor has a supervisory duty: seatbelts, no phone use, no alcohol or drugs, fitness to teach, and the ability to intervene physically and verbally.
- Continuing education is an obligation, not a private hobby.
- Civil and criminal liability can follow an accident; insurance and documentation matter, but they do not replace prevention.
Ethical standards
- Assess honestly; never promise a pass or a test date as a sales argument.
- Respect the learner: no discrimination, no humiliation, no pressure to drive when unfit.
- Keep learner data confidential and share it only with consent or legal duty.
- Model the behaviour you teach: indicate, keep distance, obey limits, no phone.
- Recognise the limits of your role; refer medical, psychological or legal questions onward.
Worked example
A parent insists that the learner is ready for the test after a fixed number of lessons. The instructor reviews the observation record, identifies two unresolved goals, and states plainly that the learner is not yet ready, with the evidence and a plan. The reasoning is that test readiness is a professional judgement based on criteria, not a customer preference. Giving in would expose the learner to failure and the instructor to a breach of duty.
Traps that cost marks
- Promising a pass to win the booking.
- Using a phone or letting the learner use one during instruction.
- Continuing a lesson with an exhausted or impaired learner.
- Discussing a learner's difficulties with third parties without consent.
- Relying on insurance instead of preventing the risk.