Up until Texas started using the MSF course as the practical portion, the prospective licensee was followed by a buddy in a separate car. The examiner road with the buddy. One horn honk for left, two for right. And, if your buddy got confused, and honked the wrong number of times, it was a mark against the prospective licensee. As recent as the late '90s. I was a "following buddy", and the examiner was not happy to have to ride in an open Jeep in July. My buddy passed though.
1) In the UK - after the written test - an average student takes 44 hours of professional tuition to pass a driving test
2) It takes approximately a year to become an Approved Driving Instructor. There are written, practical driving and instructional ability exams and only about 6% make the grade. There is a "check test" every three years, where the instructor teaches a student and the examiner grades the instructional ability to make sure standards are maintained.
Both 1 and 2 are reasonable, but standards should be higher IMO. Although I am proud of the UK standards comparative to world standards.
Here is an example of a "Controls Lesson" with a trainee instructor. The instructional standard would result in a pass, but there were a few minor omissions. However, any candidate that parked closer than 10m to a junction would be immediately failed......Which reminds me. After I went to pick up my ADI license in London, from the then Driver Vehicle Licensing Assn, I returned to my emblazoned in advertising school car, to realiseI had missed a sign (covered by a tree, no excuse) and parked the
wrong way in a one-way street. OOOOPS! Embarrassing moment. Hahahaha.