OW/AOD/DM/AI/Instructor Certification

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DCBC

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Scuba Instructor
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I would be interested in getting your perception of what you think is required for various certifications (based on your experienced). I'm not looking for specific exercises, but perhaps this could include the number of dives required (or prerequisite number) and/or training hours. In other words, how competent should a person be before they are certified to each level (minimum requirements regardless of affiliation):

1. OW Diver (to be competent to dive with a buddy in the environment for which s/he was trained without supervision

2. Advanced Openwater (what should this diver be able to do?)

3. Divemaster (what skills should a DM possess?)

4. Assistant Instructor / Instructor

Obviously the training agencies have this set, but from recent discussion on other threads, this may or not be adequate. I would appreciate getting an idea of what divers think of this.

What should a typical diver's background look like on successful completion of each category? What do you think?
 
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OW - 15 hours academics, 5 pool sessions, and 4 checkout dives with 4 experience dives.

AOW - Gas management, dive site/conditions planning, additional work on kicking/buoyancy, deep and night dives, buddy skills, and navigation. Need a little experience (20 dives) before taking this course.

DM - Should actually be a good diver with experience-good buoyancy, non-silting kicker, experience diving outside of classes, and the obvious supervisory skills. Will probably have at least 200 dives.

Instructor - Excellent diver with experience outside of a training environment. Should be a relative expert on local diving and of course have the needed teaching skills. Will probably have at least 500 dives.
 
1 Depends. In warm water, no current, great viz (example Bahamas or most of caribbeans) 4 are enough. Low viz, cold water, currents takes longer. With some outfit I have been we would let buddy team dive on their own with 30 dives
2 Advanced open water. This is difficult as the AOW actually does not allow you to do anything more than the OW other than giving you training in specific area under supervision. If a diver is AOW may take less dives to get to dive independently with a buddy
3. DM should be able to supervise divers and keep safety, help with training if required, and possess demonstration quality skills. I do not see a direct link between the dives performed and the quality of the DM but I do believe that an internship program in the area when the DM will work will give the DM all the tools required. I think that the DM course as an experience with simulated exercises/scenario does not give any preparation to be a pro
4. In addition to 3 the instructor should be able to teach, counsel and also be trained in many different environmental conditions so to advice students not only on local sites but also on possible future experiences.

For what concerns the number of dives I do not see a direct relationship between that and proficiency. You can do the same thing 1000 times then something changes and you don't know anymore what to do. I believe having varied experiences improves your diving and your ability to dive, guide and teach and enriches your personal learning tool kit as you go along
 
If I had to make it up from scratch this would be my initial beer mat:

OW - 20 dives, 10 confined and 10 OW
AOW - disbanded as meaningless
DM - 100 OW dives before being able to start training
AI 150 to start training
Instructor - good teaching skills. 200 Dives min before training

I agree however that number of dives isn't a terribly good measurement tool.

I would also stipulate that the trainer cannot certify you. Instructor and examiner would need to be independent, in the same way your driving instructor does not do your exam/issue your license.
 
I think a DM needs at least 143 dives and an Instructor 464 dives... I've always been amused by the numbers some people come up with for this discussion. "I feel an Instructor should have...(hold on, I'm pulling a number out of thin air) X number of dives". What are those numbers based on? What makes those numbers more or less appropriate than any numbers? It seems to me that in many cases an experienced diver for whatever reason reaches the conclusion that anyone with less dives than they have should not be an Instructor. It's about skill, knowledge, experience, and maturity. Some divers are ready to be excellent Instructors after 100 dives and there are others with 5,000 dives who have less business teaching SCUBA than my dog does. I agree there needs to be some sort of threshold of dives but as InTheDrink so correctly pointed out, "number of dives isn't a terribly good measurement tool.". Evaluate them on merits. Have they learned how to pass SCUBA exams or do they actually understand the academics of diving? What level is their diving skills at? The one I feel all the agencies totally overlook-Is the person mature and responsible enough to teach? Does the person feel that once they become an Instructor they will suddenly know everything and no longer need to learn more, or do they understand that learning never stops? Evaluate things that matter...
 
Hmmm... All interesting. But really, this goes a bit deeper. Here's what I think...

From my experience, the average Open Water diver should be okay with 4-6 dives. I have had divers that are phenomenal, and those who I have failed, purely down to retention of information and comfortability with skills and waterwork. It is a very hard thing to quantify. In an ideal world though where time and money constraints were no object, the more the better, so I would say 10-15 dives at least.

I believe that the standards for Advanced Open Water should be four dives per specialty, depending on the specialty, with a lecture on each and knowledge review. Ice diving? That's a different story, as are some others.

DM/AI's should do a minimum of a three month work off in a dive centre environment, accruing at least 100 dives before they start, and finishing with 200+. That and about four or five random half hour lectures each to teach them how to talk to a class in prep for instructors (start the learning asap), stress management, tank filling, logistics, paperwork, the whole lot - all under the supervision of a good Instructor, that is. This will give them a reasonable breadth of experience for me to consider letting them go running off with green certs.

It's also important for them to assist with introductory divers. This is one of the things that people don't get much experience with these days, and I can say that my life as an Instructor was made far easier by dealing with a couple thousand intros before I started courses. If possible, they should get as many knowledge tests and lectures done too. They need to be able to work the back deck of a boat, plan ahead, and really start automating the "Thinking Diver" idea. All this, and they need to have a good work ethic in hand.

I disagree that number of dives has nothing to do with your ability level - the fact is that every dive is a different set of circumstances, and in every dive there is the possibility of things going wrong. Currents, o-rings going, tanks slipping out of tank straps, fins breaking, (god forbid) out of air scenarios, lost buddy etc etc. The more you dive, the more chance these things will arise, and how you deal with these things are relative not only to you, but to whether you've dealt with them before and then this translates into how to try NOT to see it happen again. It's here that you've really worked out how to be SAFE, and be your own critic.

Now - Instructors. This is the biggest point of contention for me. I've been doing Instructing at various levels about five and a half years now, so I'm hardly old school. But I can see the calibre of instructors slipping and slipping. The problem is that they get certified too early. The instructor prep after DCSI/DM should take at LEAST 6 months. This zero to hero crud doesn't fly with me at all.

You should be assisting, assisting, assisting and trying to get as much exposure to the public and the industry as possible. That's why it's great to do high volume areas such as Egypt and GBR etc, as long as your trainers are good. If not though, then that doesn't mean you're at a disadvantage. It allows you to become incredibly efficient at problem solving and talking to/diving with LOTS of customers. This is where a lot of OWSI's fall down. Anyone can regurgitate key points and values and all that crap in the pool, and you may be great when everything's going right, but dealing with customers at all levels, pressure situations and any pursuant fallout is a real test of your calibre.

So really when you think about it, it should take at least 2-300 dives to get this all right. I agree on the Trainer/Examiner being independent. That's a given. People who certify their own students are their own worst enemy in terms of quality assurance. They need to be put in a pressure situation on the day, and get used to being under the microscope as we all are representing the industry.

Phew. If I missed anything, I'll get back to you

-- Nemo
 
Number of dives isn't a great measure but it can be useful in a rough threshold kind of way. The other aspects are much more important of course.

In my opinion, no one has the experience to be an instructor with 100 dives however. They may have the maturity, the personality to teach others well, and the basic skills that an OW student needs to learn but with less than 100 dives they don't (almost by definition) have the experience and the more advanced skills that an instructor should have.
 
One thing I missed.

A DM and Instructor should be excellent communicators and generous in knowledge sharing. I see painfully little of this. That might seem difficult to quantify or measure but actually it wouldn't be that difficult - sharing additional gems and helpful tips as an expected quality would at least be easy to spot if missing.
 
OW: 12 years old, 5 pool sesions, 7 O/W dives, No all in one weekend certifications, Max depth 60'

AOW: 15 years old, 50 logged dives, must have been certified for 1 year at least, 2 "review" pool sesions, and 7 class room hours, and 10 O/W dives (2 below 100'), and must show execellent Navagation, and Bouyancy skills, and upon certification certified to 140' maximum depth and allowed to perform Decompression stop diving while the Total amount of Deco is not to Execede 15 mins

Dive Master: 17 years old, Must be (and remain throught out) EFR/CPR certified, and current, must have logged 160 dives, must have been certified for at least 3 years, must have at least 10 dives below 100', and a good attitude toward diving and a firm commitment to diving, must have 10 class room hours (5 of which may be self study) and 15 dives must be done during course, the course must last at least 2 weeks (1 month prefferable)

Assistant Instructor: should be Combined and part of the Dive Master Certification

Instructor: must be 18, may be 17 at the discretion of the Instructor Trainer or Head of IDC facility, the course must last at least 2 weeks and have at least 190 clock hours, and 30 dives must be done while in the course, prior to taking the course you must have at least 210 dives logged....


Anyway thats my Opinion on the subject...i am sure theres loads of Instructors out there that Disagree with me... but oh well...

Atomic_Diver
 
I don't know about minimum number of dives but I think there should be a minimum time as well - No more 'Hey, just last season I couldn't even swim but now I am an instructor.'
 
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