In contrast PADI sets MAXIMUM standards. In other words, PADI sets a ceiling which you cannot exceed. (In fact, it's a floor too since you can't fall below the standards.) However, there's a catch here and it's a discussion I've had with the PADI legal department frequently.
- Ken
This is a common misconception, Ken, especially among people who are not PADI instructors.
This is how it really works:
The standard, as you pointed out, is a "floor" or
MINIMUM standard. Anything less than that is unacceptable to PADI. PADI, does not prescribe a maximum. I *MUST* as a PADI instructor, train them to hover, (to pick an example) motionless for 30 seconds. However, if the student can do it for 10 minutes, NOBODY at PADI is going to think I violated standards because there
is no maximum. Just like there is no maximum number of times I'm allowed to ask them to R&R their mask, perform AAS skills, do a CESA. There is no maximum level of competence prescribed for agency sanctioned skills. It's up to instructor judgement.
That said, I MUST certify them if they peform to the minimum. That much is true, but how does this work in a course setting? Like this: I can't
refuse to certify them if they can hover for 30 seconds but not for 10 minutes, but I am completely free to challenge them in the course to see who can "do it the longest" or whatever kind of game I want to make out of it... That's not "exceeding" standards. I can challenge them all I want, but the skill gets ticked off after 30 seconds. That's the point.
Where you get into "exceeding" is, for example, if I were to tell them that they *must* R&R their mask while hovering. I can let them try it but I can't judge them on it because performing the skill while hovering is not part of the course. There could theoretically also be legal implications if I told a student that they MUST perform a non-agency sanctioned skill and they had accident while trying it, which is why PADI instructors are cautioned against this kind of "exceeding".
That's the difference in nuance. NAUI instructor #1 can tell the student "you must be able to do this for 1 min (or whatever the minimum is) and NAUI instructor #2 can tell a student taking exactly the same course that "you MUST be able to do this until I say stop". As a PADI instructor I say "you must do this for at least 30 seconds... but let's see how long you can keep it going".
Some agencies allow their instructors to make up their own standards, but PADI doesn't. In some ways (apart from any discussions about whether or not the minimums are sufficient) the PADI approach is actually better, IMO, because a "loose canon" instructor can't break away from the heard and start putting their students through hell to get a c-card like happens in some other agencies.
I hope this clarifies.
R..