The basic scuba course - enough training?

[SeaCobra]

Over the years I have seen a serious decline in the minimum training standards of all agencies and there has also been a decline in the number of folks interested in scuba diving and the attrition rate remains atrocious. The thought was to make scuba diving easier, quicker to learn and more accessible to more people. I can't help but wonder is it having the opposite effect? And since the beginning standards are lower, is it having a trickle up effect? Are scuba leadership levels as skilled as they should be?

I know every dive shop and instructor out there will tell you how great they are and how their students are the best trained, but let's be honest, are they really, or are they just good at achieving a very minimal standard? After 23 years of teaching I feel I am a pretty darn good instructor, but I also know I can be better.

Most training programs that I am familiar with consist of 4 to 5 pool sessions totaling about 7 hours of poolside training (not all of it underwater). Personally, I think it is time to admit that we need to do more, especially at the entry level. More quality time in the water will make safer, more comfortable divers. In turn people will enjoy being in the water more, tell their friends what a great time they had and go diving again.

As a new dive shop owner I will be increasing the pool sessions from 5 to 8, bring back basic snorkeling skills, use eLearning as a tool and not a substitute and commit to creating more comfortable and safer divers. Its crazy, but it just might work!

Am I nuts? Doomed to failure? Whadda ya' think?

Thanks,
Jeff

 

[Pullmyfinger]

Jeff,

I really like the way you think. I believe there are plenty of people out there that are looking for better quality training.

I'm sure you already know, but be prepared for the flames from the minimum standard "professionals" that will be stopping by.


-Mitch

 

[rhwestfall]

I applaud your intentions, but with that have a few questions:

What will it cost you (and then the students) to have to pay for more pool time, pay more instructor time, etc.?

How will you compete with the shop who can sell the "weekend course" to someone with a short window due to vacation plans?

How do you compete with the "cliff notes" generation? If the minimums are met, then its "enough"..... phooey!

Keep in mind, I am 10000000% behind your thoughts (no, I didn't have a seizure while typing that). My training (back in the dark ages) was a college semester long, two lectures a week, and 1 pool session a week (might have been 2 - it was too long ago [1989]). That's 10 weeks of training (and the best $20 lab fee I ever had to pay)!!!!! By the time we hit open water, the stuff we could do (skills) was quite complex. And this was for an OW card.

When my fiance (now wife of 14 years) decided to get certified, it blew me away how watered down training was through the "retail" world...... and I wonder what it is like now....

I'm not sure how I am going to deal with the level of instruction when it comes time for my daughter to enroll in classes.

 

[danvolker]

Over the years I have seen a serious decline in the minimum training standards of all agencies and there has also been a decline in the number of folks interested in scuba diving and the attrition rate remains atrocious. The thought was to make scuba diving easier, quicker to learn and more accessible to more people. I can't help but wonder is it having the opposite effect? And since the beginning standards are lower, is it having a trickle up effect? Are scuba leadership levels as skilled as they should be?

I know every dive shop and instructor out there will tell you how great they are and how their students are the best trained, but let's be honest, are they really, or are they just good at achieving a very minimal standard? After 23 years of teaching I feel I am a pretty darn good instructor, but I also know I can be better.

Most training programs that I am familiar with consist of 4 to 5 pool sessions totaling about 7 hours of poolside training (not all of it underwater). Personally, I think it is time to admit that we need to do more, especially at the entry level. More quality time in the water will make safer, more comfortable divers. In turn people will enjoy being in the water more, tell their friends what a great time they had and go diving again.

As a new dive shop owner I will be increasing the pool sessions from 5 to 8, bring back basic snorkeling skills, use eLearning as a tool and not a substitute and commit to creating more comfortable and safer divers. Its crazy, but it just might work!

Am I nuts? Doomed to failure? Whadda ya' think?

Thanks,
Jeff

Jeff,
I think you are definitely on the right track. If you teach them snorkeling skills first, they will learn to swim horizontally, they will get biofeedback on what they are doing in the water ( without all the drag and inertia of BC and tank, robbing them of easy biofeedback)..they will learn how to propel themselves better inn the water, and will learn you go up or down by swimming, not by using your BC an an elevator....so they will end up with enough skills to not be constantly over working their m,uscles, and scaring themselves

 

[ajtoady]

Jeff, as you can see I am a fairly new diver. I believe and preach that you and only you are responsible for your own safety. If that means going beyond the classroom for more reading or training, so be it. I don't know if my training from a LDS will go any further but, I am constantly reading and further educating myself. As to wether or not the standards are getting lax remains to be debated. Again I think that how a course is taught is more important. If the instructor goes the extra nine yards with his students you will have a better group of divers if they are so inclined. Personal attitudes will always prevail wether the course is extensive or not. Again the courses, wether PADI, SSI, or NAUI teach the basics, what and how you apply them is up to you. I've said it before, I'm not afraid to die, but I don't want to rush it either.

 

[Jim Lapenta]

Not always. There are times when you may not go above and beyond and at the same time require students to meet all of those requirements that the instructor feels are necessary. Some agencies will allow you to "expand" on things but not require that expansion for certification. Fortunately my agency does allow me to do that and with the high standards we already have allows me to see that the divers I turn out are not only capable but skilled, competent, and safe. In our local conditions which means low vis, cooler water, no guides or DM's to watch over them, and needing to plan all aspects of their dives. This cannot be done in a weekend. They are also capable of self rescue and of rescuing a buddy.

I applaud your approach and see it works. As for competing with the short cut courses the answer is you don't even try to. This is why I find it extremely beneficial to have standards for a number of agencies for students to compare. I point out the differences in being a diver and being an underwater tourist. I also encourage them to read this board and the accidents forum as well as my own book. It encourages divers to be proactive and take some responsibility for themselves.

There will always be those that don't want to do that. Sometimes you can change their minds. If you can't why would you want to train them anyway? If you hold yourself to a higher level it will be seen. I did not have any ow students this year. I lost the one pool I was using. But I have been in the water most weekends with advanced and specialty classes. Many of those students from other shops that they felt shorted them. I've had 4 people redo their aow after feeling the one they had was not sufficient with the other instructors. 2 drove from Cincinnati to take my class. A rescue student came from Delaware.

You need to set a standard for your self and your students and stay with it. You will be noticed. Not always in good ways. Some instructors don't want their students talking to me or my students. I've been told that they see what we do, what we use, and go back to their instructor with questions they are unable to answer.

I'm finding that later they come to me and they get their answer and I get new students. Train your divers as if theu were your own kids and as if your kids would be diving with them. The economy still sucks. People want value for their money. Show them the value of your program over others and they will come to you.

Again its good to see that you are not accepting average for your program. Good on ya!

Sent from my BlackBerry 9550 using Tapatalk

 

[ThomasScherrer]

I love what you plan to do, improve your course, charge a few $ extra for your extra time,
tell them you dont do easy and fast vacation cards anymore, reason is simple, they just dont learn stuff good enought
for your taste in safety.
I am no instructor nor a very experianced diver my self,
but when even I can see new OW or AOW divers at sites, not knowing how to align a tank to a bcd,
and how to mount the hoses to what side, and before we hit the water they say:
"ehh you gonna watch me close ? I am not that cool with my buoyancy"
and I also se experianced divers get lost and not surface when lost from the group or buddy as planned before the dive..

can you change the world ? maybe just a little bit, it surely dont hurt to try,
specially if you can make all your co instructors think a bit more about quality over money and time.

it is not only an instructor "thing" it is also the mind of the students,

 

[TSandM]

If you have your own pool, it isn't hard to do more sessions . . . and use them as a selling tool, "We give you more underwater time than any other local shop!" We have six with our shop classes, and on the rare occasions where a class has had to be shorter (as happened in July, because of the 4th of July weekend) it shows.

But I think the other half of the equation is that one has to be honest with students, and tell some of them that they need more pool time before they get in open water, and tell others they probably shouldn't dive at all.

 

[HenrikBP]

Am I nuts? Whadda ya' think?

Thanks,
Jeff

Quite possibly

But IMO on the right track wrt. training. Watermanship and comfort in the water can only be achieved through time in the water.

Go for it. I'm sure your students will become better divers for it - and hopefully they'll realize the difference.

Henrik

 

[vladimir]

Good answers so far. What I don't get is why longer courses are perceived as some sort of burden. When I took my OW I looked forward to my classes every Friday night--and teenagers value their Friday nights! The cost didn't dissuade me either--and I paid for it out of earnings from a minimum-wage job. I like your strategy--exploit a higher value-added niche. Whether the demand is there is yet to be determined, but I like TSandM's marketing ideas to try and spur that demand. Good luck.