When I ask the question, "Why do you want to be a Scuba Instructor" of my IDC candidates, I often get a response that goes something like, "because I love diving," or something to that affect. Rarely do I hear someone say that the reason they want to become a Scuba Instructor is because they love teaching people new things that will ultimately enhance or change their lives in a positive way. It's no surprise then that so many instructors get burned out and start cutting corners. After all, they need to get back to "diving" as quickly as possible, because teaching is not "real" diving in many opinions.Today, becoming a Scuba Instructor is relatively easy, inexpensive and quick. Maybe too quick and too easy! What do I mean by that? Consider what it takes to become a Scuba Instructor taking the fastest and easiest approach possible. First, you have to become a diver. Makes sense, but many dive centers offer "accelerated" courses that can be accomplished in as little as three days! So now you have a person that has rushed through the course just to become certified so they can move on to the next step. Most of us will agree, this is only a "license to learn" unsupervised. Very few instructors mention, much less emphasize this fact. They are not yet "divers," (even though we call them that). They are "divers" in the making which takes TIME; time in the water in various conditions. Total dives in the open water course, 4, per most agency training standards.
Next the newly certified Open Water/Basic Diver takes the Advanced Diver course. This is good because it gets him/her back in the water with a dive professional who can help him/her improve their basic skills while learning new ones. However, in this scenario, the new diver is on the "Fast Track" to becoming and instructor. With 4 total dives under his/her belt they are now working towards the Advanced Diver certification, which requires 5 dives that can be accomplished in as little as two days with no quizzes or exams or formal classroom time required. The only two dives required out of the five needed for the Advanced certification are Deep and Navigation. These are good skills to have to be sure. However, the students aren't really given a lot of experience in each of the five areas needed for certification, so they gain only a little more training and are still not fully competent or experienced divers yet. Now the diver has 9 logged dives, assuming they're moving from course to course as quickly as possible to get that instructor rating.
The next prerequisite is the Rescue Diver course. This is a great course that really boosts the diver's confidence in the water and provides them with a global awareness that should translate into them becoming better prepared dive buddies. This course does provide additional, but minimal diving experience. with emphasis placed on teaching rescue techniques around removing gear and diver out of the water, etc., not actual diving. At the conclusion of this course the diver is "credited" with 4 logged dives making the total number of "logged" dives 13, but only 10 what I personally would call "actual dives."
Now, the "diver" can move onto the final prerequisite which is also the first level of "professional" diving and educational development known as the Divemaster program. This course requires a minimum of 20 logged dives to enroll, and 60 logged dives to earn certification and membership with a training organization like PADI, for example. This is encouraging because the diver must finally get out into the open water environment to earn the minimum number of dives, 20, to enroll in the course to begin their professional diving career. Keep in mind that the "diver" can log almost any time and depth in the water as a "dive" to meet the minimum requirements, and sadly many do.
If the Divemaster candidate receives adequate training from their instructor, they will be fully trained and experienced divers with regard to actual diving skills, stamina and basic dive theory. However, they are not yet teachers. True, the instructor development program (IDC) was designed to prepare candidates to become "competent" instructors. However, they are expected to have experience as "Certified Assistants ," not just as divers.
Far too many Divemaster candidates are robbed of what PADI or any other training agency would consider adequate training to become a competent Divemaster. Many dive centers schedule the Divemaster program to last only one month. "Time is money and dive centers need to make money to stay afloat!" I have personally witnessed first hand, as I'm sure many of you who are instructors reading this have, countless number of Divemasters from agencies like PADI, SSI and NAUI, to name only a few, who lack the skills, education and attitude necessary to have truly earned the rating of "Divemaster." They're certainly not ready to become instructors yet. And still many instructors out there fail to provide the level of training and mentoring necessary for their candidates to become effective dive leaders which exacerbates the problem as they adopt the bad habits of their instructors.
Now, the Divemaster program requires practical application of the learned skills in the program to real life scenarios working with real students. Of course there are ways to get around this using certified divers in mock classes when actual classes are not running or available for practical application. While this is all good, many dive centers and many instructors view the Divemaster program as a formality to becoming an instructor, so they rush to get the candidate through the course quickly so they can enroll them into an IDC. After all, this is where they learn to become instructors? Really?
Think about it, you only have to have been a diver for 6 months with at least 60 logged dives, hold a certification for Open Water or Basic diver, Advanced and Rescue to become a Divemaster or an "equivalent" certification! That's not a lot of experience for entering an IDC to learn to teach others to dive! While the required number of dives to enter the Instructor Examination is 100 logged dives, an IDC candidate can complete the IDC with less than 100 logged dives and make them up anytime between the IDC and IE. Recall that almost anything can be counted as a logged dive as long as it's not a "training dive" to earn a cerification. Many IDC candidates will log dives that do not add to their dive experience or teaching skills.
Assuming that the candidate is serious and is dedicated to becoming the best instructor they can be, and assuming the Course Director is also as dedicated to providing the IDC Candidates the best training they can, would you want to place your families life in the hands of an 18 year old (minimum age requirement) who may have rushed through the whole process to become an instructor? How confident would you be allowing an individual, as described in this scenario, to take you and or your family out into the open water to not only teach you how to dive safely and competently, but to also take care of you while you're learning?
Don't misunderstand me, I'm not tyring to condemn or find fault with any of the training agencies who have worked extremely hard to design curriculum that is educationally sound and adequate. I believe that the majority of dive educators/instructors out there have worked hard to earn their credentials and do an outstanding job. But consider that there's so much more to being an instructor - teacher/mentor - than just showing someone basic dive skills or how to apply a particular skill they learned only a few days ago during their instructor development course. When you consider the amount of time and education that goes into earning a teaching credential in order teach students to read and write, etc., we as Scuba instructors fall very short when it comes to educational development to effectively instruct people how to scuba dive safely and competently.
It comes down to this; due to the lack of formal training we recieve as dive instructors, we often start behind the curve as compared to our counterparts in the educational community. We therefore must make every effort to maximize our efforts when developing ourselves as Dive instructors. This means learning as much as possible about what we teach, how we teach and why we're teaching it. Here are some things you can do to maximize your efforts with regard to personal development:
- As dive professionals we receive by mail or email, regular training updates and other trade publications. Many agencies require their professional members to be up to date on all training standards through their Training Bulletins, etc. to maintain teaching status. If your training agency does not provide regular updates or send you trade publications, subscribe on your own. There are many available trade publications that you can subscribe to on your own.
- Take a course on improving your presentation skills. There are many organizations like ASTD, and or community colleges that offer one to two day programs that carter to the working professionals schedule.
- Continue your dive education by earning a new certification, perhaps certifying to teach a specialty course you were not qualified to teach before through your Course Director. A great option is to expand into tech diving and or rebreathers, assuming you're not already certified as a tech diver or rebreather diver. There are various in depth courses you can take on dive medicine through organizations like DAN as well as equipment servicing certifications with various equipment manufacturers, etc.
- Co-teach. Co-teaching with different instructors is a great way to expand your knowledge and experience. you can learn a lot from others who may be better than you and even from those who are not so good too.
Another instructor once said, and I agree with him, that the single best suggestion he could give to anyone who teaches is to become as technically competent as possible in your subject matter. When you learn your subject thoroughly, inside and out, you will become a more effective, credible teacher, able to earn the trust and respect of your students. To earn someones trust requires both competency and character. This means learning your subject matter is not enough. You must also gain the experience that comes from application.
One last bit of great advice from a master instructor from the martial arts world.
In the martial arts, a good Sensei (teacher or Mentor) will from time to time don the white belt of a beginner and, as a student himself, visit the school of another master. He does this not only out of respect for the other master, but to humble himself and learn. He cannot learn if he is there as a teacher. As an instructor, you must also continue to learn. Don your white belt from time to time and leave your ego at the door. You owe it to your students and to their families because they are counting on you to give them your best. Earn the title of instructor, don't just obtain it.
