If you could change one thing about dive training...

[Pressurehead]

How about a provisional certificate for OW until you have X number of dives signed [ stamped ] in a training log , time frame ??
Just a thought.
Also the cost of a OW course is way below what it should be, who wants to teach a course for "peanuts", OK, monkeys.

 

[Wibble]

DiveMASTERs need to be masters of diving as an entry qualification. They should know more than the bare minimum as is the case now. For a start their core skills should be to GUE Fundies standards. They should also have at least a working knowledge of decompression and extended diving, not least that they don’t show such ignorance when around impressionable students.

In short, the DiveMaster should be something we all look up to, not the dubious inexperienced low skills many of them have. It’s embarrassing to hear some of the dubious nonsense I’ve heard when they’re showing off to novices.

Needless to say, DiveMaster should be a pre-requisite to instructor status.

And no damn zero to hero courses. Diving takes time to perfect. Think of it as an apprenticeship.

 

[Wookie]

DiveMASTERs need to be masters of diving as an entry qualification. They should know more than the bare minimum as is the case now. For a start their core skills should be to GUE Fundies standards. They should also have at least a working knowledge of decompression and extended diving, not least that they don’t show such ignorance when around impressionable students.

In short, the DiveMaster should be something we all look up to, not the dubious inexperienced low skills many of them have.

Needless to say, DiveMaster should be a pre-requisite to instructor status.

And no damn zero to hero courses. Diving takes time to perfect. Think of it as an apprenticeship.

I was assured today that the PADI Jr Divemaster class is not a professional certification. You read it correctly. PADI Jr. Divemaster. Imagine meeting a 15 year old DM on the boat and having them tell you you’re doing it wrong.

 

[Centrals]

DiveMASTERs need to be masters of diving as an entry qualification. They should know more than the bare minimum as is the case now. For a start their core skills should be to GUE Fundies standards. They should also have at least a working knowledge of decompression and extended diving, not least that they don’t show such ignorance when around impressionable students.

In short, the DiveMaster should be something we all look up to, not the dubious inexperienced low skills many of them have.

Needless to say, DiveMaster should be a pre-requisite to instructor status.

And no damn zero to hero courses. Diving takes time to perfect. Think of it as an apprenticeship.

Different ball game.
Dive master duty covers more than diving skill that most divers could dream of including GUE Fundies trained divers.

 

[Scuba Client]

Training standards being too low is a perennial topic of discussion around here, along with routine violations of those standards that exist. The discussion most often centers around OW certification, but AOW and specialty courses are popular targets too, and even tech courses are not above criticism.

So, you get one wish. You can create a single new rule that will be universally followed, or you can choose to make everyone follow an existing rule that only certain agencies have or that individual instructors often disregard. You can choose something that will make diving safer, something that will bring in more people, something that will keep the bicycle-kicking morons in the sandy shallows where they won't mess up your dive-- whatever criteria are important to you. But no wishing for more wishes chicanery--pick one thing!

Break out the champagne glasses.
The answer is physical intelligence.

 

[scubadada]

I was assured today that the PADI Jr Divemaster class is not a professional certification. You read it correctly. PADI Jr. Divemaster. Imagine meeting a 15 year old DM on the boat and having them tell you you’re doing it wrong.

Surely, you are kidding. I could not find anything about this. I was on Grand Cayman one year where a parent wanted their young kid to be become a Master Scuba Diver in one visit. The kid revolted and said no way. A good decision. People are strange.

 

[NorCalDM]

I think this makes sense regarding number of dives required. What would you do to increase the "experience" required? I general, what other ways would you raise the bar on standards? PADI revised the DM course in 2010, just after I finished, removing a lot of the theory and adding some more practical stuff. That made sense to me. Now the instructor course includes that theory (so I read). What specific ideas do you have to improve the standards other than number of dives required? Types of dives, perhaps? Depths of dives?

I know "experience" is subjective but number of dives with a minimum number of accumulative hours underwater maybe. Experience could also be judged by verity of diving so boat, shore, cold water, warm water, salt or fresh. I would like a well rounded instructor as most getting certified are going to go on vacation and dive not to the local quarry or beach.

 

[RyanT]

I was assured today that the PADI Jr Divemaster class is not a professional certification. You read it correctly. PADI Jr. Divemaster.

.

I don't have the words.

To the OP's question, I would say "Time." Make the initial OW training course longer, maybe an intensive 6 week course with LOTS of confined water training, culminating with 10 open water training dives, that include a variety of conditions. For example, you shouldn't be able to do your check out dives in a quarry, never going below 30'.

 

[Wibble]

Surely, you are kidding. I could not find anything about this. I was on Grand Cayman one year where a parent wanted their young kid to be become a Master Scuba Diver in one visit. The kid revolted and said no way. A good decision. People are strange.

The main entry qualification for "Master" Scuba Diver is... a couple of thousand dollars for the courses. And then the avaricious b'stards charge you for the "card"...

Marketeers are a bunch of mendacious deceitful ... *** the rest of this sentence is deleted as this is a family show***

 

[Wibble]

Different ball game.
Dive master duty covers more than diving skill that most divers could dream of including GUE Fundies trained divers.

I said core skills of a Fundies diver - buoyancy, trim, finning (look, no hands)