timakempton
Contributor
I don't believe that Thai Instructors are turned away in particular.
The issue is more of one of people that I call card collectors. By that I mean the diver that goes to a tropical location for 3 weeks holiday, does his OWD in the first week. Follows it up with a speciality, before the end of the week, say Enriched Air, then in week two he does AOW and another speciality. Then when he gets home he does a few more specialities over the rest of summer. Then during the winter he does an EFR. In the late spring he does his rescue diver. By now he has logged about 30-35 dives but almost all of them have been in supervised training situations, he gets in a few more dives as the water warms and by the time he is due for another holiday he has over 40 dives. He books himself in for another trip to his favourite tropical location and a Dive Master course. He offers his services to the dive school (where he did his OWD & AOW) last year as a assistant and as he is doing his Dive Master he logs another 20 dives over 3 weeks and by the time he finishes his trip he gets his Dive Master Certification. He logs a few more dives over the off season and then goes on holiday again the next year and works for the same school for a minimal wage assisting in training and taking newly certified divers on local dives after all he knows these waters pretty well now. He logs 30 dives on this trip and a few more after he gets home. By the time the next holiday season comes around he has completed his EFR Instructor and his magic 100 dives so he books himself in to become an instructor on his holiday this year.
So you tell me? Is this guy an instructor that you would employ to work in the cold water environs of southern Australia? He has logged maybe 120 dives, 95 of them in the waters where he first got his OWD of those 75 have been under supervision or in training conditions.
I don't doubt that he could teach the OWD course in the resort where he first qualified and he would certainly have developed a certain amount of experience. I just don't believe that qualifying this way was or is the intent of the PADI system.
I believe that you qualify and then you get some experience, then you do some specialities or AOW and then you get some more experience. You enjoy diving you dive in some different locations you have some adventures. You do the time. You do your rescue diver and your EFR along the way. Then when you have logged somewhere between 50 and 100 away from training just diving and enjoying the experience and getting experience of different things and different situations, you do your Master Scuba diver or Dive Master if you have decided to work in the industry. Then as Dive master you get more experience and then when you have maybe 200 250 dives away from Training you decide to become an instructor. That is what I believe is the intent of the system.
Thats my opinion, and I think that in Australia the industry is unlikely to employ the Card Collector but rather is looking for the guy or girl that has done it the way it was intended somebody with 300-500 dives and has been around and knows what to do when the *@$% hits the fan.
The issue is more of one of people that I call card collectors. By that I mean the diver that goes to a tropical location for 3 weeks holiday, does his OWD in the first week. Follows it up with a speciality, before the end of the week, say Enriched Air, then in week two he does AOW and another speciality. Then when he gets home he does a few more specialities over the rest of summer. Then during the winter he does an EFR. In the late spring he does his rescue diver. By now he has logged about 30-35 dives but almost all of them have been in supervised training situations, he gets in a few more dives as the water warms and by the time he is due for another holiday he has over 40 dives. He books himself in for another trip to his favourite tropical location and a Dive Master course. He offers his services to the dive school (where he did his OWD & AOW) last year as a assistant and as he is doing his Dive Master he logs another 20 dives over 3 weeks and by the time he finishes his trip he gets his Dive Master Certification. He logs a few more dives over the off season and then goes on holiday again the next year and works for the same school for a minimal wage assisting in training and taking newly certified divers on local dives after all he knows these waters pretty well now. He logs 30 dives on this trip and a few more after he gets home. By the time the next holiday season comes around he has completed his EFR Instructor and his magic 100 dives so he books himself in to become an instructor on his holiday this year.
So you tell me? Is this guy an instructor that you would employ to work in the cold water environs of southern Australia? He has logged maybe 120 dives, 95 of them in the waters where he first got his OWD of those 75 have been under supervision or in training conditions.
I don't doubt that he could teach the OWD course in the resort where he first qualified and he would certainly have developed a certain amount of experience. I just don't believe that qualifying this way was or is the intent of the PADI system.
I believe that you qualify and then you get some experience, then you do some specialities or AOW and then you get some more experience. You enjoy diving you dive in some different locations you have some adventures. You do the time. You do your rescue diver and your EFR along the way. Then when you have logged somewhere between 50 and 100 away from training just diving and enjoying the experience and getting experience of different things and different situations, you do your Master Scuba diver or Dive Master if you have decided to work in the industry. Then as Dive master you get more experience and then when you have maybe 200 250 dives away from Training you decide to become an instructor. That is what I believe is the intent of the system.
Thats my opinion, and I think that in Australia the industry is unlikely to employ the Card Collector but rather is looking for the guy or girl that has done it the way it was intended somebody with 300-500 dives and has been around and knows what to do when the *@$% hits the fan.
