Build the Perfect Certification Agency

[Diving Dubai]

I Like Akimbo's comments above ^^^^

My thoughts on course structure would be thus:

Entry Level Lite. This is primarily designed for resort divers (I know many here hate them but this is where the majority start IMHO) Basically it would be stripped down to all but the essential theory and some of the less likely skills removed (don doff BCD in water for instance) The cert for this would only qualify persons to dive in groups guided by an instructor or assistant instructor (for arguments sake) with a depth limit of say 15m in areas where there is a hard bottom not more than say 5m below it. The person would have to keep neutral +/- 1m and remain horizontal (ish) I would see it as somewhere between DSD and OW

Level 1:
Would teach Nitrox from the off, Drysuits Basic Rescue skills and basic DSMB. Although it would be a no deco cert, basic gas planning would be taught. Buoyancy control would be say +/- 0.75m whilst whilst performing skills The diver should also be able to come to a halt and remain in position over an object. Navigation would also be taught MAx depth say 20m but allowed to dive in water deeper than that. They'd also perform Frog and flutter kicks. There would be an allowance for the lite course to contribute to this course if doing the whole course, or by completing modules (practical and theroy) you could move from Lite to Full

Level 2 Would take everything one more level - Buoyancy would be tightened to say +/-0.5m, Skills polished, introduce back kicks, bring in decompression and more gas planning Adv Rescue and EFR - 40m depth better Nav using and carrying Ponies etc DSMB form mid water. You get the idea. Importantly there would be a requirement for a minimum amount of logged dive hours to be completed prior post entry Level. 30?

Level 3 Take Level 2 and refine it further, be able to plan and and lead a dive for a small group Learn Tides, charts, weather site selection and dive briefs. Move into Accelerated Deco tighter buoyancy +/-0.3m More advance rescue - i.e managing the incident and calling in support. Again minimum number of logged dive hours from L2 - 50?

L2 and L3 would require further class room time to extend theory . The idea is to not only focus on and polish skills but to be a more complete diver. a L2 would be able to sit an Assistant instructor course but to become a Guide and or Instructor you would need L3.

Certainly all training and certification would be audited - independent instructors would be welcome, However All Instructors would require a refresher course every 3 years to update them on changes and to ensure they could still do the job. Instructors would need to instruct to remain current, not receive a card for "status" then never practice.

Numbers given above are for example only.

 

[Subcooled]

GRADES
I would set as a target a unified scuba training framework that would allow all kinds of divers to be trained and assessed. Not everybody strives for perfection, while others might. Grade the courses from one to three (approved, good, excellent). Every course should actually have two grades: knowledge and skill. A diver should be offered opportunities to get a higher grade by getting reassessed after more mentoring and/or practice and/or paid instruction. More advanced courses would then require certain grades in select elementary courses.

PROPER BOOKS
There should be different books for children and for adults. There should also be more in-depth books for those who want them. Further, there are superficial treatments in many scuba manuals and courses. At advanced ("technical") diving level the references, either footnotes or endnotes, should be made to credible and verifiable sources. The training materials should be written by professionals. Diving physics chapters/books should be written by a physicist, and hyperbaric physiology should be explained by a specialist in the field. It would be enough to have one diving physics book and one diving physiology book and one diving psychology book and each course could cover select topics of these. Tautology would be eliminated.

FREEDOM OF CHOICE
The framework should also allow ideological choices: some want a tightly controlled unified curriculum and equipment configuration, others prefer a tightly controlled curriculum but allow for various equipment configurations (perhaps for some specific reason), while others still want academic freedom but unified equipment and proceduces. Some want academic freedom and free choice of equipment and procedures, mixed teams, and so on. These approaches should not require different books.

 

[Rhone Man]

Personally I believe that OW, AOW, Rescue, Decompression Procedures, and Nitrox should be combined back into Scuba 101. It is irrelevant if they never dive past 60' (yeah right), get into deco, or dive Nitrox. It is all about getting a complete understanding so they don’t feel like they are following rules blindly — or ask question on Scubaboard after a sleepless night like “Will I die because I missed my safety stop?”.

Tough to make money with that kind of intro level course. Might be a great agency, but it would be a poor one.

Plus I am great believer in resort courses. It comes back to "what is your objective". Mine would be to introduce the wonders of the underwater world to as many people as I could safely do so, and I think resort courses generally do that pretty effectively.

 

[g1138]

BSAC = British Sub-aqua Club - what's weird about that? How is it any more weird than TDI, IANTD, PADI, SSI, etc.?

BSAC is a club that offers structured courses that are internationally recognised and comply with European Committee for Standardisation requirements. You can pay for a course at various BSAC technical centres if you wish, but most the training is done by volunteers who have completed formal training and sat written and practical examinations to be able to teach. The fact they teach in this manner rather than being a money-making machine is to their credit.

innuendo.....think about it.
I knew the acronym, just making fun of it. I talked to a very skillful BSAC diver and that's essentially how he explained the process of certification to me.

I wasn't implying that it's a bad way of operation or that they're beneath other agencies.
The use of volunteers makes it seem more akin to mentoring/apprenticeship IMO.

 

[Rayallyn]

The only thing humans can agree on is to disagree. Some who goes through a very rigorous program is almost always going down play an easier certification program. Then the fight about money a shop who chooses the hardest of certification requirements will be losing customers. There has to be a compromise between extensive training and what is required to allow an individual to have enough knowledge and basic experience to dive safety. Having personally gone through military combat training years ago I can tell you that even with extensive training someone will eventually do something the jeopardize their own and maybe others safety.

 

[DivemasterDennis]

I think the most important aspect of any teaching program is the competence of the teacher, whether in 1st grade, coaching a football team, medical school, or a scuba certification class. An ideal agency would start with a good, standardized instructor certification program and require continuing education for their instructors, and periodic recertification throguh demostration of their compentence in the classroom and in the water. This does not mean instructors are not independent. It just means that they are competent and teaching in accordance with appropriate standards. That is essential.; We read so much about instructors who short cut classes, we readod criticism of dive3rs who are certified without being competent to take care of themselves. It all goes back to quality of instruction.
DivemasterDZennis

 

[Searcaigh]

I was not aware that SSI required a certain number of dives in order to advance to AOW, not a bad thing in my opinion, however I think it should be number of hours not number of dives, plus it would also make people pay more attention to logging dives accurately.

Likewise DMs should have minimum 100 hrs.

I agree with Akimbo and Diving Dubai's scenarios.

The only problem I found with BSAC though was the time it took to obtain the qualification due to the lack of instructors time (in my personal experience) when I lived in Riyadh, and I ended up abandoning that line of training and doing the PADI OW course.

 

[Akimbo]

Tough to make money with that kind of intro level course…

That is true as long as selling dive courses remains as passive a sales experience as unloading your groceries on a conveyor belt… thus the premise that the first course must be for dive shop owners and employees on how to explain the value of (sell) a complete and more expensive course.

Obviously I am not proposing an introductory “try before you buy” course for people who are happy diving with a baby sitter in warm benign conditions. Resort courses will never go away. It is a matter of recognizing that there are two different markets.

---------- Post added January 5th, 2015 at 09:23 AM ----------

Dive shops sell a range of equipment and quite a few have no problem pulling out the “safety card” to scare/upsell regulators that very few divers will ever be able to tell from those that cost half as much. Shops can and should still sell the crappy OW courses that are on the market today. That gives them the opportunity to explain valid comparisons between the quickie and complete courses. You don’t want to be selling “my course is better than the guy down the street” because that comes across as sour grapes.

 

[freewillie]

The problem with the hypothetical is for every point someone will disagree... Consensus will be an exercise in futility.

My family took me to a movie for my birthday. They chose The 100 Foot Journey. It's a great family movie about two competing restaurants across the street from each other. My daughter did some research and was reading reviews from viewers. There was something like 200 + favorable to excellent reviews. But, there were about 5 people who just hated the movie. The negative reviewers were just scathing in their dislike for the movie. Personally it was one of the best movies I have seen in a very long time. But there is no pleasing everybody.

I do like the PADI modular approach. Since most divers have limited time and funds it helps on both issues. But I do think the basics can be a little stronger with a few more dives before letting divers dive on their own. I was able to do it but remember some hesitation about having to dive without an instructor. Why not move the peak performance and underwater navigation requirements to OW requirements - or at least more emphasis on both before turning new students loose. After several experience dives you can always flesh out those skills as well.

I don't think you have to spend so much time that you are AOW and Rescue Diver level for basic recreational scuba skills right out of basic OW training. But I know some here are going to disagree with me. Kinda like the movie.

So, you can build a better agency but I doubt we would have consensus from 100% of a diving community that it fits everyone's opinions as to what an agency should do or how to govern.

 

[Edward3c]

The perfect dive agency!

The none diver wanting to learn to dive will want different things to someone whom has been through the process. Instructors want something different again.

So who is the perfect agency for?