In that case there are resourses in place to remove this instructor from the professional ranks. I encourage you to use these resources and make it happen.lundysd:
Community-based Instructor Evaluation?
- Thread starter lundysd
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What leads you to be so cynical? Instructors are people like anyone else. Most do their best. They all have different tempraments and personalities, different strengths and weaknesses. At our store, all OWD classes are team-taught. We try to match the instructor team to complement the strengths. We'll put an instructor who is good in the classroom and/or pool with an instructor who excells at the OW, etc.Walter:
I think that it is inflammatory to imply that most instructors are incompetant.
CatFishBob:
He said "not very good" not incompetant.
I agree.
Way too many do this to massage their ego. Others went through the quickie instructor factories and never really learned how to instruct. There was a time when you found yourself a mentor and went from there.
On the contrary, all SSI stores have a designated monitor, who's job it is to monitor the quality/ethics of the local instructors.lundysd:
All the agencies have a quality assurance/ethics board that will investigate any complaint, with the one requirement that they recieve the complaint in writing.
If you have a problem with an instructor, write to the agency. You will get a response. If your complaint is legitimate, they will take action.
The problem is that many people don't want knowlegable people reviewing the legitimacy and circumstances of their complaint. They'd rather post an anonymous torpedo on a website.
Al, you make a very convincing argument. The resources are in place for removing a truly bad instructor, i.e. one who would place other's safety below his own personal concerns. We as divers or dive professionals have to be willing to use those resources.
Yes. There is what he "said" and there is what he "meant". I stand by my response.Al Mialkovsky:
Thank you. We don't need more rules or different management. We need to use what we already have. If this instructor is truely as they claim then those complaining are as guilty as he is for spending time here instead of taking the necessary steps.Wilson:
OK, I'll have to take your word for it then. My ability to read minds and hearts is greatly impaired.CatFishBob:
Ever since the....incident:11:
CatFishBob:
Because in 23 years of diving and 20 years of teaching diving I've witnessed lots of classes and seen the results of even more. Few instructors do a good job. It's common for boat crews to correct mistakes before they result in accidents. It's common for boat crews to rescue divers. My personal record is 12 in one day, including one instructor. It's common for divers to need to dive with a DM to keep them safe on an easy dive.
Yes, most do their best. I never said they didn't try hard or teach in the way they thought was best. They do, but that's usually not very good. I don't know if it's inflamatory or not, but while Al is correct, I didn't say "incompetent" you are also right, I did imply it. I implied it because it's true. The majority of dive instructors are, in my opinion, incompetent. There are damned few I'd let teach anyone I care about.
CatFishBob:
True, but that's like having the fox guard the hen house. You have some ethical foxes, but most just like to eat chickens. As you said before, most instructors do their best. Why would a shop need to monitor them? Most of the pressure to cut corners comes from shops.
CatFishBob:
All well and good for those few who aren't doing their best, but most instructors, as I believe you will agree, do follow standards. They do teach exactly what and how their agency taught them to teach. It's the standards themselves that are lacking. The incompetent instructors are doing their jobs exactly as they've been led to believe is best. They aren't all, or even most, incompetent because of lack of ability or talent. They are incompetent because they are following inadequate standards written by agencies who are not overly concerned with quality dive training. Standards all too often seem to be written more by marketing staff than educators.
So, someone gets hurt and an agency may be reluctant to act on a given Instructor because it reflects on their inability to train them correctly to begin with? Or, you get rid of one and another pops up in his place due to the system they trained in. Tough analysis...what to do next?
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