Diver Recertification

[DCBC]

Instructors and Diving Leadership

Each year I renew my certification status as a diving instructor. I've been doing this for 38 years now and diving has changed a lot in this time frame. Certification agencies try to maintain the quality control of instruction to various degrees, but it is difficult to police the instructors, as to how updated they are. I suppose that the requirements change with the certification agency, but some ask that the instructor remain current by teaching/certifying divers annually, attending seminars, or developing themselves by taking additional training themselves. Other agencies may be more lenient.

Divers

At present, there is no re-certification for a diver and the C-Card is good for life. This applies to various levels of certification and includes specialty ratings.

What do you believe is required and feasible for each level of dive training?

 

[Jim Lapenta]

I'd like to see some guidelines for those who dive once a year or so. THose who are in the water every other weekend or even once a month are probably ok. The ones that scare me are the vacation divers who go on two dives once a year and are on the same boat as me doing a dive on the Grove because they just happened to get an advanced cert on whim 5 years before. Of course there are those coming out of certain OW classes who need recerted to begin with!

 

[ColinB]

As a relatively new diver (certified last June) I still clearly remember being shocked that the certification was lifetime. I agree with Jim that infrequent divers are the most likely to benefit from a recertification, but even regular divers could probably benefit from demonstrating some of the basic skills needed to dive safely, and for them, it could be something as simple as a single checkout dive ( I don't think a written test only would be sufficient). Obviously the recert process would have some costs associated, but to me it would be worth it.

 

[knotical]

Great question. Tough to answer (the best questions often are). It relates to your other question about personal freedom.

I'd support periodic re-testing on a changing subset of the more critical skills divers and instructors were tested on when certified at their highest level.

I'd like to see instructors re-tested annually and divers every two years. Of the two, re-testing us instructors is more important, since our ability impacts others more directly.

Testing could be shortened, but not eliminated, if divers/instructors presented evidence of having performed certain dives or taught certain classes since the last re-qualification. An option for divers could be a checkout dive after a long layoff.

Something like that might be nice, but it's just not practical. The bureaucracy to implement it could be huge. And it could be considered to impinge on personal choice.

 

[Firefyter]

I think a LOT of problems could be solved if there was more emphasis placed on turning out truly qualified instructors. There are way too many Zero to Hero DM's and Instructors out there, and it shows in the quality of divers that are hitting the water. I'm not talking about "Boot Camp", just make sure the instructors really know what they're doing and are able to perform the skills appropriately. Some of these guys scare me.....

 

[DCBC]

Great question. Tough to answer (the best questions often are). It relates to your other question about personal freedom.

I'd support periodic re-testing on a changing subset of the more critical skills divers and instructors were tested on when certified at their highest level.

I'd like to see instructors re-tested annually and divers every two years. Of the two, re-testing us instructors is more important, since our ability impacts others more directly.

Testing could be shortened, but not eliminated, if divers/instructors presented evidence of having performed certain dives or taught certain classes since the last re-qualification. An option for divers could be a checkout dive after a long layoff.

Something like that might be nice, but it's just not practical. The bureaucracy to implement it could be huge. And it could be considered to impinge on personal choice.

I think that lots of charter operators use certain levels of certification (AOW, Deep, Wreck, etc.) along with log book verification to "qualify" people for different types of dives (at least I started to do so when I ran a charter business). This would make the re-qualification process more acceptable to the public. Something like the "I'm not filling the tank until I see a C-Card" kinda thing.

I agree that the competence of instructor certification is something that's lacking (imo anyway). Physicians have a requirement to gain Mainpro credits yearly by reading publications and attending seminars, for example. This would be one area that coupled with additional training and/or teaching courses in other than OW that may be helpful.

 

[Cave Diver]

Those who teach others should probably have some sort of periodic review or evaluation. If nothing else it will help ensure they're not suffering from burnout, or short cutting classes just because they've grown tired of it and no longer providing adequate instruction.

Once someone is certified, I believe the responsibility is on them to maintain adequate proficiency. No one should be forced to recertify. At the same time, I do think that a dive op has the right to require a diver do a checkout dive with them to establish skill and proficiency level before allowing them to do a "big" dive and to refuse them service if they "fail" the checkout dive.

 

[ScubaFeenD]

I'm a big fan of the maintain a minimum number of dives per year system of assuring minimal dive competency. Of course, those dives would need to be at the max certification level of the diver to assure some minmal prevention of complacency. I feel like instead of having instructor evals showing that you've done dives should be enough. I mean lets face it, if you have a ton of certs doing a few skills won't really prove anything regarding planning, calculations, etc; being a great diver is so much more than that.

That being said, I dont want to see agencies charging a ton for yearly re-cert, because I could see them really cashing in on that type of setup (I'm still in awe that PADI hasn't figured out this money making system yet).

Regarding instructor quality. I don't know. It is really hard to go into diving knowing what to look for in an instructor, and I think it is equally harder on instructors to find genuinely interested students. I am all for rigorous standards and boot camp style training, but really I feel like I am in the minority. Most people don't care about diving well, and certainly don't take any of the risks seriously, which really strikes me as a tragedy. For instance, I met a guy in my class that has nitrox cert. I tried talking to him about it and it became clear that he had no idea about the nuances of nitrox and gas blending, etc. Now I dont know if that was because his instructor was bad, or if he didn't care to really understand what is going on, but I see it as a bigger and worse trend than just re-upping certs.

Usually the people who are good divers will be interested in assuring their skills stay sharp as long as they are diving. Others wont care, and just forcing increased requirements might keep them out of the sport entirely (for better or worse).

Wow, that totally turned into an aimless rant...my bad :shocked2:

 

[Firefyter]

Those who teach others should probably have some sort of periodic review or evaluation. If nothing else it will help ensure they're not suffering from burnout, or short cutting classes just because they've grown tired of it and no longer providing adequate instruction.

Once someone is certified, I believe the responsibility is on them to maintain adequate proficiency. No one should be forced to recertify. At the same time, I do think that a dive op has the [-]right[/-] responsibility to himself to require a diver do a checkout dive with them to establish skill and proficiency level before allowing them to do a "big" dive and to refuse them service if they "fail" the checkout dive.

Agree with all but that one little line, and I fixed that for ya

 

[DCBC]

I am all for rigorous standards and boot camp style training, but really I feel like I am in the minority.

I have to admit that I teach this way (longer course/higher standards). I suppose it's good to have people that teach to different degrees. Some people want an easy go of it and others seek a challenge. To each their own.