Had my first student today

[tursiops]

OP, your profile says you are PADI certified. If you are a PADI DMT, what you describe is both a total violation of standards and of best practices. I AM trying to rain on your parade....you need to take this seriously and nor toss it off with "thanks for your input."

 

[NW Dive Dawg]

As a trainee divemaster I had my first student today and I took her through open water 2.

As much as I can totally appreciate your enthusiasm and obvious love and dedication to diving.....I think you really need to do a full self evaluation of both the PADI standards and your instructor..... You obviously have the passion and are fortunate that nothing went sideways on your dive today...

All in all..... it sounds like you have the "right stuff"...... Just please be careful and be strict with yourself and your instructor when it comes to standards.

PS...... Do you have professional liability insurance?

 

[Zef]

For reference of what others have mentioned with regards to standards violation, here are the PADI requirements for supervision during the Open Water Diver course.

Copied and pasted from pages 54 and 55 of the Open Water Diver Course Instructor guide from PADI's 2023 Instructor Manual (see full extract attached):

Supervision

Direct Supervision:

1. Do not leave student divers unattended, either at
the surface or underwater.

2. Instructor conducts:
• Initial skills training.
Exceptions:
• Assistant Instructors may conduct initial skills under direct
instructor supervision.
• Certified assistants may conduct advanced snorkeling skills
during Confined Water Dives 2, 3, 4 or 5.
• Final evaluation to verify skill mastery before
open water dives.
3. Instructor conducts and directly supervises all open
water dives.
Exceptions — instructor indirect supervision:
• Certified assistants supervising student divers during surface swims to
and from the entry-exit point and during navigational exercises, as well
as when remaining with the class when the instructor conducts a skill
such as an ascent or descent with a student or student team.
• Certified assistants guiding student divers (at a ratio of 2:1) on Dives 2-4
when exploring the dive site.
• Assistant Instructors evaluating dive flexible skills at the surface in open
water and conducting air pressure checks underwater.

PADI defines a certified assistant as follows (pg 17 of the 2023 Instructor Manual):
A certified assistant is a Teaching Status PADI Instructor, PADI Assistant Instructor or Active Status PADI Divemaster

As a Divemaster in training, you are not qualified to be interacting with students in the water and as others have pointed out, your instructor is in violation of PADI standards.

-Z

 

[KenGordon]

Thank you for your input, it is appreciated.

I guess you must be a Rescue Diver. Rather than piss about in the DM/Instructor/Course Director pyramid scheme join a club and do the IFC Instructor Foundation Course (IFC) (next round starts in September Events).

This skips being a dogs body for some dive shop and has a path to being able to teach that includes a load of real diving skills too.

As an Sports Diver equivalent with IFC (ADI SD aka assistant dive instructor sports diver here https://www.bsac.com/document/level...supervision-and-instructor-matrix-feb2022.pdf) you get to teach basic skills in a pool under direct supervision of an Open Water Instructor.

If you are a keen diver in the U.K. you ought to join a proper club, run by members for members and not as a captive set of customers for a dive shop Selling holidays and training.

Clubs, good ones anyway, treat regular divers as a valuable resource who fill boats and sustain diving. Instructors of all kinds are greatly valued too, especially to do the formal bits of training members.

 

[johndiver999]

Poor guy, only done a few dozen dives, rapidly moving up, sharing his excitement and accomplishments, only to learn that his instructor (who he probably trusts tremendously) is in gross violation of standards, is exercising very poor judgement and is subjecting everyone to huge liability should an accident occur.

I'm always amazed that more people don't get killed diving.

 

[Wibble]

And we wonder why there’s not more people posting about their enthusiasm as they develop.

Nope, pile in and criticise.

@JRK44 good on you.

 

[johndiver999]

I'm certainly not criticizing the OP, he is just a student who is being subject to an, apparently, pretty casual training program.

 

[ScubaWithTurk]

And we wonder why there’s not more people posting about their enthusiasm as they develop.

Nope, pile in and criticise.

To the OP, good on you.

It is not piling on and criticizing. It is letting someone who is training to become a dive pro know that the training they are receiving and the pro, who is supposed to be a mentor, is breaking standards.

I believe this to be very important information for them as they advance in their career. We tend to emulate our mentors and the OP should know that this behavior is terrible. They are a trainee and as such, don't really know any better. I mean, he could read the standards but I have been there before and it is easy to get caught up in the moment due to the excitement.

This is constructive criticism.

 

[tursiops]

And we wonder why there’s not more people posting about their enthusiasm as they develop.

Nope, pile in and criticise.

@JRK44 good on you.

Nobody is critiquing the OP himself about his actions or enthusiasm. The criticism is about his instructor, who sucks and should be expelled from PADI. If the OP is at fault, it is only in putting too much trust in an inept and poor instructor.

 

[Redtwo]

I am happy you got to experience this but I have serious concerns about your instructor. A DM, let alone a DMT, should never be conducting an OW course dive. Per the agency I teach for ,a DM (again, NOT a DMT) can "Supervise students while the instructor conducts a skill." This means if there is more than one student, the DM keeps an eye on the student(s) not currently doing a skill with the instructor.
Other than that, you are also allowed to "Accompany students under the direct supervision of an instructor during surface swims to and from entry and exit points, and during navigation exercises."

A DM should never be conducting skills in an OWC and certainly not a DMT.

You mentioned buoyancy is key for you but you then state the instructor was kneeling not far from you. If you and the student were both kneeling, I would suggest looking into training students neutrally buoyant and in trim. There are many resources out there as well as here on SB that talk about how to do that and why it is better than teaching on the knees, especially since we don't dive on our knees.

I am not trying to rain on your parade here. I understand your excitement but have to point out the major flaws as well as what I would consider massive standards violations by your instructor. This is meant to help you see where things are going wrong so that when you become an instructor, you do not make the same mistakes.

About the bold part. A DM is allowed to demonstrate skills and help a student learn them as along as an instructor has demonstrated the skill before and the instructor verifies the students ability to fulfill the skill afterwards. So i think you are being to strict here jn what a DM can or cannot do.