how many volunteer hours to complete your dive con or assist instr "internship"

[tursiops]

2014 Training Standards, page TS-5:
Time Period of Completion: All SSI programs are
required to be completed within 6 months of their
last academic/pool/confined water training. If it has
been more than 6 months, the Dive Center/ Instructor
will need to conduct a revaluation to determine if the
student is proficient in the academic and water skills
to continue. If it has been more than 12 months since
the start of the SSI program the student must repeat
a complete program.

You are getting screwed over. I would complain, demand immediate completion, and if there is any pushback then I'd make a formal complaint to SSI.

 

[rick00001967]

thx for that

this does not unfortunately give a guideline as to how long the "academic/pool/confined water training" should take. it only addresses a timeline to complete the "program" after that training is done. in other words, once your class, pool, and ow training is done, you have 1 year to write your exam and submit your completed paper work. other wise you have to start all over. this puts the responsibility on the student to get off their ass and write the final test ect. and i agree this is a good rule.
but is there anything in the standards that puts a time limit on the training center itself for how long certain programs should take ??

thx again for this info !

 

[tursiops]

thx for that

this does not unfortunately give a guideline as to how long the "academic/pool/confined water training" should take. it only addresses a timeline to complete the "program" after that training is done. in other words, once your class, pool, and ow training is done, you have 1 year to write your exam and submit your completed paper work. other wise you have to start all over. this puts the responsibility on the student to get off their ass and write the final test ect. and i agree this is a good rule.
but is there anything in the standards that puts a time limit on the training center itself for how long certain programs should take ??

thx again for this info !

Read the DiveCon section of the SSI Training Standards!

"Program Duration: The recommended hours for the
Dive Control Specialist program is 50.
The number of classes, hours and sessions per day are
set by the individual Instructor, based on student needs,
student ability and water conditions."

You are being much too passive, polite, and subservient. You are getting screwed over. Go stand up for yourself.

 

[rick00001967]

once again you are providing some solid info.
but this standard quoted still does not deal with the maximum time a program can take. it only gives a recommended number of hours. those 50 hrs could be spread out for who knows how long.
i think i t would be a great idea for ssi to put something in the standards that protects the student. put in a maximum duration that the dive center has to get it done. and if the trainer feels they would like to have the student do an "internship" type placement "after" the training is complete and before they actually work one on one with students then that is certainly their right. just because a student passes all the criteria does not necessarily mean they are 100% ready to take on classes solo.
i realize my type of case is probably rare, but still, it clearly points out a small flaw in the system.

that all being said......i have been discussing my case directly with ssi and we have worked out some kinks. they were fantastic to work with and i am happy with the outcome. i won't go into details but i am satisfied for now.

thank you to everyone for the support

 

[kmurray719]

once again you are providing some solid info.
but this standard quoted still does not deal with the maximum time a program can take. it only gives a recommended number of hours. those 50 hrs could be spread out for who knows how long.
i think i t would be a great idea for ssi to put something in the standards that protects the student. put in a maximum duration that the dive center has to get it done. and if the trainer feels they would like to have the student do an "internship" type placement "after" the training is complete and before they actually work one on one with students then that is certainly their right. just because a student passes all the criteria does not necessarily mean they are 100% ready to take on classes solo.
i realize my type of case is probably rare, but still, it clearly points out a small flaw in the system.

that all being said......i have been discussing my case directly with ssi and we have worked out some kinks. they were fantastic to work with and i am happy with the outcome. i won't go into details but i am satisfied for now.

thank you to everyone for the support

I think there's just too many situations for it to be reasonable for SSI to micromanage and have a set standard for every little piece of their courses. Honestly, I doubt the max length a shop can take to finish a course comes up enough as an issue for them to need a standard for it. I know a few people who took a REALLY long time to complete their dive guide or divecon certs because they were really lacking some of the people skills to be a successful dive pro. But if a shop is willing to work with someone who really wants that for themselves, and is willing to put in the work to do it, why should SSI have a say in how long they can do that for? I know a great instructor who took years to get to the point that he was competent enough in his people management skills to be an effective instructor, and the shop was willing to work with him for as long as he wanted and needed it so that he could get there. I understand that your situation is really frustrating, but I think it points much more to a flaw in the arrangement you had (or didn't) with the shop instead of a flaw with the SSI dive pro course structure.

 

[rick00001967]

good points. at least it is all worked out now. just gonna try and focus on moving forward