Instructors Proficiency

[Rick Murchison]

Rick: it's quite obvious that you are the younger since your behavior (and your youthful appearance) gives you away everytime.

Har!
Growing old is mandatory... growing up is optional.
Ain't Neverland really under water?
Sure is for me...
Rick

 

[Cap335]

To be onest, I've been better but I won't whine. LOL


What additional training must a shop owner/rep have to prepare them for their QA role and who checks up on them?

The potential for conflicts of interest are just too great. Even if they're honest their judgement can easily be scewed by the pressure for numbers. I see the whole concept as seriously flawed. If anything, focing shop affiliation seems like it would stifle competition and be counter productive to quality. It's the old checks and balances thing.

The customers are the store owners Q/A if they are not happy they talk to the owner who takes it to the instructor,

Even most independent instructors end up having some type of relationship with a store.

Randy

 

[Scuba]

Do you think consumers would be interested in paying a little extra to be taught by a "top echelon" instructor? After all, they would have taken time away from making a living to get recertified or evaluated. And the instructor-trainers who tested them would have to be paid. shouldn't they be able to make this lost revenue and fee back somehow?

Yes.

SCUBA OW certification is marketed as a mere formality within the grasp of the majority of the general population. But within a good size market you will always find those who are willing to pay extra for quality. The PADI 5 Star Centers is a way to promote quality, as denoted by the star rating. It's marketing that attracts a segment of the consumer market. No need to discuss here peripheral issues, such a actual quality and price.

In regards to the sports enthusiast, someone who is or plans on becoming a regular participant, I would say you generally have a consumer group that is more knowledgable and more amenable to paying for quality that meets their needs. This category of diver will spend more money on equipment and instruction than the previous one, who is more likely to drop out or spend the money on vacation diving.

For success one needs a marriage of diving and business acumen.

On a different note, I don't think it would be a significant financial burden for the larger training agencies to assign a few QA inspectors to travel around the country dropping in on classes unexpectedly. This would be a step in the right direction, where instructor's defficient practices could be pointed out, noted, and an expectation of remediation communicated. While this is definitely not a solve all, it would serve to catch ingrained habits and inappropriate practices acquired since certification, as well as a useful way to provide personal tips for improvement. The notion of unannounced visits alone would encourage some instructors to habitually practice good behaviour. They know they may be evaluated at any time, even if in an informal manner, and their students queried in a manner much more effective than the current questionairs.

 

[CD_in_Chitown]

I think that its as much the agencies that push the "diving is safe and fun" for everyone image (anyone heard the "Hi I'm Patty" ads) that drives the "How much, how long?" customer mentality. I have met several folks around the office/neighborhood who know someone who learned to "SCUBA in one or two weekends." They think that this is the way it works and the expectation is there when they decide, "Hey I'm going to Florida in two weeks, it would be fun to SCUBA while I'm there" as MikeF illustrates.

OTOH, basic open water certification is just that, basic. You now know (or should know) how to plan, prepare, depart, execute, and return from a dive successfully. The standard for success, returning under your own power of course. And as a miracle of the dive-business marketing ploy there is seldom a time students are not reminded that in order to grow/progress they should continue their education. And to me, when I first heard that my mind immediately rejected it as sales ploy. The advertisers had already told me this class was all that I really needed to get going.

I like Scuba's idea of the travelling QA inspector, I think they ought to sign up as ow students and take a class to see what happens in real time. If only money grew on trees...

 

[Heffey]

I have experienced training with three scuba instructors and all three were quite different in there teaching styles and to some point even the content of their instruction, tough all of the instructors covered the basic required material and skills. One instructor was very technical, “just the facts Mam” kind of guy. The second was also facts oriented but liked to put some humor into his instruction. The last instructor was a people person. He was very focused his students enjoyment and comfort level. He covered all required elements but tried to keep things a little lighter than the other two. (I know this sounds like the three little pigs story)
My point is that I would hate to see any of these instructors have to dumb down to meet some minimum requirement recertification review.
Many of the posts I have read on ScubaBoard would lead me to believe that it is not that some instructors don’t know what to do; rather, they don’t do what they know. I don’t see how recertification would help this.
Jeffrey