@devon diver, I do not dispute a lot of that, but I'll quote the last two paragraphs:
If people are cynical of PADI training . . . quoting the old 'Put Another Dollar In' line, then perhaps they shouldn't have searched for the cheapest, crappiest training provider to "get a card". . . and should have searched for quality tuition that would have reflected a REAL value on investment . . . . Maybe. . .
PADI isn't a charity. It's a profit making business. It succeeded in making diving tuition cheap, convenient and affordable for a vast number of people (28 million certs issued).. and empowered people to develop dive centers in every desirable scuba location in the world .
I agree that many people do look for cheapo training. A PADI instructor friend of mine went to work in Thailand over the winter. He told me he was frustrated with the way the dive centres pushed instructors into delivering conveyor belt training, in order to cater to the gap-year types with limited funds. As I said in my post, the BSAC club model works very well, as our instructors are under no commercial pressure.
I do agree PADI has made diving cheap and affordable, but at whose expense? They have flooded the market with instructors, and this oversupply forces down wages. The average resort instructor earns a pittance.
My local dive school charges £395 for the open water course; this is about normal here. Typically there will be three students per course. The theory and pool is done over two days, each comprising 4 hours theory in the morning and 4 hours in the pool in the afternoon, therefore we need to allow 16 hours instructor pay and 8 hours DM pay.
For the open water sessions, again these are run over a weekend. Because of the Diving at Work Regulations, there must be a minimum of three staff to a group. This includes an instructor, a safety diver, and shore cover. I've just run a quick tally in Excel, and by the time they have deducted wages, entry fees, and air fills, they are left with the princely sum of £377.40. I have calculated this by only including the known costs; I have not attempted to estimate overheads, so from that £377.40, we have to deduct pool hire, building costs, equipment costs, insurance, course materials etc. If there is anything of that money left after paying for that lot, I'll swim naked across the training quarry.
On second thoughts, I'll retract that; there must be money left or they would be bankrupt. The reason there is money left is because the instructors are 'self-employed', which means they charge a fixed fee for each course. This means the owner does not have to pay (or more accurately, 'avoids paying') minimum wage. The safety diver and shore cover are unpaid volunteers from the loyal band of DMs and DM candidates, a saving of £417.60.
This is why I will reiterate my point that the Professional Association of Diving Instructors is nothing of the sort; it is nothing more than a business vehicle to skim money off the hard graft of its members. With regards to the people empowered to open dive centres, how is that the case? Before PADI, there were other agencies, operating as not-for-profit organisations to set training standards; all a dive centre owner should need then is the bricks and mortar and a business plan. I'll finish there, before people begin to think I am a bloody socialist.
LOL .
