Padi To Naui Crossover

[Mark_J]

Padi master diver all you do is get what a couple extra cards and apply for it, Naui master diver you actually learn something . Naui master divers know a lot more than a Padi Dive master if they had a good instructer .

Oh really?

NAUI Assistant Instructor (AI) requirements:

NAUI AI Requirements

General - Meet the requirements applying to all Leadership courses. (See “Policies Applying to Leadership Courses.”)
Materials - (See current guide to NAUI membership.)
Diver Certification - Certification as NAUI Master Scuba Diver and NAUI Scuba Rescue Diver or their equivalent. Divers with evidence of equivalent training and experience may be enrolled provided they pass the NAUI Master Scuba Diver written examination with a minimum score of 75%.
Experience - Have at least 20 logged open water scuba dives. Dives shall be varied in environment, depth and activities.


PADI Assistant Instructors Requirements:

PADI AI Requirements

PADI Divemaster rating or qualifying certification from another organization
Be at least 18 years old
60 logged dives (with experience in night, deep and navigation)
Proof of CPR and first aid training within the last 24 months

Looks like PADI requires three times the number of dives that NAUI does to achieve AI, one would think that would make the PADI AI a bit more experienced.

The Instructors determine the quality of training, not the organizations. Don't let me stop your PADI bashing though, carry on...

To the OP, your training with PADI will qualify you to take the NAUI written test, you'll only need to pass with 75% to qualify for the NAUI AI Certification.

 

[Walter]

Oh really?

Really. You respond to a statement about Master Diver with requirements for an entirely different (AI) certification. Also keep in mind with PADI the progression is DM - AI - I, while with NAUI the progression is AI - DM - I. You are comparing apples to oranges when you're responding to a statement about strawberries..........

 

[Mark_J]

I knew you would not miss another opportunity to bash PADI Walter, welcome to this thread...

Obviously NAUI thinks it's more important to have their AI's (who actually interact with students) have less experience than PADI who structures their AI certifications so that those interacting with students have more experience...

Personally, I think that any certification involving student instruction should require more experience, not less. That's just me though...

 

[Walter]

In what way did I say anything negative about PADI or any other agency? I didn't discuss the relative merits of either way of doing things, I merely pointed out that they are different. I kept my opinion completely to myself. You haven't, but I wouldn't consider your comments NAUI bashing.

 

[Mark_J]

Naui master divers know a lot more than a Padi Dive master if they had a good instructer.

Oh really?

Really

That looks like you're expressing a pretty derogatory opinion to me, but then maybe you meant something different.

I couldn't help but notice you skipped right over the fact that NAUI requires much less experience for their Assistant Instructors than PADI does. I'm sure you can attribute that to a mango or something...

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I knew you would not miss another opportunity to bash PADI Walter, welcome to this thread...

Obviously NAUI thinks it's more important to have their AI's (who actually interact with students) have less experience than PADI who structures their AI certifications so that those interacting with students have more experience...

Personally, I think that any certification involving student instruction should require more experience, not less. That's just me though...

I agree with you about the experience, but I believe Walter's point is that about the only thing in common between PADI "Master Diver" and NAUI "Master Diver" is the name.

PADI Master Diver is attained by taking a certain number of specialty classes. NAUI Master Diver is a pretty comprehensive course that focuses a great deal on the mechanics and physics of diving ... and frankly, the NAUI Master Diver exam is tough. Regardless of how many dives you have, if you don't work at it you won't pass the exam. And unless you pass the exam, you don't move into any leadership classes.

I have seen DM's and Instructors from other agencies fail the exam ... because despite their knowledge and diving experience, most agencies don't put the emphasis on diving physics and physiology that NAUI does ... they focus more on the "how" than on the "why" ... and if you come into the class thinking that it'll be a breeze because of your experience, you probably are in for a surprise.

To answer the OP's question ... you don't have to take the NAUI Master Diver course to go to AI, but you do have to pass the Master Diver exam. If your instructor feels you have the requisite knowledge and experience, he (or she) can opt to give you the exam as part of the AI class. If you pass the exam, you can then focus on the leadership skills for AI.

In any event, Master Diver certified divers are not allowed (by NAUI Standards and Procedures) to assist in teaching a class. To do that you must be at least an AI. If all you're doing is schlepping gear or some other physical activity, I don't see any standards violation ... but any teaching, demonstration, or evaluation activity must be conducted by someone properly certified in a NAUI Leadership course ... and that is AI and above.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)

 

[tedtim]

To swifty.

Instead of asking for advice here, I suggest that you go directly to the source. That is, ask NAUI directly. From the minimum amount of information you have stated in your original post, you will receive a variety of comments on SB. Unfortunately, this may lead to discussions on the relative merits of the various agencies and not deal with your question.

Yes there are many people here with much differences in their backgrounds. Check the Instructor's Panel forum under Basic Scuba Discussion. As an alternative, if you PM this type of question to one of the many Instructors on SB, they will probably answer you directly rather than have yet another one of these discussions get off track and not address your original question.

Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friennnnnnnnnnndddds?

(edit: obviously I posted this at the same time as Bob)

 

[Walter]

In what way? If I said a PADI Instructor could be expected to know more than a NAUI SCUBA Diver (what NAUI calls their OW cert), would you consider that to be derogatory to NAUI? I hope not, because they are vastly different certifications and can not be compared. The same is true of the PADI & NAUI Master Diver certifications. They are vastly different certifications.

I didn't skip over it. I pointed out if you want to compare them you should compare PADI's AI with NAUI's DM and PADI's DM with NAUI's AI.

So tell me please, why would you even bring the AI requirements into the discussion when the topic was the MD cert?

 

[Mark_J]

In what way? If I said a PADI Instructor could be expected to know more than a NAUI SCUBA Diver (what NAUI calls their OW cert), would you consider that to be derogatory to NAUI? I hope not, because they are vastly different certifications and can not be compared. The same is true of the PADI & NAUI Master Diver certifications. They are vastly different certifications.

I didn't skip over it. I pointed out if you want to compare them you should compare PADI's AI with NAUI's DM and PADI's DM with NAUI's AI.

So tell me please, why would you even bring the AI requirements into the discussion when the topic was the MD cert?

From the OP's first post;

I am currently helping out with teaching classes and want to cross certify, and get an AI cert..

Perhaps you just missed that part...

@swifty;

I would agree with tedtim and contact NAUI directly, however the link I posted from NAUI does say that you can simply take their written test, pass 75%of it and get your AI from them.

 

[MXGratefulDiver]

I couldn't help but notice you skipped right over the fact that NAUI requires much less experience for their Assistant Instructors than PADI does. I'm sure you can attribute that to a mango or something...

As has already been mentioned, PADI and NAUI use the same terms to mean different things.

A PADI DM is equivalent to a NAUI AI. A PADI AI is equivalent to a NAUI DM. Equivalence in this case refers to where along the leadership "chain" these terms are used ... not what they are required to learn and demonstrate in order to attain the certification level.

... Bob (Grateful Diver)