Qualifications of a DM

[kmarks]

I think maybe something I'd like to see a little more of, which might help both those who are in it "for the love," and those who want to learn, is dive-tutoring. At minimum, no middle-man is taking a cut. Something I might do when I am more experienced though, is offer nearly-free tutoring, for just the cost of my expenses like tank-fills.

You're going to need to make sure you are legally squared away with very good insurance if you want to do this. If you take anything at all in exchange for instruction, even just what you call tutoring in exchange for tank fills, you are working in a professional capacity. If you are doing this outside of the protection of a training agency or shop and without some amazing personal liability insurance, you're going to get hosed if a student so much as gets inner ear barotrauma.

 

[Lorenzoid]

It's interesting how much of this thread focuses on just one function of the DM, guiding tourist dives on tropical boats. I DM'd for a year and a half (very part time) and never did this. Around here, DMs are critical for safety in classes. Occasionally they'll guide divers new to the area.

The last class I taught had very low viz from 0 to 20 feet, low viz to 30 feet, and 25 foot viz deeper. Three students, me as instructor, another instructor acting as DM, and a DM candidate. The DM was critical to keeping track of each student as we moved through the murk to deeper water. My DMC was awesome as well, herding sheep from behind.

Similarly, if one student bolts for the surface, the DM either intervenes or brings the rest of the group up with him. Or if one student can't continue, they can be taken to shore by the DM.

I know little about the dive pro hierarchy, but I would have assumed the diver-herding and safety diver duties you described would be done by someone titled "assistant instructor."

 

[Celt]

Diving is no different than any other job, the people who are paying good money will get the best and those paying peanuts will get monkeys.

 

[boulderjohn]

I know little about the dive pro hierarchy, but I would have assumed the diver-herding and safety diver duties you described would be done by someone titled "assistant instructor."

The dive shop where I first worked as a DM decided that it would only use assistant instructors in that role, so all of us DMs had to get the AI certification. The reason for it was the DMs role was a bit too lowly. They had almost no function in a class other than make sure no one drowned. An AI could instead perform instruction-related duties that made the class more efficient, allowing more work to be done in less time.

 

[kmarks]

I know little about the dive pro hierarchy, but I would have assumed the diver-herding and safety diver duties you described would be done by someone titled "assistant instructor."

In the same vein as there is such a thing as a Master Diver and that is not related to Dive Master (except that all Dive Masters are Master Divers), in SSI, there is a difference between an Assistant Instructor and an Instructor Assistant.

Assistant Instructors can teach and issue certifications for Try Scuba, Scuba Skills Update, and Perfect Buoyancy and qualify as an instructor for about a dozen other specialties.

Dive Masters can serve as Instructor Assistants, which means diver-herding, increasing ratios, serving as a dive buddy, and leading no more than two OW students in the discovery portion of open water dives 3 and 4 while under the direct supervision of an open water instructor.

It would be nice if SSI (and the dive industry as a whole) had decided to use some combination of the other 200,000 words available in the English language instead of just swapping the order of dive and master or instructor and assistant.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

In the same vein as there is such a thing as a Master Diver and that is not related to Dive Master (except that all Dive Masters are Master Divers), in SSI, there is a difference between an Assistant Instructor and an Instructor Assistant. Assistant Instructors can teach and issue certifications for Try Scuba, Scuba Skills Update, and Perfect Buoyancy and qualify as an instructor for about a dozen other specialties. Dive Masters can serve as Instructor Assistants, which means diver-herding, increasing ratios, serving as a dive buddy, and leading no more than two OW students in the discovery portion of open water dives 3 and 4 while under the direct supervision of an open water instructor. It would be nice if SSI (and the dive industry as a whole) had decided to use some combination of the other 200,000 words available in the English language instead of just swapping the order of dive and master or instructor and assistant.

In PADI, not all Divemasters are Master Divers. (Only those that paid for 5 specialties.) The only specialty card I hold is Nitrox, though I can issue them for Dry Suit, Deep, etc., based on experience.

 

[Seaweed Doc]

I know little about the dive pro hierarchy, but I would have assumed the diver-herding and safety diver duties you described would be done by someone titled "assistant instructor."

I think I see what you're getting at: The DM is "assisting" the instructor so why aren't they an Assistant Instructor? It's a little like American academics: An Assistant Professor isn't really assisting another professor.

The duties that Assistant Instructors add, and their training requirements, really focus on the teaching function.

On the other hand, 7 of the 14 "Divemaster Duties" described in the PADI Instructor manual are around assisting with classes. Another 6 are specialty things (like teaching Skin Diving) that a DM can do alone. The 14th is "accompany certified PADI SCUBA divers on additional dives." That one is a little ridiculous; any certified diver can certainly "accompany" any other certified diver. More important is what's not said: The DM isn't "guiding" or "leading" the certified divers.

(On the other hand, the DM can "Guide Open Water Diver course students on the tour portion of Open Water Dives 2, 3 and 4 at a 2:1 ratio, under the instructor’s indirect supervision.")

They can also supervise other students while the instructor is working with one, or during surface swims and navigational exercises.

Assistant Instructor really adds teaching functions, not safety or observation functions.

 

[kmarks]

In PADI, not all Divemasters are Master Divers. (Only those that paid for 5 specialties.) The only specialty card I hold is Nitrox, though I can issue them for Dry Suit, Deep, etc., based on experience.

I guess you could actually get away with not being a master diver in SSI, too. Master Diver requires 50 dives and 5 specialty certifications, including Diver Stress and Rescue. Dive Master requires 60 dives, Science of Diving and Dive Guide, which requires Diver Stress and Rescue, Deep Diving, Navigation, and Night and Limited Visibility. But you can also just show proof of experience dives for Deep, Nav, and Night (I don't have certification in Night), so I guess you could just get away with having only DSR, DG, and SoD. That would make you an Adventure Diver, not even Advanced Open Water.

 

[Edward3c]

I think maybe something I'd like to see a little more of, which might help both those who are in it "for the love," and those who want to learn, is dive-tutoring. At minimum, no middle-man is taking a cut. Something I might do when I am more experienced though, is offer nearly-free tutoring, for just the cost of my expenses like tank-fills.

I don’t know what your liability laws are where you live, but in the U.K. teaching scuba without insurance would be very foolish. Anything over expenses puts the instructor under the Diving at Work Regulations and, possibly, attracts Inland Revenue interest.
A number of commercial instructors i.e. PADI, SSI have been jailed following incidents.

 

[Capt. Bas]

Diving is no different than any other job, the people who are paying good money will get the best and those paying peanuts will get monkeys.

Maybe a bit depending on the situation I think.
I'm diving in a dive club and the attached dive school is a foundation and all the board members, instructors and DM's are doing it at a purely voluntary basis as a hobby with the intention to "deliver" proper divers and if it takes 1 or 2 pool or openwater sessions extra thats not a problem.
This is also one of the reasons I decided to go for my DM rating and maybe later AI, (going further is at the moment not a real option as my working schedule makes it impossible to complete a complete course with a trainee)

If you have to do it for a living and producing "divers" is a business model paying a bit extra will most likely attract a potential better qualified instructor/DM team.

As I'm in shipping the term pay peanuts get monkeys is a very familiar term and fully correct. Better pay a bit extra for a crewmember with higher qualifications as it will bring money instead of costing money at the end of the year.