(Question for Instructors)Time in confined water OWD course

[guille.corleone]

so more news!!

I talk to the Manager about I was feeling that I hadn't enough time to do a proper course. The answer that tell me is:"

"This is a Resort where the clients came for one or two weeks, they are on holiday and they don't want to spend all the time in the pool, they just want to say that they are certificated divers back home. You don't need to explain why or the reason of the exercise, just make it, they copy and done."

So with this I just close the topic.

 

[American Digger In Europe]

so more news!!

I talk to the Manager about I was feeling that I hadn't enough time to do a proper course. The answer that tell me is:"

"This is a Resort where the clients came for one or two weeks, they are on holiday and they don't want to spend all the time in the pool, they just want to say that they are certificated divers back home. You don't need to explain why or the reason of the exercise, just make it, they copy and done."

So with this I just close the topic.

And this is the primary reason I see so many dangerous divers that are "certified" by resort areas.

 

[michael-fisch]

We teach six confined water sessions (including snorkelling). With an average class of 4-6 divers, each session takes between 3-4 hours, including dive briefings and debriefings. Two hours for ALL 5 sessions? No way!

As an instructor you may end up considering it to be a form of prostitution, but with 2 hours for ALL 5 sessions you are a cheap hooker!
Get a little bit of class, and find another better dive shop to hook for. You are never going to be happy staying where you are, and finding another dive shop willing to employ you isn't going to be easy after they find out just how low you were willing to sink with your current employer.
What are you going to tell yourself, or the relatives, of a former student who died underwater shortly after passing one of your classes?

Quit, eat a can of tomato n Rice soup a day, sleep on the streets / under bridges if you have to, untill you can find a real divestore that makes you proud to work for them.

Michael

 

[American Digger In Europe]

As an instructor you may end up considering it to be a form of prostitution, but with 2 hours for ALL 5 sessions you are a cheap hooker!
Get a little bit of class, and find another better dive shop to hook for. You are never going to be happy staying where you are, and finding another dive shop willing to employ you isn't going to be easy after they find out just how low you were willing to sink with your current employer.
What are you going to tell yourself, or the relatives, of a former student who died underwater shortly after passing one of your classes?

Quit, eat a can of tomato n Rice soup a day, sleep on the streets / under bridges if you have to, untill you can find a real divestore that makes you proud to work for them.

Michael

I think you might have misread my post Michael. The OWD classes at my dive center on average takes 3-4 hours for EACH session. The owner of our shop is an SSI Instructor Certifier who demands nothing short of excellence from his instructors and our students. I agree with your assessment that "with 2 hours for ALL 5 sessions you are a cheap hooker!". SSI Instructors have both a moral and legal obligation to teach to strict SSI Standards and at my dive center we adhere to those standards.

 

[michael-fisch]

I didn't misread your post, You just stated the facts much clearer than anybody else. I was in no way alluding to you or your teaching standards, you are doing it the way it should be done.

Michael

 

[anchochile]

My NAUI open water course had roughly 15-16 hours of pool time (7 sessions of 2-3 hrs each). I wouldn't have wanted any less - we had time to drill all skills multiple times, plus a good 20-30 minutes at the end of each section for "free swim" in the deep end to practice buoyancy and get used to the the sensation of being on SCUBA.

 

[JackD342]

My NAUI open water course had roughly 15-16 hours of pool time (7 sessions of 2-3 hrs each). I wouldn't have wanted any less - we had time to drill all skills multiple times, plus a good 20-30 minutes at the end of each section for "free swim" in the deep end to practice buoyancy and get used to the the sensation of being on SCUBA.

Sounds like it made you well prepared. Sadly, the economics of what you describe suggest either you paid above market price for the course, or the water and/or staff were very cheap, or even free.