It all depends on the conditions you're diving in.
I started my diving in the UK, so low viz and cold water is the 'norm' for me. Now that I teach in the tropics, I run my classes on the basis that my trainee divers will learn the skills and procedures to dive anywhere... the only extra training they's need would be for drysuits etc.
Where I dive, due to typically low vis conditions, we emphasize many team concepts starting in OW class ... because if you manage to swim more than 2 or 3 meters from your dive buddy you may not see him again until you reach the surface.
What you're talking about is 'buddy skills', not team skills. Buddy skills are applicable anywhere - regardless of viz, current, temperature etc etc Team skills, by definition, are a very different animal. I've tried to illustrate the difference in a prior post.
We also tend to emphasize dive planning skills a bit more heavily than your typical recreational area might ... because we don't have divemasters here to lead people around. If you're gonna dive here, you need to know how to plan and execute your own dive without relying on someone else for assistance.
When I learnt to dive it was a case of OW + AOW in succession... followed by me and a buddy booking spaces on charter boats or shore diving... never a DM in sight. So I can understand what you are explaining here.
However, isn't this simply a requirement that should be addressed/taught to every OW diver? After all - an OW diver is expected to be trained to a level where they can safely dive independently without professional supervision.
As you say.... many 'resort areas' cannot see past their own ways of operation - assuming that their trainee divers will always have a DM to guide them on dives. This is technically wrong and it is also ignorant of diving procedures in other locations. IMHO, it is also short-changing trainee divers.
I don't see that any of that stuff has anything to do with DIR, specifically ... didn't you say you quoted it out of a PADI DSAT manual?
The DIR crowd use the concept of Team Skills slightly differently...and apply that to both recreational and technical diving. When someone mentions 'team skills', rather than 'buddy skills' in a post, I have found that it can often be a pre-cursor to a DIR vs PADI slanging match. No need for that here.
His point still stands. If it's a prerequisite for ANYTHING that means one of two things:
a) they hold it to impart some valuable skill or ability that equips one to succeed in the subsequent course.
b) it's a shameless and transparent ploy to get another PIC fee out of people.
Now, which would be more pejorative?
Personally, I feel it is a valuable course. I know that, as an instructor, I can impart a lot of knowledge and develop a lot of skill over the space of 5 dives. This is especially true for newbie divers. I can take someone from zero to diver in the space of 4 dives on an OW course.... give me another 5 dives with them and I'll make them a lot better and more confident.
We can see that there is a big gap between the OW and Rescue courses. AOW fills that gap sufficiently. What more could we do at that level?
With SSI, students can progress straight from OW to Rescue.... at first I thought this was a positive thing... but then we have to deal with rescue students whose basic diving skills are not sufficiently developed and we see too much task loading on drills such as lifting unresponsive divers to the surface.......
