Should all instructors really have ALL their own equipment?

Please register or login

Welcome to ScubaBoard, the world's largest scuba diving community. Registration is not required to read the forums, but we encourage you to join. Joining has its benefits and enables you to participate in the discussions.

Benefits of registering include

  • Ability to post and comment on topics and discussions.
  • A Free photo gallery to share your dive photos with the world.
  • You can make this box go away

Joining is quick and easy. Log in or Register now!

I think that for initial instruction, it is beneficial to be able to demonstrate skills the same way the student will be doing them. There are very few cases where that makes any difference, but there are some. The most obvious is alternate air. If you are demonstrating using an Air II type of system and the student has a conventional octo, your demonstration will not do much good. The same is true for weight belt/integrated weights and removing replacing the scuba unit under water. Other than that, I don't think it matters.

Once you have gotten past the pool, variety can be helpful by extending the student's horizons and knowledge. When I do OW dives, I am no longer demonstrating. I use a back plate and wing with a long hose and bungeed alternate. I recently did the OW dives for a single student for whom I was not the pool instructor. When it came time for the alternate air exercise, he used his conventional octo as he had been taught to donate to me, and I used my long hose to donate to him. No problem, and his knowledge was extended.
 
Not necessarily an argument, just my view of why it is beneficial to the student to experience different gear sets. It also encourages the awareness factor which can never be stressed enough in diving.

A quick example: I have an Aqualung BCD and they use a circular, push button release on the shoulder straps versus the more frequent 2 tabs on the side release, (think backpack buckle) that most other BCD's use. During my rescue course was the first time I encountered the Aqualung buckle as I was using a different brand then. It took me extra time to figure out how to open the stupid buckle, time the victim would not have had if I had been in a real rescue scenario.

Sounds like a good learning experience.
 
Our shop requires STUDENTS own everything for any course except OW & EFR. But pros can use any shop stuff they want. Of course to take DM or instructor you must own it all because you already had to (unless you did continuing courses elsewhere).
 
Also:
Or is it, as has been stated before, simply and instructor without equipment is automatically labelled not serious enough to be a quality teacher? That question also leads to: why do you think that someone owning equipment is automatically more employable than someone who doesn't? Do you know their teaching style or experience simply based on the materials they own?

Think about it this way. Don't you think an instructor should be someone who is an avid diver? Shouldn't an instructor be someone who likes to dive enough to go out on his or her own with some frequency? If the only equipment the instructor has is borrowed from the shop for which he or she instructs, doesn't that imply that the instructor is not an avid diver but is rather someone who does the absolute minimum amount of diving needed to qualify for a job?
 
I think that for initial instruction, it is beneficial to be able to demonstrate skills the same way the student will be doing them. There are very few cases where that makes any difference, but there are some. The most obvious is alternate air. If you are demonstrating using an Air II type of system and the student has a conventional octo, your demonstration will not do much good. The same is true for weight belt/integrated weights and removing replacing the scuba unit under water. Other than that, I don't think it matters.

Once you have gotten past the pool, variety can be helpful by extending the student's horizons and knowledge. When I do OW dives, I am no longer demonstrating. I use a back plate and wing with a long hose and bungeed alternate. I recently did the OW dives for a single student for whom I was not the pool instructor. When it came time for the alternate air exercise, he used his conventional octo as he had been taught to donate to me, and I used my long hose to donate to him. No problem, and his knowledge was extended.

Now I'm starting to see the difference in equipment as being utilized as a learning aid. Ok, but is that the chicken or the egg? I must have my own equipment that my LDC may or may not have so that I may be able to teach my students about equipment that they may or may not be using? However I don't see that as being the primary reason ITC's are requiring prospective students to bring their own gear. The overall, recurring theme has still been 'seriousness' of a diver, not their KSA's.
 
Once you sit the Instructor course it will all become clear. It is a course in selling, not much more. In my own experience, there was far more actual dive training in the DM course than the Instructor course. Sure, there are parts of the Instructor course that deal with control and some other things not covered already but it was rather disappointing to me how much of it involved selling, either the next course or the next piece of equipment.

On the other hand, this is where many shops make there money so it isn't a huge surprise that it is a large focus of the course. I'm fortunate to have found a small shop that has some things for sale (more fins and masks than anything) if you need them, but our priority is training and fun diving. We don't have much more than a counter with a little space behind it so there's no room for retail stuff.

I agree that as a professional you should have your own set of gear. Though if a shop were to require I wear a specific brand I would walk the other way as that's just extortion if you already have a perfectly functional gear set. This sport is expensive enough with insurance, dues and all the other costs associated with being a pro.
 
I'm reading this thread from the student's point of view. It's nice if the instructor has gear that is similar to what I'm using because it makes it easier to follow demonstrations. What means the most to me as a student, though, is my instructor's level of interest and commitment to his or her craft. I'm probably going to feel better about that person if s/he just seems to have everything that's needed for a dive day, preferably including extras for contingencies. Someone who does that is showing me that s/he is probably more serious about the craft and the quality of my learning experience than is someone who shows up with just barely enough odds and ends that are acquired on an as-needed basis. It isn't that you can't have a brilliant instructor and excellent teaching under the latter circumstance -- it just seems somewhat less likely.
 
Its all about training....Having your own gear, and then having to replace it - Maybe its so you too can experience the real world screwing that will be done to each person that uses the shop that follows the standard LDS program, and know how to react to it.....:rofl3:
 
I personally think the idea that students will want to buy the brand of equipment the instructor uses is overblown. I also think most of the major brands are of comparable quality, so I have no problem at all wearing one brand of gear and directing students to another. I mentioned earlier that I wear a BP/W and a regulator set with a long hose and bungeed alternate when I conduct OW certification dives. I tell students why I prefer them. In doing that, I am talking about the style, not the brand. Back at the shop, if students are interested in what I wore, I have no trouble pointing to the ones the shop sells, even though it is a different brand. I would wear what the shops sells without hesitation, and I probably will before long. (I think some of it is better than what I have now, in fact.) I am pretty sure that the student does not even realize the brand is different.
 
I personally think the idea that students will want to buy the brand of equipment the instructor uses is overblown. I also think most of the major brands are of comparable quality, so I have no problem at all wearing one brand of gear and directing students to another. I mentioned earlier that I wear a BP/W and a regulator set with a long hose and bungeed alternate when I conduct OW certification dives. I tell students why I prefer them. In doing that, I am talking about the style, not the brand. Back at the shop, if students are interested in what I wore, I have no trouble pointing to the ones the shop sells, even though it is a different brand. I would wear what the shops sells without hesitation, and I probably will before long. (I think some of it is better than what I have now, in fact.) I am pretty sure that the student does not even realize the brand is different.

because your shop sell those options.... many still don't, and feel it a threat to those that aren't following the system....
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

Back
Top Bottom