Teaching quality AND quantity

[giovyledzep]

I'm a soon-to-be PADI instructor and I totally disagree with the low standards and procedures (students on the knees etc...).
Here, as probably anywhere else in the world, the instructors who are most praised by the dive shop owners are of course those who can squeeze as many courses/dives a day regardless of quality. On many occasion the same instructor has to squeeze in multiple DSD in a day, plus guiding dives later in the day, grossly sacrificing the attention that goes into the DSD training. There are no pool training sessions here, as they are considered a waste of time and money. We are even taught that that's what it means to be a good instructor, one who has a clear idea of what it means to do business.
This is very sad, especially considering that the duty of an instructor is to teach and advance the level of their students by all means possible, and not to satisfy the greed (or call it "business objectives") of their employers.

I have been researching alternative teaching methods such as UTD's and GUE's and been talking to instructors from those agencies. There is no question that the teaching quality is enormously higher, also considering quality/price ratio. However, I am often repeated the fact that training done in this way takes time, many many more hours and days than a usual PADI DSD or OW course and that the student-to-instructor ratios cannot be as loose.

My question is:
is this always the case or is there a way to relatively "speed up" and transfer some of the higher standards into PADI training? Does anyone here teach in a way that is both qualitatively efficient but doesn't get you fired because "your way of training is a waste of time and money"? Is there anywhere where one can learn more about adapting the better teaching techniques to this fast-paced, greed-driven environment? Or is it just a lost cause and in order to ensure a high level of training one has to switch agency?

Thank you

 

[Graeme Fraser]

Not sure why you're pursuing the PADI Instructor route since you seem to have such a low opinion of that particular agency and the Dive Centres associated with them.

Truth is, there are good PADI instructors and bad PADI instructors. The same applies to ALL agencies.

I would suggest you either put your efforts into becoming one of the good ones, or follow another path. If you feel your dive centre isn't giving you enough quality time with students, talk to them about it. If they won't listen, move on.

 

[TMHeimer]

Good questions. You mentioned there are no pool training sessions. Do you mean at shops in your area in general or just the shop where you are training? Are the 24 skills all taught in OW, and then the appropriate ones repeated in OW as if they were originally taught in the pool? I haven't heard of no pool sessions before.

 

[rabe]

A good instructor is a good instructor, regardless of the agency.
Same for a bad instructor.

I'm not an instructor (and I don't want to be one), but I have been in university education for years, and the same concept of education applies to everything.
You can teach a way of thinking to your students and let them understand that the 4 days of OW it's just the beginning: they need more than that and they need a constant education and constant training. With the right mindset, they can be better diver because they think in the right way...



Boy, I'm boring...

 

[giovyledzep]

Good questions. You mentioned there are no pool training sessions. Do you mean at shops in your area in general or just the shop where you are training? Are the 24 skills all taught in OW, and then the appropriate ones repeated in OW as if they were originally taught in the pool? I haven't heard of no pool sessions before.

With that I meant no pool sessions for DSD and OW students to get accustomed to equipment, weighting, skills etc... DM and IDC skills are done in the pool. I understand and don’t necessarily disagree with the reasons why booking and paying for external pool sessions can be avoided, but of course it does have a big impact on learning, especially at those very early stages where it’s easy to overlook things and create bad habits.

 

[giovyledzep]

A good instructor is a good instructor, regardless of the agency.
Same for a bad instructor.

I'm not an instructor (and I don't want to be one), but I have been in university education for years, and the same concept of education applies to everything.
You can teach a way of thinking to your students and let them understand that the 4 days of OW it's just the beginning: they need more than that and they need a constant education and constant training. With the right mindset, they can be better diver because they think in the right way...



Boy, I'm boring...

A good instructor can easily become a bad instructor if he’s forced to fight against the clock or face firing.

I understand your point but I daily deal with Master Scuba Divers who bolt to the surface, have seahorse trim, swim with their hands, stir up silt and are generally very poor divers, so clearly it isn’t just a matter of going past OW. And how could they be blamed? It’s the way they were trained.

 

[giovyledzep]

Not sure why you're pursuing the PADI Instructor route since you seem to have such a low opinion of that particular agency and the Dive Centres associated with them.

Truth is, there are good PADI instructors and bad PADI instructors. The same applies to ALL agencies.

I would suggest you either put your efforts into becoming one of the good ones, or follow another path. If you feel your dive centre isn't giving you enough quality time with students, talk to them about it. If they won't listen, move on.

That is the point of this thread.
Still having some time before becoming instructor I just want to know if it’s possible to find a good balance or if I should just change direction all together.

Of course you can be a great PADI Instructor, if you’re ALLOWED to and given the resources. But what if you’re not? Can you still make it work somehow and deliver good quality education to your students?
That’s my question for the instructors out there who care about their students’ education.

 

[rabe]

A good instructor can easily become a bad instructor if he’s forced to fight against the clock or face firing.

You cannot teach the right skills because of the lack of time (which is ridiculous, I totally agree), but you can teach them the right way to think and make them aware that they need more training, etc.
Make them aware of the lack of good teaching is the first step on the right direction.

I understand your point but I daily deal with Master Scuba Divers who bolt to the surface, have seahorse trim, swim with their hands, stir up silt and are generally very poor divers, so clearly it isn’t just a matter of going past OW. And how could they be blamed? It’s the way they were trained.

Agree with that: I constantly see """"Dive master"""" with 40 dives, no idea of basic scuba concepts (my favourite: with nitrox you have more bottom time because you use less gas) and zero skills.
It's a shame...
All you can do is fight your battles.

 

[wetb4igetinthewater]

@giovyledzep

You can always go independent. The interesting thing is, I found I needed less pool time when teaching neutrally buoyant. You have more organization skills to get that streamlined.

You can also do some skills dry to help them develop muscle memory. You could even go so far (don't laugh) to use buckets for mask/snorkel/breathing exercises Simple exercises for students not completely comfortable with having their faces in the water | Facebook

All that can help streamline your courses.

I really don't think you will have a problem. Look at SNSI's FB page for how they handle large classes. It can be done. Now I'm personally against high ratios due to the risk of not being able to control everyone (I'm a bit paranoid) but it is harder for a student who is properly weighted/trim to bolt to the surface than it is for someone on their knees and overweighted (as they can push off the bottom).

PS. You did violate PADI's code of conduct, but don't worry, they won't do anything as they want your professional dues and you to sell their courses/training materials/c-cards.

 

[CAPTAIN SINBAD]

I have spent a lot of time pondering over the exact same question. The problem is that training like the GUE, UTD format is really not a marketable business model. GUE is a non-profit, so teaching the world how to dive was never really their goal. They were all about sacrificing quantity for quality. UTD came about as a for-profit agency that relied mostly on training and they failed.

As an industry, scuba diving functions in the most bizarre way. Normally the more you offer, the higher the demand but scuba does not work that way. The lower the barrier of entry, the more potential customers for the sport. So profit is generally connected to lower levels of graduation for the diver. Not every PADI instructor will lower their standards in order to maximize profits but PADI and most mainstream agencies have written and enforced their standards in a manner where if any instructor wants to produce substandard students, they can.

Acceptable standard itself is open to debate here. Should a diver be able to hold an unassisted stop while being in horizontal trim before they get their Open Water certification? Or is that a skill that should be mandatory at the Advanced / Deep diving level? The way most scuba training happens, that is a skill that is introduced at the technical diving level and recreational divers with decades of diving experience struggle to maintain a decompression stop. Think about it. If the skills that are required for a GUE Fundies pass or a UTD Essentials pass were to become mandatory for Open Water divers then there will be so few recreational divers that dive shop as a business and diving as an industry would not exist.