What us the accepted student/instructor ratio?

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GrumpyOldGuy

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I am doing my PADI O/W class after a long absence from diving. My class seems a bit big (15 students, 1 instructor + 2DM. Especially when on of the DM's breaks off to help a student who missed a session. Is this normal or am I being a prima donna?
 
10 students per each certified instructor with 4 additional students per each certified assistant.

the K
 
To help the "K" out here:

for confined or open water portions of the O/W course

8 to 1, with a max of 12 using two certified assitants. (the math being two extra students per cert'd assistant. Using more assistants does not change the max of 12 students)

Ages 10 to 11 have significantly smaller ratios.

I am not a Padi instructor any longer, so I may be out of date, but I don't believe so.
 
GrumpyOldGuy:
I am doing my PADI O/W class after a long absence from diving. My class seems a bit big (15 students, 1 instructor + 2DM. Especially when on of the DM's breaks off to help a student who missed a session. Is this normal or am I being a prima donna?

Your ratios are within standards but a group that big would be chaotic for the students and total mayhem for the staff. Chances are that you're spending a lot of time waiting around for something to happen and that when it's your turn you're probably feeling rushed. If you asked me, even if you split that group straight down the middle you'd still have two significantly sized classes to deal with. The biggest group I can remember assisting with (as a DM in that case) was 10 and it was a monster.

R..
 
Diver0001:
Your ratios are within standards but a group that big would be chaotic for the students and total mayhem for the staff.
In this case yes, I'm sure it's ridiculously chaotic.

However, in many classes (university courses, for example), this is a standard class size. Anywhere from 10-20 students per class is average. I've been working with a university program for the past few semesters and if you have a good instructor with good assistants, it isn't chaos. We do have the advantage of moving much slower and getting more done since class is a semester long vs. a week or two.

The main issue is whether or not the instructor and assistants know the concept of control.
 
I stand corrected. Steve R is correct.

From the PADI OW Key Standards:

"Student Diver-Instructor ratio: 8 students to 1 instructor (8:1) or 12
maximum with two certified assistants. *"

Mea Culpa . . .

the K
 
wow, thats amazing, when i did my OW it was 2:1, i didn't relise the class sizes could be so big. (i did a 3 day 'resort style' course but i feel that i got the same if not more than most people do out of their longer course (i had the written classwork beforehand)
[/hijack]
 
So you're saying you got more in 3 days than I did in an entire semester? ;) :54:
Just pickin' at ya. :)
 
From my newest digital instructor manual (recieved last month);

The maximum inwater ratio for confined water scuba training is 10 student divers per teaching status padi instructor, with a certified assistant required for each four additional students.

For open water training, 8 students per instructor, 10 with a certified assistant or 12 maximum with two certified assistants.

With 10 - 11 year old students, maximum 4 students per instructor in open water with maximum 2 ages 10 - 11.

The ratios in the op are within standards for confined water, unless both DMs were off with individual students (13-1)?
 
Standards allow those numbers. But that doesn't mean it should be that way. You're not being a prima donna. That's just way too many students to really learn anything. I typically teach 1-2 students, no more than 4 at a time.
 

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