PADI Instructor

Welcome to the PADI Instructor Development Course page.

PADI Instructor leads the diveHaving first learned to Scuba dive, this is probably your biggest step in the world of diving and you quite rightly want to pass your Instructor course first time. We’re here to help you do just that. We’ll be working together to ensure that you’re fully prepared to sit and successfully complete your PADI Instructor Examination (IE) with confidence. You’re probably thinking of doing this course because you’ve already reached the stage where you are confident in your own dive skills and abilities and you enjoy getting involved in training student divers.

You’ve probably helped teach students already as a PADI Assistant Instructor (AI) or PADI Divemaster (DM) and you’re getting frustrated that you don’t get the certification credits for all your work. Hey let’s be honest, that’s why most of us took the plunge!

That’s great, but what exactly does it all entail?

Well, there are two distinct phases on the route to becoming a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI). The first is the Instructor Development Course (IDC) which leads directly to the second phase, the Instructor Examination (IE) itself.

Getting students readyThe IDC is the bit you do with your local dive school (Dive Odyssea in this particular case). The IDC lasts for a minimum of four days but in the real world, you should be prepared to put in more time than this. The four day figure assumes that you have already reached the dizzy height of AI and that you are already God’s gift to classroom presentations! If you are then great; four days it is. If however you are a mere mortal like the rest of us, then this is probably an unrealistic time frame.

You want to give yourself the best possible chance of passing so if you are already an AI, then you will require an extra day or two to get your class presentation skills back up to speed before we start the IDC.

If you have the DM rating, then you will need to complete the PADI AI course before you too start the IDC. This can be taken as a ‘bolt on’ immediately before the IDC so don’t worry, it won’t stop you sitting your IE. Depending on how quickly you learn or how fast it all comes flooding back, (whichever applies) determines how long this period lasts. The IDC itself then moves on to providing you with the skills necessary to successfully give student presentations, demonstrations and briefings for confined water, open water as well as in the classroom.

There is a considerable amount of self study involved so be prepared for long days in both the classroom and the pool. Without this, you will not reach your goal. This will be the format for whichever dive centre you choose to complete your IDC at. You remember the amount of effort required to complete your current qualifications? Welcome back!! Have we put you off yet? No? Good. The IDC intends to pull together all the skills required for both the DM and AI courses and then polish them up ready for you to be unleashed on the IE and then poor unsuspecting student divers thereafter! From 2009 you must also become an Emergency First Response (EFR) Instructor which will be included in your IDC unless of course you already hold that particular qualification.

That completes your IE and qualifies you as a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. You can now teach courses from Discover Scuba Diving up to and including PADI Divemaster along with everything in between.  This is where you can, should you choose to, earn a living as a PADI Diving Instructor anywhere in the world.

Congratulations. You’re a PADI Diving Instructor; you earned it, you deserve it!

But there’s more!

You now have the opportunity to immediately complete PADI Specialty Instructor courses such as Dry Suit, Deep, Wreck and Enriched Air etc. The choice is yours. The more qualifications you have, the more employable you are likely to be. Obviously the more you chose to do then the greater the time frame required to do it, but what an opportunity.