By Taylor Watchel, PADI® Product Marketing Specialist
If you’re a PADI Divemaster, the time has never been better to continue your journey to become a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. The revised IDC has made obtaining your instructor-level rating more accessible than ever, with additional languages, increased independent study and focused practical workshops.
Teaching scuba diving allows you to share your love of the aquatic world with others while doing what you enjoy – being in, around and under water. PADI Open Water Scuba Instructors are the most sought-after dive professionals around the world because they’ve completed the program that sets the standard for training dive professionals.
Are you ready to join this community of elite PADI Pros?
Teaching scuba diving allows you to share your love of the aquatic world with others while doing what you enjoy — being in, around and under water.
To get started, find a PADI Five Star Career Development Center or Instructor Development Center and enroll in an upcoming IDC. Your PADI Course Director will make sure you receive the materials you need to begin your course.
Start studying right away with IDC eLearning and use the additional digital materials for reference as you work through the curriculum. You can leverage these materials before, during and after course completion.
When you meet with your Course Director, you’ll participate in hands-on workshops and group discussions that will expand your awareness of what it takes to be a dive professional, not just when teaching, but also when supervising divers. Even if teaching scuba diving full-time isn’t your goal, you’ll be better informed and more confident when you do work with divers, either in training or during any diving activities. The PADI IDC prepares you to Think Like an Instructor.
Most dive professionals complete the entire IDC and go on to attend an Instructor Examination (IE), which is the final step to earning a PADI Instructor certification. But if you don’t think you’re ready to take on teaching, no worries – taking just the Assistant Instructor (AI) course opens up more opportunities to teach and assist. During the AI course (or IDC), you become familiar with and qualified to teach the revised Project AWARE® Specialty course and the Peak Performance Buoyancy course – both courses all divers should take. You can gain experience as an AI and can go on to complete the OWSI program later to become an instructor.
The PADI Instructor rating is earned through hard work and commitment. In return, you’re rewarded with a job that lets you share incredible underwater adventures with others – transforming their lives.
A version of the article originally appeared in the 4th Quarter 2019 edition of The Undersea Journal.
