PADI ASSISTANT INSTRUCTOR COURSE
The Instructor Development Course can be taken as a whole or split into an initial Assistant Instructor, (AI), course which is then followed, either later or straightaway, by an OWSI course.
To qualify as an AI, candidates need to complete the AI course over approximately four days. At the end of this course there are some exams conducted by your Course Director. Upon successful completion you can apply to PADI for membership as an AI.
As an Assistant Instructor you will be a dive educators who assists with, organizes and supervises knowledge development, confined water and open water activities. Assistant Instructors work in partnership with PADI Instructors to provide student divers with quality knowledge and skill development during PADI
programs. The teaching skills that Assistant Instructors develop during their
training allows them to independently conduct several PADI programs, and
with further training, they may also teach non-diving specialty courses,
the Emergency First Response course and DAN courses.
Beyond the responsibilities and duties they already have as PADI Divemasters,
Assistant Instructors are authorized to:
1. Present the academic elaboration for any PADI Diver course under the indirect supervision of a PADI Instructor.
2. Conduct open water surface skill evaluations during Open Water Diver course training dives under the indirect supervision of a PADI Instructor.
3. Teach and certify PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy Specialty Divers
4. Independently teach the Project AWARE (non-diving) Specialty course.
5. Independently conduct the Discover Scuba experience.
6. Teach and certify students in EFR after successful completion of an EFR Instructor course.
7. Teach and certify student divers in a non-diving specialty after successful completion of a Specialty Instructor Training course for that specialty
8. Teach and certify students in DAN oxygen and other courses after successful
completion of a DAN Instructor course
To become an OWSI there are a further 4 days of course work. After this candidates, when they feel ready, take an IE, organised and conducted by PADI. The IE’s are normally conducted over the two days of a weekend. After successful performance at the IE candidates can apply to PADI for membership as an instructor (OWSI).
As an Assistant Instructor you get an introduction to teaching techniques along with training and practise in teaching the courses AI’s can teach. Some people like to stop at this level for a while and build up experience with some of the ‘easier teaching’ before completing the rest of the IDC and the IE and becoming fully fledged Instructors.
There are lots of options and even more abbreviations to grasp so if you need any further explanations or help in deciding which path would be best for you please do not hesitate to contact me.
As a PADI Five Star IDC centre with a fulltime course director we can run Instructor and Assistant Instructor courses whenever we want to. We normally run the full week IDC’s to end the day before one of the ‘local’ IEs that are run by PADI at regular times and locations around the country. The part time AI and OWSI courses are usually run over the 4 weekends before these IE’s, the first two weekends for AI, the second two being for the OWSI course. (All 4 being the IDC). These courses can also be timetabled to suit individual requirements.
To enrol in a PADI AI course you need to be a PADI Divemaster or equivalent, be at least 18 years old, have a current medical, have a current CPR/First Aid qualification, and have been diving for at least 6 months and have logged at least 60 dives. There are crossover equivalents from other training organisations so if you are not PADI yet all is not lost!
Part of the exams on these courses will test your divemaster theory knowledge. This theory is not normally covered on the course. If you are a bit rusty we can timetable some extra classes to cover the material. These would need to be done before the start of a one week IDC but could be fitted in over a 4 weekend course.
The courses involve a fair amount of reading prior to starting so the sooner you book in advance the more time there is for study. There are also ‘homework’ assignments for each day of class so, especially on the one week course, don’t plan on lots of late night parties or nightshift work!
There are a number of costs associated with the Instructor process. These do add up so check which ones apply to your chosen career path in order that there are no surprises.
You will need to pay Scuba Training Ltd for the AI, or OWSI or IDC
One of the following :
AI £350 if you just do the AI course
OWSI £300 if you have done the AI course and want to carry on to OWSI
plus
You will need to pay PADI an IDC registration fee in order to enrol in one of my IDC’s £85.77
Plus one of the following
If you want to be an A.I. the annual instructor fee is £37.50p.
If you want to be an OWSI you have to take an IE the fee for which includes your first years instructor dues £370.12
(In the unlikely event of failing part of the IE you can apply and pay to be an AI as long as you completed the AI exams on your IDC. Retests for the IE are done on a pro rata basis)
Instructor candidates must also have the following materials.
rrp
Candidate workbook : £55.00
Instructor manual : £131.09
The Law and The Diving professional : £25.00
The Best of the Undersea Journal : £25.00
The Business of Diving : £21.59
Children and Diving : £20.66
Peak Performance Specialty outline : £12.41
Project AWARE Program Specialty Outline : £12.41
Aquatic Cue Cards Openwater Course Confined Water : £33.80
"Live as if you were to die tomorrow. Learn as if you were to live forever." - Mahatma Ghandi
