PADI Instructor Training

Because scuba diving is one sport that carries a risk of injury or death arising from carelessness, the recreational industry requires divers to maintain one or more certifications before they can rent equipment or sign up for specialty dives. The professionals who train divers must undergo rigorous training of their own, demonstrating their skills not just at teaching, but at managing emergencies and sharing complicated information.

  1. PADI

    • The Professional Association of Diving Instructors is one of the largest and most respected dive-training organizations in the world. PADI certifies divers from entry-level snorkeling through the top-ranked "course director." There are more than 135,000 PADI professionals currently in service and more than 3,500 PADI-affiliated dive shops worldwide.

    Instructor Levels

    • PADI offers several grades of instructor-level certification. The entry-level certification grade is "assistant instructor." These professionals work under the general supervision of an open-water scuba instructor, teaching the classroom parts and working with instructors on confined-water training dives. The top-end certification is "course director," which can teach just about anything, including other instructor courses. Between these poles, there are specialty instructors, master scuba diver instructors, staff instructors and master instructors.

    Eligibility

    • To be eligible for assistant instructor training, candidates must be certified dive-masters aged 18 or older and certified as a diver for more than six months. Additionally, the candidate must demonstrate 60 logged dives, including a deep dive, a navigation dive and a night dive. Applicants must have had CPR and first-aid training within the prior 24 months, and must supply a physician-signed form attesting to the candidate's overall health to engage in scuba diving.

    Why Certify?

    • Certification as a PADI instructor takes a considerable investment in equipment, training costs and logged dive time. However, for divers who enjoy showing the ropes to those new to the sport, instructor certification can be a meaningful way of deepening their knowledge of diving while meeting new divers and sharing in the often tight-knit community of local divers.

    Career Outlook

    • Although some dive shops may compensate assistant instructors in various ways, it is difficult to make a living as a scuba instructor except as a full-time instructor at a high-volume dive shop. Instructor training is a branch of professional diving (PADI distinguishes between recreational and professional diving) and as such, may make instructors more marketable in dive-related industries like deep-sea petroleum exploration or search-and-rescue squads.