PADI Assistant Instructor
As a PADI Assistant Instructor, you not only gain additional experience as a PADI Professional scuba diver, but you also start learning the PADI System of diver education. You can act as an instructional scuba assistant and assume limited teaching responsibilities. It’s a great way to gain experience in order to become a scuba instructor!
The PADI Assistant Instructor Course can be conducted by all Five Star Dive Shops and Resorts and Five Star Instructor Development Centers and Resorts.
The PADI Assistant Instructor course is the first portion of the PADI Instructor Development Course (IDC) and when followed by the PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) course and successful performance at the Instructor Examination (IE), leads to certification as a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor.
The Fun Part
Get mentored while gaining hands-on experience teaching students.
What You Learn
You build upon your abilities to organize and supervise scuba diving activities, while concentrating on developing teaching skills. You learn through:
- Lectures and presentations
- Confined water skill review and assessment, workshops and presentations
- Open water workshops, rescue assessment and candidate presentations
The PADI Assistant Instructor Course consists of these sections:
- Complete all independent learning sections online through PADI eLearning, or participate in the following sections during the AI Course:
b. General Standards and Procedures
c. Risk Management
d. Marketing Diving
e. Start Diving
f. Teaching PADI Specialty Diver Courses
g. Business of Diving – optional for in-class participation though strongly recommended
h. Keep Diving – optional for in-class participation though strongly recommended
i. How to Teach the Recreational Dive Planner (RDP) – required for crossover candidates; optional for PADI Members
- Participate in the following curriculum components:
b. Developing Knowledge Development Presentations
- Knowledge Development Teaching Presentation 1 and 2
- 4 Es Counseling Workshop 1
c. Teaching in Confined Water
- Skills Demonstrations Workshop
- Confined Water Teaching Presentation 1 and 2
d. Conducting Open Water Dives
- Open Water Teaching Presentation 1
- Rescue Exercise Workshop
- Present two knowledge development teaching presentations, scoring a minimum of 3.5 on at least one.
- Present two confined water teaching presentations, scoring a minimum of 3.4 on at least one.
- Present one integrated (two skills) open water teaching presentation, scoring a minimum of 3.4 on each skill.
- Perform all 24 dive skills in the Skill Evaluation, scoring a minimum of 82 total points, with no individual score below 3.
- Score 75 percent on the PADI Systems, Standards and Procedures Exam
- Complete the PADI Divemaster course – Diver Rescue assessment in open water.
What You Can Teach
In addition to the responsibilities and duties you already have as a PADI Divemaster, as a PADI Assistant Instructor you can:
- Teach academic presentations under the indirect supervision of a PADI Instructor
- During confined water dives, present initial skills training under the direct
- supervision of a PADI Instructor
- Evaluate Open Water Diver surface skills under the indirect supervision of a PADI Instructor
- Teach and certify PADI Peak Performance Buoyancy specialty under the direction of a PADI Instructor
- Teach Project AWARE Specialty courses
- Teach the AWARE Coral Reef Conservation specialty course
- Conduct PADI Discover Scuba Diving experiences in a pool or confined water
- Conduct PADI Seal Team AquaMissions
- Teach PADI Digital Underwater Photographer specialty courses under the direction of a PADI Instructor after earning the PADI Digital Underwater Photographer Specialty Instructor rating
The Learning Materials You Need
The PADI IDC crewpak includes all the materials needed to prepare for a PADI Assistant Instructor or PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor course. The Start up Instructor Training Pack in English Includes:
- Confined & Open Water Cue Cards
- Confined & Open Water Lesson Presentation Slate
- Adventures in Diving Instructor Cue Cards
- Rescue Diver Instructor Cue Cards
- Divemaster Instructor Cue Cards
- Open Water Diver Quizzes and Exams Booklet
- Rescue Diver final Exams Booklet
- Divemaster final Exams Booklet
- PADI’s Guide to Teaching manual w/Hologram
- Positive Approach Selling DVD
- Specialty Course Instructor Manual (Digital, multilingual version, E, DU, F, S)
- Open Water diver course PLG’s
Prerequisites
To be able to start the PADI Assistant Instructor course you must:
- Be a PADI Divemaster or qualifying certification from another certification organization
- Be at least 18 years old
- Have 60 logged dives, including night, deep, and navigation dives
- Have been a certified diver for at least 6 months
- Have CPR and First Aid Training within the last 24 months
- Be fit for diving and submit a Medical Statement signed by a physician within the last 12 months
- Want a fun and exciting career!
Your Next Adventure
Take the full Instructor Development Course or PADI IDC to become a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor so you can teach and certify PADI Open Water Divers.