In the scuba field, underwater instructors are the gatekeepers - you can't dive without getting certified, and certification comes only through instructors. How do you find the one who's best for your needs? When you set out to find an entry-level course for someone you wish to join you as a diver, or when you want to continue on with other courses yourself, the following guidelines will help you choose an instructor you can feel comfortable with.
Your instructor:
As a Person | During the Course | In the Water
As a Person, Your Instructor Should Be:
Caring, sensitive and patient
Because of the nature of the learning process, these are hallmarks of any good teacher. But in a recreational activity that also carries the risk of injury or death and involves complex skills, the ante is upped considerably. These qualities become essential to an effective instructor of students who must cope with the physical and mental stresses of diving.
Physically and mentally fit
In an activity in which the students are required to be physically and mentally fit, it is only reasonable to expect the instructor to be equally fit. This criterion goes beyond merely setting an example. Your instructor must be able to help you if you're in trouble. Specifically, an underwater instructor should not be in poor health or be under the influence of drugs or alcohol when teaching. This includes not being hungover.
Skilled
The true test of a diver or instructor is in open water. You should expect your instructor to be an extremely capable diver and completely at home in the water. Again, this is the person who will be helping you out of trouble if necessary.
Legal
You should ask the instructor to show you a current instructor certification and proof of insurance. These both expire each year. Any instructor worth considering should show you these with pride and be pleased you thought to ask. You can also call the instructor's certification association to confirm status. The instructor of any well recognized certification association that complies with the guidelines of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is worth considering. More important than which agency acronym is on your C-card will be your rapport with the individual instructor and the quality of the course.
Active
You want your instructor to be active in the field, not someone who teaches a class occasionally or does no diving other than while teaching. Instructors who go to seminars and conferences, participate in other diving activities or teach diving regularly and still dive for their own enjoyment are better informed, more up-to-date, more capable in the water and provide a better course.
Enthusiastic
You're involved in recreational scuba diving for the fun of it. Your instructor should approach it that way, too. Safety is important, but far too many instructors lose sight of the broader purpose of underwater instruction, which is to prepare you to enjoy scuba diving in open water and be safe while doing so.
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During the Course, Your Instructor Should:
Pay attention to detail
Good underwater instructors arrive early and stay late. Doing so helps class run more smoothly, provides instructors with time to prepare and to help students one-on-one. In addition, the seasoned instructor will be ready for the unexpected. A classic example is the night the instructor had already unloaded all the dive gear for the class when he was told that the pool had been drained that day. Because the instructor was prepared, his students received two classroom sessions that night and learned to be extremely good at assembling and adjusting their scuba units.
Use a teaching system
Educational systems make learning more effective. No modern instructor should be teaching without them. Included in such systems are texts and workbooks, instructor presentations from prepared outlines, audiovisual presentations, guided class discussions and practical skill work in the water. There are also several important forms that ensure both you and your instructor meet the educational, moral and legal responsibilities of the course. These include: medical forms, waivers, statements of understanding and training records. All of these forms should be filled out honestly, completely and with your instructor.
Communicate effectively
Underwater instructors must take care to use correct scuba terminology, avoid vulgarity and not talk down to students of any age. Also, instructors are well advised to avoid "sea stories," to keep personal opinions and beliefs about nondiving activities out of the instructional process and not to bring up personal problems during class time. The ability to say "I don't know, but will find out" keeps instructors from making foolish mistakes. The ability to admit to mistakes can also improve communication. Communication in a scuba course includes not only the spoken word, but also hand signals, writing on slates and body language. Your instructor should communicate clearly above water and below.
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In the Water, Your Instructor Should:
Maximize dive time
You learn to be a diver and become a better diver primarily by making open-water dives - the more the better. The required minimum for entry-level training (the open-water course) is four scuba dives. An instructor offering more open-water dives provides a more valuable course. Another approach is for an instructor to offer a continuing education course that emphasizes open-water dives immediately after the entry-level course.
Get wet
As soon as reasonably possible, underwater instructors should be in the water (pool and open water) with students - helping, correcting, encouraging, demonstrating and in general showing the students that instructors, too, can dive.
Deal with immediate concerns
Instructors should focus on the most important and immediate concerns of the students, such as breathing, moving and equalizing. Other concerns can be addressed later or be handled by text and audiovisual materials.
Make contact
One of the most valuable ways to communicate and for an instructor to encourage students, as well as measure student stress, is for the instructor to make physical contact with the student during water work, as with a hand on the arm. This is something that both student and instructor should become comfortable with so it will carry over to later diving, buddy-to-buddy.
Not force students
Instructors should never pressure students to perform a skill or activity they do not feel ready or comfortable doing; encourage or help, yes, but not force. Trying too hard or pushing too hard can lead to mistakes that can cause accidents.
Avoid traumatic transitions
Learning to dive in a warm, clear pool with sides and a shallow bottom while wearing no exposure protection is very different from jumping off a pitching boat in full scuba gear, including a protective suit and heavy weight belt, into deep water with limited visibility. This is a traumatic transition that can be reduced by using full open-water dive gear in the pool and making the first open-water dive as easy as possible with an easy entry.
Practice safe and responsible diving
A large part of underwater instruction is instilling safe and responsible diving habits in students. To do this, the instructor must set an example of such behavior during the class and when on personal dives. These habits range from consideration for the environment to use of proper equipment to following the same safe practices taught to students.
Emphasize fun
Above all else, the instructor and the students should enjoy the class as preparation for later enjoying scuba diving in open water.