The first rung on the SAA Instructor ladder is to do the Assistant Instructor course. It is held over two days, normally at a school in Birmingham, but I guess it could be anywhere with a classroom and a pool. For my course, I travelled to the Archbishop Iseley school in Birmingham.

The course is well divided, mixing presentations by Instructors with small syndicate groups exploring teaching skills. My group consisted of six trainees and two instructors, the other groups were of a similar size.

We started the first session being asked to describe a hidden object until the other members of the group could either draw it or say what it was. Some had easy objects - a reg mouthpiece cover, others had harder objects - a gate catch for instance. This was to show us how much easier it was to 'Show and Tell' rather than just 'Tell'.

Next up was a brief presentation. We were given a diving related subject and had five minutes to prepare a ten minute lecture - mine was on the Divers Watch, others had masks, emergency cylinders, fins etc. I am quite confident as a speaker and can think on my feet so found this quite enjoyable. Clearly others were not so confident and visibly shook with fear!

Our second formal leture was on Presentation skills and the various media that were available to us such as Video, OHP etc. The various pros and cons were discussed - all have their place it seems. The afternoon session was more of the same, discussions, presentations etc. Mine was the ABC of resuscitation, others had BCDs, Filling an Emergency Cylinder and so on. Finally, we were given our homework - to prepare a 20 minute lecture on a subject given at random. Mine was Underwater Search Techniques. Others included Boat Safety, Navigation, Avoiding DCI etc. Also we were given a number of dives to plan - fairly straightforward single dives using the Buhlmann tables.

Sunday morning came around too quickly, but luckily we weren't starting until 10am. My lecture was scheduled last so I sat through five others, each presented in a different style, some using examples and getting us up to see how stuff worked - taking bearings, inflating jackets and so on. Then it was my turn. I talked for about 10 minutes on the various techniques, then marched everyone outside to try it for real. I had bought two small weights, a reel and a length of climbing rope. I demonstrated the circular search first, followed by the boat drag. Everyone seemed to enjoy it, even the assessors. Afterwards, we returned to the classroom and were given a debrief and comments by our assessors. Mostly they were favourable, although I did feel they were very lenient on some people - I felt one or two didn't really know their subject and it showed in the presentation.

After lunch, it was the pool session. For this, we were divided into small teams with one Instructor to three trainees. We each had a skill to teach. The skill itself was fairly minor: stride entry, ear clearing, towing a diver etc. I felt they were more interested in how we dealt with the 'trainee' and how we passed over the knowledge than what we actually taught - which is fair enough. Heavy emphasis was placed on safety - where was the phone, First Aid kit etc. Also on buddy checks, which ensured that we took notice of each others kit, rather than just the 'Buddy', 'Check' approach!

At the end of the session, we all returned to the classroom to be de-briefed and have a final chat with the instructors. It seemed we all passed, which is kind of good and kind of worrying. I had heard from one of the Instructors that a couple of trainees were very poor in their presentation and teaching skills, but still managed to pass. I can't help feeling that sometimes showing up and having a go is enough, which, of course, it never is. We were told that this is the toughest of the lot, I kind of hope it is the easiest so that when I do my Club Instructor and Open Water Instructor, passing it will be a real achievement and show that I am one of the best, not just one of the trainees.

Overall my impressions were very good. I enjoyed the course and enjoyed the opportunity to try out my skills in front of peers. I also learned two new things which was a bonus: Firstly that the bezel on a divers watch only goes one way so that if it is knocked or moved accidentally, the effect is to increase expired dive time, a good safety feature. Secondly, what an emergency cylinder is and how to fill it. I had never seen one before!

I'll be trying to get some instruction done over the next few months so that in May I can go for the Club Instructor upgrade and then start working towards the Open Water Instructor, which is the final goal.