Welcome to the Maldives Instructor page. On this page you will find links to reports and articles on the Instructor scene within the club and how to become an instructor with the SAA should you feel the call.

 

 

 

Regular meetings are held for all instructors. Anyone wishing to become an instructor is welcome to attend as is any other club member.

The SAA offer a route for Club Divers and Dive Leaders to become Instructors. Basically, there are three levels. Firstly you become an Assistant Instructor. This is a two day course, the first day being lectures and discussions, the second day being a pool practical and a presentation. There is also an examination to take and, of course, pass. The cost of this is in the order of £50.

The next step is to consolidate this with some teaching. as an Assistant Instructor, you are allowed to assist an instructor, but only in the pool. After about three months, an SAA regional instructor pays you a visit and assesses your teaching abilities. Assuming he (or she) is happy with your standards, you are awarded a Club Instructor qualification. This entitles you to teach alone, but still only in a pool.

The third step is to obtain an Open Water Instructor qualification which again requires about three months experience of teaching and assisting. For this, you need to be a Dive Leader at least. It is a 1 - 2 day course and assessment, costing in the region of £30 to £40 to obtain. After that, you can teach novices in open water i.e. a quarry or the sea.

It is, of course, possible to continue to Regional Instructor, but you need to be a Dive Supervisor, Boat Handler and loads of other stuff too, and you probably know what to do anyway.

Anyone interested in obtaining such a qualification should, in the first instance contact the Training Officer who will give you the appropriate application form. It is, of course, necessary to obtain the permission of the DO prior to applying for any of the courses.