The Instructor Development Course (IDC) builds on your proven Open Water Instructor (OWI) capability and gives you the confidence to deliver a wider variety of practical training, including Skill Development Courses, and develop other instructors.
Mixing with other instructors from far and wide, you’ll spend the day in the water, not the classroom, seeing and practising higher-level instructing.
The one-day Instructor Development Course is a great way to extend your range of practical teaching skills, alongside showing them how to support and develop assistant instructors. There is the opportunity to practise everything that you learn, above and below the water.
If you are a qualified OWI, or Club Instructor, ready to increase the scope of training that you deliver and mentor assistant instructors, then this is the course for you.
To enrol you must already be an active BSAC OWI (or have equivalent certification from another recognised training agency), or BSAC Club Instructor.
The Instructor Development Course focuses on all the practical techniques needed to improve your delivery of open-water training.
The action-packed day is based around three open water dives. You will do a wreck dive (typically 15-20m) where you deliver mini-lessons on good wreck diving technique - this extends your instructor repertoire beyond basic skills, so that you can now teach the skills used on real-life dives. You’ll also have an instructor-development demonstration dive and an instructor-development teaching dive (both at around 6m) - these are where you learn how to help improve other instructors’ teaching skills. You will get the chance to plan a series of mini lessons on topics taken from BSAC’s portfolio of SDCs and will see a series of demonstrations, including how to teach dive management.
During in-water practical sessions, you will get the chance to run a mini lesson and observe, intervene and give constructive feedback to other instructors. You will develop your personal instructing skills and learn how to manage training sessions. There will be plenty of feedback from course instructors who will give you advice and guidance on your personal progression.
Having completed the course you will be prepared to teach a wider range of informal and progressive diving skills, such as those used on wreck or survey dives. You will also be ideally placed to help develop other instructors, giving them systematic feedback and tips to improve their teaching techniques.
If you are a Club Instructor you will gain Open Water Instructor (OWI) status allowing you to supervise Assistant Diving Instructors (ADI) and Assistant Open Water Instructors (AOWI) in open water.
You may be able to become an instructor on SDCs, with the help of other nationally qualified instructors.
Book a place on an Instructor Development Course online now
Not a BSAC member? You can do this course by joining BSAC directly or joining via a local club. Find a club.
Students will be given a pack of supporting learning materials. You will need dive kit suitable for use in open water, including thermal protection suitable for the local conditions. You will also need writing materials and a slate.
Your next steps – developing your skills
Having consolidated your instructing and instructor development skills, following this course, you could progress to the third of BSAC’s instructor levels. Open Water Instructors who are Advanced Divers can attend an Advanced Instructor course. You can then become a qualified Advanced Instructor by passing the Advanced Instructor Exam.
You could also develop specific skills to expand your personal diving interests. Imagine learning to drive a dive boat or becoming an underwater photographer. Check out the Skill Development Courses (SDCs) you can get involved in.
Or you may want to continue your diver training to the next level.
