Mark Powell - Training Doesn’t Work

One of the most common complaints amongst experienced divers and instructors is the low level of diver skills we see in new divers. The unfortunate truth is that we have built a diving industry that encourages that. This talk will uncover some of the reasons why this is the case and lay out some of the things we can do to change that.
Diving Talks - Portugal 2022 - Panel 3

[@peterjulianphotos4659]

I think that the race to the bottom started when Standards Organisations required all Scuba Instructors to be affiliated with a Dive Centre. This effectively killed the Instructor who did not rely on teaching to feed their family but taught it because it was their passion.
My Open Water Course was conducted in my instructor's spare bedroom which was converted to a classroom. There was no pressure to be pushed through the system and we spent 3 hours every Wednesday evening for 6 - 8 weeks learning the theory of Scuba before we even went near a pool. Boyle's Law, Dalton's and Henry's Laws all ringing in my ears reminding me of the 99 ways to die under water (which is what we called our class sessions). Then we were introduced to the 'essential safety skills' in a swimming pool before moving onto shore diving and again repeating all those skills / drills in an open water environment. Each dive was graduated and each diver had to plan their dive and discuss it with our instructor (entry point, dive, exit point, alternate exit point) and then finally we did blue water dives off a boat.
Today I look at the kids learning to be dive masters and realize the 'essential skills' I was taught are now sold as advanced, deep water or some other specialty course - the biggest con being 'perfect buoyancy' - IF you pass your open water and have not been taught how to practice perfect buoyancy then there is something fundamentally wrong with the 'system'. No one can learn to be an open water diver in 2 days, and have any chance of being competent. Our instructor also would not pass us unless we had a first aid certificate prior to the course completion, I think his standards were pretty good standards to have.
Today, I am continually frustrated when I step onto a dive boat to be told 'the crew' will set up your dive gear for you. NO, I need to know how my gear works and have muscle memory so that when something does go wrong, I don't spend the last 2 minutes of my life trying to work out how to turn my K-valve on, or dump my weights or doff my gear because I'm wedged into a hole.
If Joe Public doesn't want to pay $900 - $1,000 to do an Open Water course properly (no a filleted and gutted version of one) then the industry needs to adapt and build a course to their budget, and maybe "Resort Diver" or "Supervised Diver" or "Restricted Diver" is the course, but it cannot be sold as an all singing and dancing nirvana.

[@harambeexpress]

Absolutely agree. What most people are looking for is a supervised diver certification, and surely it would be safer to be more honest about this.

[@Georgethediver]

couldn't agree more on your speech

[@AndyDavisTechnicalDiving]

ISO and WRSTC are meant to ensure that level 2 (OW) courses certify "autonomous" divers; meaning they are sufficiently competent so as not to need professional supervision.
Those standards are woefully neglected, and certain ISO/WRSTC affiliated training agencies do little or nothing to ensure they are met at a functional instructional level.
Instead, the industry compensates for incompetent divers through the use of supervisory professionals. Accidents, at recreational level, tend to occur when professional supervision or intervention fails.
As such, the reality is that the notion of "autonomous" OW divers is largely a myth. Few recreational instructors would be content for their just-certified divers to dive unsupervised. Especially so in vacation/tourism areas. The 'acid test' of whether a student diver is actually trained to an autonomous level is failed.
ISO and WRSTC need to be less concerned about simplistically listing the necessary skills to define autonomic skill level; and focus instead on creating a process that would ensure autonomic diver competency at OW certification.
One can imagine the incredible quality change that might happen to the state of dive training if OW training had to finish with students completing an additional unsupervised dive as buddy pairs

[@TheKosherExperience]

this is great observations. I have spoke with at least 50 dive centers and instructors and i have 6 specialties under my belt which i did for the knowledge but did the instructors were good? Maybe 1 was, the rest i don't think so. This is my fear of becoming a pro, i feel i will be TERRIBLY TRAINED because the instructors are not interested in spending time with someone, they rather do a quick training and get a new student. PADis the biggest money maker with this system and it is sad they don't enforce better training. They came up with ''internship'' but in fact is just a paid training with no actual internship at all.

[@divingtalks2566]

That’s why it is important to select the best Instructors. To be sure you have quality training and learn with the best.

[@jonnieinbangkok]

What's with the fog 🤔

[@divingtalks2566]

We used it to signal the Talk's time ;)

[@ChrisShaferKTM]

Why doesn’t he just change SDI standards to make the minimum be more in line with what he views is actually needed

[@inhalediving]

The issue is that students are being certified without fully understanding the material or being coached into being comfortable and confident while diving.

[@ChrisShaferKTM]

@@inhalediving I disagree the issues are that the standards don't create an environment where that is a required outcome.

[@vladimirmajkic9727]

Because that would be commercial suicide if other agencies don’t change the standards as well.

[@ChrisShaferKTM]

@@vladimirmajkic9727 oh, so we don't care about the standards then we care about the money

[@vladimirmajkic9727]

@@ChrisShaferKTMfrom business perspective yes. If sdi changes the standards, people will run to the others for the certs with less effort, it’s in human nature. Industry standards have to change, single agency can’t make difference.