TRAINING
Part 4: Rebreathers 102 – The Dive Instructor’s Perspective by Jeffrey Bozanic, Ph.D. , JeffBozanic.com
S O YOU WANT TO BECOME a rebreather instructor? What exactly does that entail? Will my instructional agency allow it? What are the economics of teaching re- breathers? Are there different levels of certification? This article will address these issues, and more. In the previous three articles in this series, we examined the use of rebreathers from the individual diver’s perspective (June ‘24), the diver retailer’s perspective (August ‘24), and the liveaboard and resort perspective (November ‘24). This article will build on that information. How Do I Start? This may sound obvious, but the first step is to be certified as an instructor. There is no agency that I am aware of that will allow you to certify as a rebreather instructor without first being certified as an open circuit, open water in- structor. In fact, most of them also require you to be trained as either a Nitrox or Advanced Nitrox instructor, and possibly also a Decompression Procedures instructor or equivalent. Obviously, you must be certified on the rebreather on which you wish to train others. And just as your diver certifi- cation has a type rating, your instructor qualifications will also have a type rating. Different types of rebreathers have different prerequisites to become an instructor. All agencies will require you to have a minimum number of hours or dives on the unit. That number may vary from as few as 10 hours, to as many as 100 hours, depending on the agency and the re- breather.
instructor. This evaluation often includes confined and open water skill evaluation, written or oral exams to assess theoretical knowledge, appraisal of teaching basics and emergency skills, evaluation of practical aspects of rebreather assembly and basic maintenance, and the ability to recognize typical student problems and demonstrate appropriate intervention. Some agencies require that instructor candidates submit videotaped evidence of their ability to perform specified skills as part of the qualification process. Which Agency Should I Use? The obvious place to start is the agency with which you are certified to teach open water scuba. While not all agencies certify rebreather divers, most of the larger ones do. You also want to examine which rebreathers your agency supports with training programs. There is no agency of which I am aware that supports every rebreather that has ever been manufactured. Many support a large selection of rebreathers, others only support one or two. Several agencies have been established to support only a single model or manufacturer. In some cases, the training agency and the manufacturer are the same entity, or share common ownership. If you find that your rebreather of choice is not supported by your current training agency, then you will need to cross over to another training agency if you wish to teach on that unit. Most training agencies have streamlined pathways to
join their agency if you are currently qualified as an instructor with another organization. Many have prerequisites, such as having taught a minimum num- ber of students or classes, a minimum time served as a qualified instructor, and usually having no current pending instructional or ethical violations or in- stances under review. Contact the agency under whose auspices you are interested in teaching directly for details on what
There may also be a requirement to have issued a minimum number of certi- fications. For example, PADI requires demonstrated experience teaching PADI open water and continuing education courses, generally interpreted as a minimum of 25 certifications issued at different levels. To advance from teaching no-de- compression air diluent on a given re-
Start with What You Know
breather to teaching mixed gas CCR, TDI requires that in- structor candidates must have taught 15 students on the specific unit and also have one year teaching experience on the unit-specific CCR. All of the agencies incorporate some type of evaluation of the instructor candidate prior to certifying them as a rebreather
they require for crossing over. Agencies which support a wide variety of rebreather manu- facturers and units include: TDI, IANTD, PADI, and RAID. Others which support a more modest range of units include NAUI, SSI, and BSAC, DiveTalk Go, GUE, Akuana, and others generally only support a single or few manufacturers.
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