ECO PRO The Great Disconnect: A Plea for Better Environmental Education – by Alex Brylske, Ph.D., President, Ocean Education International, LLC
Since its inception, instructor certifi- cation has been the entry ticket for most professionals into the diving in- dustry. While this training provides a foundation for teaching and supervis- ing divers, I believe it is entirely lacking
bucket list, while others see it as a dedicated lifelong passion. Some have described this as the “occasional” diver versus the “core” diver phenomenon, and this dichotomy is important because while the former may be customers, the latter are the industry’s lifeblood. There is no better evidence of the Great Disconnect than the results of a 2022 survey sponsored by In-Depth magazine, DAN Europe, and the Business of Diving Institute of divers from both the US and Europe. It reported that only 23% of respondents said they had been “well or very well prepared to understand the environment in which they were to dive.” In other words, 77% did not feel prepared. However, the rea- son for this shockingly low percentage becomes clear when viewed in the context of another question from the survey involving professionals. Here, the study found that a mere 11 percent of instructors said their training “prepared them well or very well regarding aquatic environments.” The conclusion seems clear: Divers are not getting what they want from their underwater experience because most of those who train them lack the knowledge and skill to provide it. The consequences of the Great Disconnect are evident in yet another survey also conducted in 2022 by the Reef-World Foundation, Sustainability in a Recovering Travel World. The re- sults from over 2,400 global responses (both divers and dive professionals) across various demographics identified key nar- ratives that will drive the market in the future. These insights could help businesses capitalize on trends for the future sus-
in one vital area of content – the environment. This oversight is problematic because most people pursue scuba diving pre- cisely because of the unique opportunity to explore and learn about the underwater environment. This disconnect between why people are motivated to become scuba divers and the void in the knowledge base of the professionals who train them is what I term the “Great Disconnect” – a mismatch with profound consequences on the health of our industry. This situation has significant consequences due to its po- tential long-term impact. For example, an instructor with min- imal understanding of the environment trains divers who likewise will know equally little or even less. Lacking any fun- damental knowledge of the incredible underwater world they witness, the diver’s experience is limited to “looking at all the pretty fish.” In contrast, an instructor with a solid grasp of the environment can provide insights that make one’s diving experience far more than a passive sightseeing tour. They can create a diver who both understands and connects with the world they explore. The distinction between the capabilities of these two types of instructors explains why some may view becoming a diver as merely an item to check off their
tainability of their opera- tions and the environment they rely on, but only if we heed the advice. Overall, the survey highlighted a strong demand for envi- ronmental and sustainabil- ity education that is clearly not being met by the indus- try’s current diver training model. Delving even deeper into the attitudes of profession- als, the study found that the most common challenge they face in their day-to-day work is the lack of environ-
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