If there is one thing common to all the diving training courses you have attended so far, it’s your Instructor starting every underwater demonstration with three hand signals. YOU. WATCH. ME.

Now if you feel you have gained enough experience as a diver to challenge yourself stepping on the ‘dark side’ of the mirror, to share your knowledge and passion, take the next step and BECOME A TDI INSTRUCTOR.

When I became a SDI/TDI Instructor, what strucke me most is that I kept on LEARNING. Not so much about the diving part itself but about a whole new path : TEACHING.

TEACHING SAFELY

Safety always comes first.

When it comes to teaching Technical Diving, the risks involved are much different and higher compared to Recreational Diving.

Developing experience first as a Recreational Instructor is a fantastic way to mitigate the risks while learning the pedagogy itself in a ‘safe zone’.

As a Technical Instructor, it is important to be able to identify and monitor the new risks at stake but also to define your own physical and psychological limits to guarantee the safety of everyone.

TAKE A DEEP BREATH : THE ART OF TEACHING

Teaching is a challenging path that questions ourselves permanently :

  • What are the tools and the appropriate way to convey an information ?

  • How to adapt the path to the psychology of our fellow students ?

  • How to protect the sensitivity of one another within a group ?

  • Think of a skill as a recipe : don’t overcook the cake ! How can you decompose a skill in order to put the ‘ingredients’ in the right order and the needed quantity?

  • When is the appropriate time to step back and give students time and space ?

  • Where to find the energy, the humbleness, the patience and wisdom ? Step back in your students’ ‘flippers’ and remember what it actually is to be a student.

    …. the questioning is never ending. Teaching is an Art that evolves throughout an Instructor’s career.

 

LEARN MORE ABOUT THE PREREQUISITES TO BECOME A :

IT TAKES A PADAWAN TO BECOME A JEDI MASTER

From my personal experience, before and after I became a TDI Instructor in a variety of disciplines, I benefited much in assisting other Instructor’s courses.

Teaching should not be a ‘Copy/Paste’ otherwise AI will soon replace all of us ! Every Instructor has his/her own personality, level of experience and ‘style’. Shadowing various Instuctors’ courses is a great way to sketch your own style, to feed with discussions, questioning and content the Instructor you are willing to become yourself. It is also a great support to structure your teaching, to envision how you will organise yourself and deliver the best of yourself out of your future courses.

All Instructors (candidates or not) are welcome to contact me if willing to assist on TDI Courses and/or Workshops.