Tomorrow’s Divemaster – the future industry leaders
Recently, introduced a revised Divemaster Course programme to better prepare the next generation of dive professionals.
As the first step from Recreational diving to Professional level diving, the Divemaster course is the foundation for a career in diving and one step away from becoming an Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI). The course is a combination of knowledge development, practical application and water skills development. The changes in the divemaster course are subtle but make a big difference – lets have a look at some of the changes and how it affects our future dive leaders.
Knowledge development
Knowledge and understanding of diving related topics is hugely important for any Dive Professional. A divemaster is expected to make decisions using sound judgement and act how a “prudent divemaster” is expected to act. These are ambiguous terms but it does emphasize the importance of having a good foundation of knowledge and skills to be able to apply in diving related activities. Good decisions are based on a persons knowledge and experiences and the changes in the divemaster course are aimed at giving a newly certified divemaster a better foundation to draw upon.
The new divemaster manual is now a more streamlined manual, which has incorporated several topics from the Encyclopaedia of Recreational Diving to provide a complete knowledge base in a single, easy-to-read manual. Topics such as Physics, Physiology and Dive Theory are presented in an easy-to-understand manner. For additional in-depth information, the Encyclopaedia is of course still included. For those that want to spend less time in the classroom whilst in Thailand there is the option to complete all the Divemaster knowledge on E learning and also practice the Dive Theory on line in preparation for your exams.
Practical Application
This portion of the course consists out of several components. The changes in the new course are aimed at better preparing a candidate to actual diving circumstances and providing them with a broader dive experience.
There are several workshops where students role-play scenarios in a controlled environment and respond to problems during divemaster-conducted activities. This experience is very valuable. When a divemaster finishes with the course, he/she will have already seen what can go wrong in real life scenarios. This is closing the practical gap between the Divemaster programme and the Instructor Development Course (IDC). Several practical skills have been included to provide a divemaster with broader experiences. Examples are Search & Recovery skills and Deep diving skills.
This additional training will make a student a more experienced diver and as the first step from recreational level to professional level, experience is a key element for success. The changes in the Divemaster course are mainly aimed at providing students with more experience. Like the Rescue course, a divemaster will already have a stronger base in terms of experience to draw upon and in our opinion be better equipped to deal with real-life scenarios, whether they’re responding to problems or making good decisions based on sound judgement.
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