Staffing IDCs is a great way to recharge your mind and passion for teaching Scuba Diving!!

I am currently in Thailand with ALL4Diving and Platinum Course Director Richard Reardon staffing a number of IDCs with some impressionable minds, I can think of no better way to get back into the full flow of teaching the PADI Professional curriculum. After a number of years "in the field" and moving back towards a teaching role rather than a guiding role, I wanted to make sure my skills and knowledge was up to date and fresh, After 6 years a few bad habits might have crept in, some new standards and courses and I wanted to learn them all! It is also a great opportunity to get up to date with the latest Project AWARE courses and initiatives and engage with PADI in a different territory.

It was also a brilliant way to get more knowledge from teaching in a different environment and see ways in which other Instructors operate in different conditions. Having always worked within the Middle East and Africa coming to Thailand has been a great experience, seeing how a much larger dive centre works, with longer boat travel to dive sites and a larger number of PADI Instructor. It is actually a really enjoyable process to participate in an IDC when it is not your own! Without the stress of worrying about an IE, and to help shape the minds of prospective PADI Instructors, Especially around points related to the Environment and Project AWARE. Now is the time for us to emphasis that all of their future students can do something to improve their environment and support Project AWARE initiatives . . . the more we can advice them to promote specialities, familiarise themselves with the content, and most importantly include references to the environment in all of the briefings, skill demonstration and encourage good dive habits. They have the power to shape the minds of future divers themselves once they qualify as PADI Instructors, hopefully this information can pass through and we can influence more and more divers.