PADI Announces Revised Divemaster Course

PADI has announced a major, and important, overhaul of the Divemaster Course.

The gateway program for dive professionals (and thus a prerequisite for the PADI Instructor Development Course), the preliminary information I've seen suggests that there will be an increase in the emphasis on practical workshops during the program, which are being broadened to further prepare the candidate for real world dive leadership.

Some of the key changes include:

• Prerequisite for the course (not certification) have been increased from 20 to 40 logged dives.
  • Candidates who hold PADI Deep Diver or PADI Search & Recovery Diver certifications can get credit towards one or both of two new workshops in the Divemaster Course
• Knowledge Development has three options that can be undertaken separately or in combination - PADI Divemaster Online, independent study with the manual and video, or instructor-led knowledge development sessions
• Dive Theory requirements are now stepped to be less than the instructor level previously required, and more of a graduated step process from Rescue Diver to Divemaster, and then Divemaster to IDC.
• Increased performance requirements on the Dive Skills Workshop, and additional skin diving skills (big kudos for this addition)
• Revised Practical Application Skills to cover a broader range of Divemaster activities, including new workshops in Deep Diving Safety and Search & Recovery
• New materials, including:
  • Divemaster Course Online (eLearning)
  • Revised Divemaster Manual
  • Divemaster Video - now includes role-model demonstrations of scuba and skin diving skills (another great inclusion)
  • Divemaster Course Lesson Guides - includes both traditional and prescriptive lesson guides in a single product
  • Instructor Cue Cards for DM Course
  • DM slates (revised)
  • DM Final Exam

The new program can be phased in as new materials become available, and implementation will be required no later than 1 July 2011.

I am excited about this new program, and look forward to introducing it as soon as possible when the new materials are available in Australia, which should be by early 2011. I will add further information as it becomes available into forthcoming PADI IDC programs.