Instructor Training
Congratulations – you’ve decided to start your ITC. Whether you’re only doing the preparation with us, aiming first for the Assistant Instructor, or going for the full ITC including the Instructor Evaluation (IE) – this page will accompany you. Best to add it to your favourites right away.
Here you can view all parts of the training, find useful links and information, and all evaluation forms. During the course, these will be filled with your achieved scores so that you always have an overview of your progress. The light yellow fields mark what is required for the AI; the blue ones belong to the ITC part of the course.
Simply browse the sections and get familiar with the course structure.
SSI Training Record
This is what the SSI Training Record requires for your certification. A pass is enough – AIT level ✨ is our goal.
💪 We practise more than the minimum: where you have several chances, only one has to work out. Not passing is part of the plan – we are learning!
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You do your preparation – dive theory, ITC Manual, online workshops and quizzes – in ITC Prep. What you have already completed there is shown at the top of this page.
As soon as you are assigned to a course, your course calendar, the evaluation forms and your notes appear here and in the following sections.
If you want to do your ITC with us on La Palma, you can book a complete package.
If you’re not sure yet, or plan to complete the practical part at another ITC Center, you can join our online preparation and start your ITC more confidently. You can also get the Digital Kit and the ITC Preparation separately.
Do you act like a pro?
Do you project calm, work with the entire team, communicate in a friendly, factual, and competent manner, and keep admin tasks under control? If you’re also a great instructor, this won’t be an issue!
Throughout the ITC, your professional behaviour will also be observed. You can clearly see what we expect in this evaluation form.
If you click the large form, you can view the evaluation sheet with detailed explanations of the criteria.
How do you rate yourself? You can fill out the form for yourself here. Download it, complete it, and upload it again.
Sign in to save notes hereWhat are you particularly good at, and what do you still want to work on?
Sign in to save notes hereDuring the ITC itself you take part in three hands-on workshops: Stress & Rescue, training divemasters and the dive business. The dates are in your course calendar.
The workshops you can prepare for online (standards, demonstration quality, microteaching tools, structuring an OWD course) are in ITC Prep.
Required in this section
In this workshop you practise running two workshops from the Stress & Rescue course yourself. There is no evaluation – what counts is that you took part.
You will find the date in the course calendar. Your Instructor Trainer ticks the workshop off once it has taken place.
As an instructor you also train Divemasters – and evaluate their dive briefings. In this practical workshop you rate a briefing with the SSI evaluation form, fictional or live. Then you compare your ratings: where do you agree, where do the scores differ – and why?
Your Instructor Trainer sets up the briefing during the workshop. As soon as you have submitted your rating, this part is marked as done automatically.
Diving isn’t only fun – it’s also our business. Or, in short: we want to make a living from it.
Do the math yourself: what should a course and a guided dive cost, and how can the dive industry improve its quality standards and especially its working conditions?
Required in this section
💪 We practise more than the minimum: where you have several chances, only one has to work out. Not passing is part of the plan – we are learning!
You will give several microteachings here, from all courses from OWD to Science of Diving. You give all of them: OWD, Nitrox or Science of Diving, Stress & Rescue and Dive Guide. To pass, the SSI Training Record requires three: one from the OWD (PA 2, for the AI), one from Nitrox/Science of Diving or Stress & Rescue (PA 6) and Dive Guide (PA 7).
But we practise a lot more than this minimum: in the OWD part you give three microteachings, a fourth is optional. Only one of them has to be passed. Not passing is part of the plan – you are learning!
Here you can see the criteria for evaluating your academic presentation.
Sign in to viewA really easy start: a simple topic from the first chapter of the OWD.
This is not about perfection: just explain the topic the way you would! Afterwards we look at how your style best fits the SSI scheme.
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereThe second microteaching is about equipment. You now know the structure and show that you can apply it.
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereNow it gets more demanding: a more complex topic from the OWD – or a topic from the Perfect Buoyancy course.
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereOne more chance to practise – or to polish once the structure is in place. After that we move on to topics from the other courses.
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereNow the topics are more demanding – show that you master diving theory and can teach it!
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereThe most important course after OWD – and it also needs theory presentations.
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereYour presentations keep getting better – finally, we’ll work on some slightly longer talks from the Dive Guide programme. Everyone gives this microteaching, it is required.
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereAt the end of the course you take the SSI Final Exam – printed or online.
Afterwards we go through every question you answered incorrectly together. Only once you have understood all the answers is the exam complete – then your Instructor Trainer ticks it off here.
Ready for the IE?
We’ll take another look at your performance so far, make sure all paperwork is in order, and address any remaining concerns before the evaluation.
This is also the moment when you can fill out the Professionalism evaluation again and receive feedback.
You’ve learned a lot in the past weeks – has your self-assessment of your professionalism changed?
Sign in to save notes hereAre you ready for the IE?
Sign in to save notes hereRequired in this section
💪 We practise more than the minimum: where you have several chances, only one has to work out. Not passing is part of the plan – we are learning!
Did we say it’s not about diving anymore? It’s not about great dives for us – but it is about getting people comfortable underwater without taking unreflected risks.
You will teach skills as an instructor in several sessions in the pool/confined water and in open water. According to the SSI Training Record you must pass: in the pool/confined water an OWD presentation (AI) and the emergency ascent (ITC); in open water a demonstration (AI), the rescue demonstration and an OWD presentation (both ITC). Everything else here is additional training.
Here you can see the criteria for evaluating your in-water presentation.
Sign in to viewWhatever you want to do in the water, you explain beforehand – short and to the point. A briefing that takes longer than the exercise helps nobody.
All skills are described in the SSI Scuba Skills Review. Study them there carefully: that is the basis for your briefings, you just add your personal touch.
The debriefing right after the exercise is short too: one or two comments on what happened underwater.
Have you done the briefing workshop? You’ll apply it now for the first time and then immediately accompany your students underwater.
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereWith one more challenging skill and one buoyancy skill, you can now show how you teach skills.
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereWe practise more than the minimum: here you get one more presentation in confined water.
For PA 4, one of the three presentations has to be passed. Not passing is part of the plan – we are learning!
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereAs an Assistant Instructor you show once in open water that you can safely teach a skill from the Open Water Diver course.
Optional in the complete ITC programme: if you do the full ITC, your open water presentation in the ITC part counts for this too.
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereThe master class: ascents
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereAscents are demanding – that is why there is a second round.
For PA 9, one of the two presentations has to be passed. Not passing is part of the plan – we are learning!
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereYour first open water skills – and we’ll also repeat the confined ascents...
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereThe rescue skills are such an important part of dive training that they can’t be missing here.
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereIn open water you demonstrate how to bring an unconscious diver to the surface, care for them at the surface and get them out of the water – just as you will later show your students.
There is no evaluation form for this: your Instructor Trainer ticks the demonstration off once you have passed it.
In one last session you can repeat what didn’t go so well or simply perfect something once more.
Your evaluation
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Sign in to save notes hereYou must be able to swim – we’ll check this at some point during the course.
Here you can see the criteria for evaluating your performance.
Sign in to viewYour evaluation
Sign inIn the final part of your training, you will be evaluated by an SSI Instructor Certifier as part of the IE (Instructor Evaluation). You will demonstrate that you master the core competencies – in theory, practice, and didactics.
You will, among other things, give presentations, demonstrate skills, deliver briefings, and show that you have a solid understanding of the SSI system. None of this is new: you will simply do exactly what you’ve been practicing all along and what you’ll do with real students as well. You’ve trained this well; show us we can trust you with real beginners!
SSI Training Record
This is what the SSI Training Record requires for your certification. A pass is enough – AIT level ✨ is our goal.
💪 We practise more than the minimum: where you have several chances, only one has to work out. Not passing is part of the plan – we are learning!
Sign in to see what you have already achieved.
The IE written exam is almost entirely about standards – and of course, you may use them! You should be quick, though: you have 90 minutes for 50 questions. If you have to look up every single one, it can get hectic.
You must deliver a microteaching – from the OWD, Nitrox, Stress & Rescue, Science of Diving, or Divemaster course. Do it just like you did during the ITC!
You teach a skill in confined water. No problem, you’ve got this – otherwise you wouldn’t be here.
Any skill from the OWD or the Stress & Rescue course may be selected.
You must demonstrate two skills underwater and one at the surface. You’ll find out which ones at the moment.
You teach two skills in open water. Note: You are not allowed to fail this – so, err on the side of caution!
You demonstrate (not: show) that you can bring an unresponsive diver to the surface and out of the water.
A friendly coffee chat about the SSI system – if you can keep up.
In the exam you will need to demonstrate in a group discussion with the examiner that you know and can use the SSI system.
You can review the questions and criteria here – we want you to be competent, not surprised.
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