To become a PADI instructor you will need to complete the following two steps:

1. Pass the Instructor Development Course, held by a PADI course director on OK Club’s base
2. Successfully pass the Instructor Exam, that is judged by the independent PADI examinators according to the exams schedule that is compiled in PADI a year in advance.

And you get the PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) status!


Having great experience in instructor seminars, we see the need and necessity to offer one more additional step – Preparation course (2 days). This course will be useful and interesting for those, who passed the Divemaster course a while ago and has little experience in working as a divemaster, those who are instructors from other associations and are not familiar in the detail with PADI courses or someone who is not 200% sure in his skills and knowledge.
Attending this course together with the course director you determine on which aspects of preparation you need to accent more and within these two days the course director will be practicing with you according to an individual program.
The course will help you pass the IDC and IE successfully. We will get you 100% prepared!

Content of IDC courses:

The IDC program can be divided in to two parts: academic and practice. The academic one consists of lectures and presentations that meet you with all the numerous details of the instructor’s work. The list of topics you can find below. A part of this are also all the theory of diving and PADI standards tests.

Practice: you learn to perform presentations as an instructor 1) teaching in the confined water, 2) teaching in the open water, 3) teaching theory. Regarding each aspect you do 4 presentations. All of them are judged OBJECTIVELY, the Course Director acquaints you with the established criteria of briefing, educational presentation, debriefing marks that will be used during the exam.  Most probably you will hardly do everything ideal on the first try, during the course you will learn to bear in mind all the finer points. Your presentations are judged with points, that after are summed and the average point is calculated for each presentation, what shows if you have gained enough score for the instructor exam.

The practice part  also include dives in confined water with the 20 skills demonstrations, dives in confined water to work out the rescue skills and 800 meter  swim for time.

Lecture course presentations

  • · Course overview;
  • · Learning, Instruction and the PADI system;
  • · Confined water dives;
  • · Specialty courses:  Project AWARE and PPB (Peak Performance Buoyancy);
  • · Programs: Discover Scuba and Snorkeling;
  • · Theory presentations training;
  • · Open water dives;
  • · How to teach RDP, Wheel, e-RDP;
  • · Diving industry overview;
  • · The role of media and prescriptive teaching;
  • · Legal responsibility and risk management;
  • · Adapted training;
  • · General standards and procedures;
  • · PADI courses: Scuba Diver и Open Water Diver;
  • · The PADI continuing education philosophy;
  • · Business principles for dive professionals;
  • · Adventures in Diving program;
  • · Specialty courses and Master Scuba Diver program;
  • · Rescue Diver course;
  • · Divemaster course;
  • · Diver retention programs.

Theory of diving

Theory of diving is an important and indispensable part of the instructor seminar and exam. However it’s assumed that you should be at home with theory knowledge by the beginning of the IDC, as a result of completing the Divemaster course, within which all 5 theory parts are studied and mastered most thoroughly.

If you are not confident with your knowledge, you should necessary in advance prepare yourself or sign in for the Preparation course to the instructor seminar. The program of IDC is very intensive; you will hardly find time to fill in the gaps in your theory knowledge during the seminar.

During the instructor course you will do several comprehensive tests on diving theory to be sure you are ready for the exam.

The amount of required knowledge in diving theory includes the following, certainly, familiar to you topics:

  • The physics of diving;
  • The physiology of diving;
  • Dive Equipment;
  • Surrounding environment and diving skills;
  • The RDP and decompression theory.

Confined water diving

Presentation of 20 basic diving skills and correct demonstration techniques;

Personal presentations of training in confined water: briefing/training of skill in water/debriefing (totally 4). Underwater problems management.

Rescue diver training;

Open water diving

Learning and demonstrating the training technique and underwater problems management, personal presentations;

Practice session from the Adventure course;

Practice session from the Rescue course.

Instructor exam

The instructor exam is a logical stage after the instructor seminar. Here you will need to demonstrate everything you learned during your IDC. All the graduates from the instructor courses have the exam at the same time. Usually in Dahab at the exam there are 5 groups from different dive centers that passed the IDC with different course directors. The exam is in English, if you have fluent spoken English you can do your presentations in English, if not – they will be translated. The exam takes 1,5 days and consists of the following parts:

Acquaintance, administration, exam’s rules and process explanations

  • Theory test
  • PADI standards test
  • Theory presentation
  • Skills demonstration
  • Confined water presentation
  • Open water presentation
  • Rescue exercise

Instructor levels of qualification

Open Water Scuba Instructor

Open Water Scuba Instructor PADI (OWSI) qualification is the first instructor level that is given to professional divers. During the training period the candidates study the standards, procedures, principles of training and the philosophy of PADI, improve diving skills, training skills and knowledge in diving theory. After successfully passing the PADI IE the OWSI undertakes to teach diving to people within the programs and courses of PADI. Open Water Scuba Instructor having an active teaching status can teach the whole range of PADI courses starting with Discover Scuba Diving program up to PADI Divemaster course (excluding specialty courses, that require additional training). Candidates successfully passed the IDC or the OWSI program can apply for the IE. To get the Open Water Scuba Instructor qualification the candidate should successfully pass the PADI IE held by PADI examinators.

Specialty Instructor

PADI Specialty Instructor is the one having the right to teach PADI specialty courses after passing necessary training and gaining experience in this or that specialty. The instructor  should get a separate certificate for each specialty. There are several different standard PADI specialty courses that can be trained by PADI instructors, for which special programs and educational materials are developed. Besides, the instructors can develop their personal specialty courses and teach them after approval in PADI.

The PADI specialty courses are:

  • Altitude Diver
  • Boat Diver
  • Cavern Diver
  • Deep Diver
  • Digital Underwater Photographer
  • DVP Diver
  • Drift Diver
  • Dry Suit Diver
  • Enriched Air Diver
  • Equipment Specialist
  • AWARE - Fish Identification Diver
  • Ice Diver
  • Multilevel Diver
  • Night Diver
  • Search and Recovery Diver
  • Semiclosed Rebreather Diver
  • Underwater Naturalist
  • Underwater Navigator
  • Underwater Photographer
  • Underwater Videographer
  • Wreck Diver

Specialty courses from the Distinctive series (developed by the instructor)

Requirements to candidates passing the Specialty Instructor Training Courses

Passing the Specialty Instructor training courses is not obligatory, though preferable. Within these courses the instructors get a good practice base, learn to demonstrate skills, find potential clients, learn PADI standards and if needed improve the skills necessary for instructor in open water.

Specialty Instructor Training Course candidates can get the qualification of specialty instructor only after receiving the PADI instructor certificate.

Master Scuba Diver Trainer

PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer is a PADI instructor, having the right to train minimum 5 specialties what allows him to train divers up to the Master Scuba Diver level.

To apply for getting the PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer qualification, the instructor should:

Have active teaching status for PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor level.

Have instructor qualification for five specialties (Peak Performance Buoyancy, Project AWARE и AWARE - Coral Reef Conservation specialties are excluded).

Certify minimum 25 PADI divers. Out of this number not more than five can be courses without dives. Also PADI Seal Team or Master Seal Team certifications are counted – but not more than 5 of them.

IDC Staff Instructor

PADI IDC Staff instructor is the one having the PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer qualification successfully passed the IDC Staff instructor course. When doing the PADI IDC Staff instructor course, the candidates repeat all the IDC course material and learn to assist during the instructor development courses. Instructors having the IDC Staff qualification work with PADI course directors teaching PADI IDC candidates training skills and helping them to improve their professional skills. PADI IDC Staff instructors have the right to teach the PADI Assistant Instructor.

To start the PADI IDC Staff course, the instructor should:

Have an active teaching status for PADI Master Scuba Diver Trainer level.

To confirm his readiness to train all courses and programs of PADI using methods and principles that meet the philosophy and standards of PADI that are identified in the PADI Instructor Manual

To confirm his readiness to fully use the PADI training system and the appropriate PADI educational materials.

PADI IDC Staff instructor course may be taught by a PADI course director who has an active teaching status. PADI IDC Staff course consists of 4 components:  preliminary estimation, theory training, estimating skills and verification test of knowledge gained within the IDC. The course is held within the IDC course. To get the PADI IDC Staff Instructor certificate the candidate should successfully complete all the course requirements and send to the PADI office the PADI IDC Staff Instructor Application filled in and signed by the course director who issued, with a photograph attached, and pay the entry fee.