PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor
(Please visit PADI's page on OWSI to learn more.)
The Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) portion of the Instructor Development Course (IDC) follows the Assistant Instructor portion and completes the IDC. This is the course which an Assistant Instructor would take to qualify to take the Instructor Examination and, upon successful completion, be certified as a PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor. The OWSI course is also the course that a qualified instructor from a certification other than PADI would take in order to proceed to the IE and become a PADI instructor.
Prerequisites: To enroll in an OWSI program, an individual must:
- Be certified as an PADI Assistant Instructor or as a current instructor member in good standing with another recreational dive training organization for at least 6 months.
- Be at least 18 years old.
- Be fit for diving and submit a Medical Statement for a diving medical examination conducted within the past 12 months.
- Have been a certified diver for at least six months and completed and logged at least 60 open water dives. You will need 100 logged dives to take the Instructor Examination.
- Submit proof of CPR and first aid training within the last 24 months.
- Be certified as an Emergency First Response Instructor.
Conduct: An OWSI program can be conducted only at a PADI 5 Star Instructor Development Center and it must be directly supervised by a PADI Course Director. Only persons who are certified as IDC Staff Instructor, Master Instructor, or Course Director can present or evaluate during an OWSI program.
Course Requirements: To successfully complete a PADI OWSI program, an individual must meet the following performance requirements:
- Attend and participate in the following 14 curriculum presentations (1-14). Instructors from a recreational diver training organization other than PADI must also complete number 15, How to Teach the RDP.
- Course Orientation
- Dive Industry Overview
- General Standards and Procedures
- The Role of Media and Prescriptive Teaching
- Legal Responsibility and Risk Management
- PADI Scuba Diver and Open Water Diver Course
- Adaptive Teaching
- The PADI Continuing Education Philosophy
- Business Principles for the Dive Instructor
- Adventures in Diving Program
- Specialty Diver Courses and the Master Scuba Diver Program
- Rescue Diver Course
- Divemaster Course
- Diver Retention Programs
- How to Teach the RDP
- Present at least two evaluated knowledge development teaching presentations and score a 3.5 or higher on at least one presentation.
- Present at least two evaluated confined water teaching presentations and score a 3.4 or higher on at least one presentation.
- Present at least one integrated (two skills) evaluated open water teaching presentation and score a 3.4 or higher on each skill.
- Demonstrate competence at performing all 20 dive skills listed on the Skill Evaluation. Candidates must earn 68 total points, with no individual score below 3.
- Perform a facedown, nonstop swim for 800 yards using a mask, snorkel and fins.
- Score 75 percent or higher on all five sections of the Instructor Preassesment Exam.
Required Materials: The PADI Instructor Development Course crewpak includes all the materials needed to prepare for the Instructor Development Course. The 23-item pack includes:
- Instructor cue cards for PADI’s core courses (Open Water and Advanced, Rescue and Divemaster)
- Instructor Development Course Candidate Workbook and related reference materials
- Lesson planning slates for confined and open water
- Quiz and exam booklets for the core courses
- Specialty outlines for Project AWARE
- PADI Instructor Manual
All of these materials are available from Aquarius Dive Shop.
Schedule: The OWSI program will be conducted as the second portion of each IDC. For the full schedule of IDC's conducted at Aquarius Dive Shop, please see our Instructor Development Course page.
Tuition: Most people who take the OWSI program will take it as part of the IDC, in which case the tuition for the OWSI is bundled into the IDC tuition. If you wish to take the OWSI program only in order to complete an Instructor Crossover program, please see our page on Instructor Crossovers. If you are a PADI Assistant Instructor and wish to take only the OWSI program, the course tuition will be $1200.