Open Water Scuba Instructor

In short: The PADI Open Water Scuba Instructor (OWSI) program completes your IDC. You then attend a two-day PADI Instructor Examination and, once you pass, you hold the rating to teach and certify PADI divers from Discover Scuba Diving up to Rescue Diver and Divemaster.

Divemaster taught you to assist. This teaches you to lead.

There's a particular moment every Divemaster eventually reaches: watching an instructor run a class and thinking, I could do that better, or at least, I want to be the one doing it. The PADI Instructor Development Course is how that thought becomes a certification. It's widely regarded as the most respected instructor training in the diving world, and it's the single biggest step in the entire PADI system.

This isn't about becoming a better diver. By this stage, your diving is already strong, that's what got you here. The IDC is about learning to teach: how to run a classroom presentation that actually lands, how to manage a confined water session with students at wildly different skill levels, and how to bring someone through their first open water dive without ever letting the moment feel like a test. Choose Course + PADI materials if you need the official Assistant Instructor, Open Water Scuba Instructor and EFR Instructor materials, or Course only if you already have them. Emergency First Response Instructor training is part of both. Scuba gear isn't included in the course fee and can be hired separately if you don't have your own.

Paid separately to PADI: the instructor application fee (£238), the Instructor Examination fee (£695) and EFR Instructor registration (£157.20). These are paid to PADI directly in British pounds and set by PADI, so they can change. Site entry at Bass Lake or Miracle Waters for open water sessions is paid at the site.

The IDC itself has two parts, Assistant Instructor and Open Water Scuba Instructor, usually completed together. What follows is the PADI Instructor Examination, an independent, external assessment run by PADI staff, not by us. We prepare you for it properly. We don't get to grade it.

Who It's For

Assistant Instructors, and instructors from another diver training organisation who are crossing over. Instructors from another agency may be eligible to enrol directly in the OWSI program.

What You Need Before You Start

• A PADI Divemaster rating, or a leadership level with another diver training organisation.
• Age 18 or older.
• At least 60 logged dives to enrol in your instructor course, with documented experience in night diving, deep diving and underwater navigation, and 100 logged dives to attend the Instructor Examination.
• A diving medical statement signed by a physician within the past 12 months.
• Emergency First Response Primary and Secondary Care (CPR and first aid) completed within the past 24 months.
• The EFR Instructor rating, which can be earned during your instructor training.
• A current PADI Instructor Manual and the IDC Crew-Pak, which includes the Guide to Teaching.

Equipment you bring: mask, snorkel and fins; exposure protection suited to the water; a cylinder and weight system; a regulator with an alternate air source and an SPG; a depth gauge; a timing device; a compass; a knife or diver's tool; and two emergency signalling devices. Hire of hard gear is not included in the course fee; scuba gear can be hired separately if you don't own it.

What You Can Teach as an Open Water Scuba Instructor

Discover Scuba Diving, Scuba Diver, Open Water Diver, Adventure Diver, Advanced Open Water Diver, Rescue Diver, Divemaster and Emergency First Response (with the EFR Instructor rating), plus Bubblemaker, Seal Team, Peak Performance Buoyancy, AWARE Coral Reef Conservation, Skin Diver and Discover Snorkelling. Other specialty courses need the matching Specialty Instructor rating.

How the IDC and Instructor Examination Work

The IDC has two parts, the Assistant Instructor course and the Open Water Scuba Instructor program, taken together or separately. You learn through independent study and live presentations and workshops.

The Instructor Examination is a two-day exam run by PADI Examiners at scheduled sessions through the year. Examiners assess your teaching in the classroom and in the water, your rescue skills and your written exams. It is an independent PADI assessment, not ours, and we help you choose a session and prepare for it.

Where the PADI Instructor Rating Takes You

Once certified, you're qualified to teach and certify Open Water Divers, Advanced Open Water Divers, and Rescue Divers, and to assist on Divemaster training. It's the certification that opens actual employment, at dive centres, resorts, and liveaboards, anywhere in the world that teaches diving.

From here, the natural next step is Master Scuba Diver Trainer, earned by certifying a set number of divers across five specialties, which then opens the door to becoming a Specialty Instructor across the full PADI range, and eventually, for those who want to go further still, Course Director.

Ready to teach what you love instead of just doing it? Book your IDC below, or get in touch with our team to talk through your logged dives and Divemaster status first.