PADI Staff instructor is the next rating after MSDT. Roatan has an IDC every month making it easy to become a staff instructor at a time that suits you.
PADI IDC Staff Instructor Training in Roatan
See instructor training from the other side of the room.
The IDC Staff Instructor rating is the next step on the PADI professional ladder after Master Scuba Diver Trainer. It is awarded to MSDTs who audit a complete Instructor Development Course and learn to mentor, evaluate, and score instructor candidates to PADI standards.
The only prerequisite is your MSDT rating — renewed or not. That makes this course one of the most practical ways to step back into active teaching after a period away from the water.
What the course involves
You spend the course working alongside me through a full IDC — not watching from the back, but assisting, and learning how I teach it.
The heart of it is evaluation. You learn to score instructor candidates in a way that is consistent with PADI standards, but also consistent with actually developing the person in front of you: recognising a candidate's strengths and building on them, identifying weaknesses honestly, and applying the PADI system to bring candidates on in a balanced, low-stress way. Done well, evaluation is not about catching people out — it is about developing them.
For me, the Staff Instructor course is what really rocket-propelled my own instructor career. After a few years working full time my love for teaching had started to wane, and the course brought it back. I re-evaluated much of the way I was teaching, recognising my own strengths and weaknesses as an experienced instructor. I learnt as much on the Staff Instructor course as I did on my own IDC — much of it was familiar, but what had gone over my head during the IDC I was now ready to absorb and apply, with real experience behind me. It was like seeing the same course from the teaching side for the first time.
The Roatan IDC classroom — where you'll learn to run one.
A route back into teaching
If you have been out of the water for a while, this is one of the most productive ways back. You do not need a current MSDT rating to enrol — and you will renew your membership as part of doing the course.
For instructors who have been inactive for two to five years and face PADI's refresher/update requirements, completing the IDC Staff Instructor course usually satisfies those requirements in a far more productive way than a simple status update. You come back current, refreshed on standards and teaching technique, and with a new professional rating in hand.
Where the real evaluation happens — in the water.