Wages for Diving Instructors: Paid Enough?

[Brian of Aquanauts]

Following from a recent thread from Martin Burnard... I was wondering if I, my partners and employees were underpaid, or is our love of a sport enough to warrant our wages. What do you reckon? Do we get enough? Or does the lower pay prohibit some possible truly great instructors from entering this profession? Then again are there enough good people out there doing it for love and the sport that this isn't an issue. Would better pay bring better standards, tuition and safety (plus unfortunately higher course prices)?

B

[Phoenix]

I don't think the Industry pays well enough, in some areas course prices are so low that it makes standards very difficult to maintain.

Ian

[dry suit diver]

totally agree with you , if ther courses are run as cheap as they are then paid instructors must be below minimum wage. BSAC is different as its all voluntary.

[angleseydiver]

Erm... shouldn't this be in the "poll" section?



Sorry, must be missing the corner...

[Andy M]

Originally Posted by Brian of Aquanauts

What do you reckon? Do we get enough? Or does the lower pay prohibit some possible truly great instructors from entering this profession?

Brian,

My take on this subject is this. There are too many crap instructors teaching first time divers, this applies equally to PADI and BSAC, but perhaps more so in BSAC with all the badge collectors. I know of some BSAC instructors who have done less than 50 dives in total, quite legitimately.

What needs to happen is better quality control in the industry - nobody is going to do it, because there are too many commercial interests at stake.

Its not particularly about instructor pay, that would just attract more crap instructors. Its quality control that is key. If there was a need to pay instructors more to be able to introduce real, stringent quality control, then that would be fine. Less divers would die.

[John N]

Given that the standard instructor rate (at an LDC) here in Surrey is £50 per day I would say not. I mean, you can earn near enough the same working in MacDonalds.

There are many fine, enthusiastic new instructors who are willing to work for this to gain experience, and a number of more experienced ones too.

Unfortunately, given that it is difficult to earn a living wage I suspect that many experienced instructors are not willing to work for that, depriving students of their valuable experience.

This is NOT about quality control. It's about the value placed on diving instructors.

Much of the problem it seems to me begins with the consumer though. How many of us have been asked how much it costs to learn to dive? When you tell them that Open Water costs £300 or £350 how many times do they say 'Oh, that's a lot more than I expected, I'm calling around for the best deal so I might get back to you'?

For that price they get four days of tuition.

If they wanted the same amount of an instructor's time to, let's say learn to drive, here in Surrey it would cost over £800. A driving instructor doesn't need a 'safety driver' either.

While most customers continue to demand the cheapest possible option, market forces and the love of diving will ensure that there is always an instructor willing to work for peanuts.

[wreckweasel]

Originally Posted by John Nortcliff

If they wanted the same amount of an instructor's time to, let's say learn to drive, here in Surrey it would cost over £800. A driving instructor doesn't need a 'safety driver' either.

While most customers continue to demand the cheapest possible option, market forces and the love of diving will ensure that there is always an instructor willing to work for peanuts.

That'd be the sound of a hammer meeting a nail!

We're all as guilty as each other on the economic side. The industry does have those who teach well, but you have to hunt them out. I guess the quandary is that you dont know this until you've dived for a while.

[Martin Burnard]

You do not have to be cheap to win your customers!

I will not do a sales training session here but ..... if you have good staff, good kit, good procedures, and you maintain the standards explain this to your customer. If you cut cost you have to cut quality...... remind the customer that anything cheap is cheap for a reason. (Please do not run down other dive centres).

90 customers at £600 per course or 170 at £300 per course... which one produces the better profit and which one will produce the better diver all factors being equal?

I'll get off my high horse now..... I don't care I am not a diving instructor!!!

[Woz]

There will always be a diving instructor who will do it for less money than your current one. It's the way of the world I'm afraid.

Personally I think BSAC should take a deep breath and start something along the lines of BSAC Pro. Then the instructors can charge for their training if they want to. But then it would fall under the HSE rules, they would need insurance etc..... it's a minefield.

[ScubaK@]

If the pay was higher we would be able to demand better, the market forces would mean that instructors who don't make the grade don't get the work. With course prices so low it means that its often what an instructor is willing to work for, not the quality of their teaching that gets them the job. I am very lucky, I have some great instructors (who I pay as well as I can) but I have had some interesting conversations when instructors on trial periods with me have failed to make the grade and their defence has been that I don't pay them enough for them to care. Sad but true. They didn't last long in my shop!