PADI

The Professional Association of Diving Instructors (PADI) is the world's largest recreational diving membership and diver training organization founded by John Cronin and Ralph Erikson.

PADI members, including dive centers, resorts, educational facilities, instructors, and divemasters, teach the majority of the world's recreational divers. PADI operates offices in Australia, Canada, Switzerland, Japan, Sweden, the United Kingdom, New Zealand and the United States. The corporate headquarters, PADI Worldwide, is located in California, United States of America. PADI Offices serve more than 130,000 individual professional members and more than 5,300 dive centers and resorts in more than 180 countries and territories. Translations of PADI materials are available in more than 26 languages.

PADI courses range from entry levels (such as Scuba Diver and Open Water Diver) to master scuba diver and a range of instructor certificates. Via their affiliate Diving Science and Technology (DSAT) they also offer various "Technical" diver courses, including decompression diving, Trimix diving and gas blending.

The PADI system is composed of modules with standardized learning objectives divided into theory and practical skills development. Theory is mainly conveyed by way of self-study (books and video) with confirmation of the student's level of mastery in standardized knowledge review sessions with a Scuba instructor. Practical skills mastery is obtained through training in pools and performance evaluations in open water. Upon completion of each course, a certificate is issued.

PADI courses are performance based dive programs, and at the introductory level emphasize practical knowledge, safety and motor skills. The foundations of Diving physics, physiology and chemistry are built during entry level programs. The more esoteric details of these concepts are left for later courses when the diver has gained practical knowledge and experience beyond the entry level. These practices fall within current modern learning philosophies and receive regular updates via peer review. In addition to this, other dive instruction programs have adopted similar techniques.

PADI has been criticised for less-rigorous standards of training, mainly due to the perception that PADI puts less emphasis on physical exercise than CMAS and other, non-commercial organisations. Despite this criticism, PADI is the only training agency in the world that regularily surveys newly certified divers and follows up any training standards violations via their own Quality Management department.

"Short Diving Courses" such as those taught via PADI were criticised in a U.K. Coroner's Court as being inadequate. During a coroner's court session in Plymouth, UK on 8 August 2006 expert witness Dr. Phil Bryson, Medical Director at Plymouth's Diving Diseases and Research Centre, said he was amazed beginners could be certified at advanced level after just eight dives. Another expert witness Mr. PC Peter Tapper, a police diver of Devon and Cornwall police, agree (Under British Common Law, a witness' opinion given at a Coroner's inquest is an expert opinion, not necessarily a fact, it carries more weight if it becomes a finding in the Coroner's report). Mr. Mark Caney Vice President, Training, Education and Memberships of PADI International Ltd UK whom was not asked to attend the hearing in any capacity, later responded on the previously little known Ten Foot Stop web site that according to statistics, the number of fatal diving accidents decreased from 1990s when the number of divers trained under PADI system increased. He further elaborated the meaning of "PADI Advanced Open Water Diver". In PADI system, divers with PADI Open Water Diver qualification can advance their open water diving skills and enhance their experiences in a controlled way. The qualification of PADI Advanced Open Water Diver differs from the BSAC's Advanced Diver qualification, in that the PADI Qualification requires a mere 11 dives, whereas the BSAC Qualification requires around 200 dives. The PADI Divemaster qualification is roughly the equivalent of the BSAC Dive Leader qualification being the grade below BSAC Advanced Diver.

Another criticism states that the PADI approach encourages the belief that diving in warm clear waters is the same as diving in cold murky waters. However, this is contrary to PADI training and PADI Instructors are expected to bolt on extra speciality courses, at extra cost to adapt PADI programs to local environmental conditions. PADI also promotes the use of other speciality courses and local orientation sessions, which teach divers required new skills and provide ongoing revenue to its members.

In 1995, PADI founded the Project AWARE to help conserve underwater environments. Project AWARE information has been integrated in most courses and divers are offered the chance to exchange their normal certificate for an AWARE-certificate by making a donation to the program when sending in their application for a new certificate.