| BSAC NDC E-Bulletin - December 2007 Issue 51 - www.bsac.org |
News from the National Diving Committee
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Issue 51 – Special Diving Officer’s Conference edition
National Diving Officer
I would like to start this edition of NDC E-bulletin by thanking:
My Steering Group is constructed around: my deputy, Jeff Reed; 5 principle groups led by Mark Wilson, Dennis Wigg, Maggie Driscoll, John Kermode and Nick Jewson; 2 headquarters staff, Jim Watson and Alistair Reynolds.
My National Diving Committee has been further revised and expanded and includes a further 36 committed and enthusiastic volunteers.
This year began with the release of DTP 2007 that integrated nitrox use for Ocean & Sports divers and also the release of our Sports and Advanced Mixed Gas Courses. In April the Automated External Defibrillator course was released. The speed and efficiency of a rescue and resuscitation are greatly improved by training and practice using AEDs. Also the Ice Diving Course was piloted again in Austria and released. A project through Council came to fruition with the release of the Go! Dive DVD. Internationally BSAC gained accreditation with EUF for our diving and instructing grades. Finally this year has closed with 5 branches given Clubmark status by Sport England.
BSAC faces many challenges, in particular:
As National Diving Officer I aim to:
As National Governing Body for Underwater Sports the BSAC wants to support all our instructors. Why? Because:
To do this in January 2008 all BSAC instructors will be sent an up to date copy of DTP 2008 CD-Rom. All BSAC instructors will receive a new instructor CD-Rom each year.
Sean Gribben
BSAC National Diving Officer (NDO) DIVER TRAINING GROUP
John Kermode leader of the Diver Training Group made a number of announcements at DOC this weekend. They included:
Change to First Class Criteria
Change to First Class Criteria
From 1st January 2008
Candidates will be required to produce an expedition plan for a venue and date approved by the Chief Examiner. A declaration is to be added to submitted plans that they are the candidate’s own work, have not been copied, reproduced or plagiarized in part or whole from any source. Any information attributable to another author is clearly indicated as such.
Buoyancy standards and workshop
There is a concern that, at a number of diver levels, the training of divers in buoyancy control could be improved.
We are proposing consistent standards to be added to all areas of diver training and a ‘Buoyancy Workshop’ is to be inserted into the Diver Training Programme. This workshop will be available as a ‘stand alone’ in the first quarter of 2008.
The buoyancy standards will be to integrate consistent standards in all training materials as follows:
+/- 3 metres unacceptable
+/- 2 metres beginner
+/- 1 metres Sports Diver/ Assistant Instructor standard
+/-0.5 metres Dive Leader, technical standard, Instructor standard
+/- 0.3 metres “Ideal” /Advanced/ Advanced Technical and Instructor standard. First Class: maintained even when achieving other tasks.)
The recommendation is that you should be able to maintain decompression stops to within +/- .5 metre and that with each change of personal diving kit you make you should verify that you can still maintain your decompression stops within these limits.
Updated Lifesaver Courses
Lifesaver, Advanced Life Saver and Snorkel equivalents have been revised.
The new instructor materials are ready for release and will either be included in the 2008 Instructor CD or will be available for electronic download.
Revised instructor/examiner requirements were detailed:
(This applies to Examiners as well!)
They are:
On behalf of the Diver Training Group, John made the following additional recommendation:
All divers should refresh the skills associated with Basic Life Support and Oxygen Assisted Rescue Breaths every 12 months.
If the branch has access to an Automatic External Defibrillator, then these skills should also be refreshed every 12 months.
It was noted that the Rescue First Aid course has now been withdrawn following a recommendation from the Resuscitation Council that ‘bag valve mask’ techniques should not be taught to lay rescuers. Also, like other skills, these are thought to have a very short ‘currency’ before they have to be refreshed and that this is thought to be around 3 months.
Launch of Wreck Appreciation Course
This new course is available from 1st Jan 2008 and the instructor materials will be made available on the 2008 instructor CD. It has an Ocean Diver entry level and has accreditation with the Nautical Archeology Society. It counts as 6 points towards the Survey module quota for the Part 3 certificate, so any NAS member who takes the course can put the course and the 6 points into their NAS training record.
The student materials are produced to a very high standard and are available to members at the standard SDC rate from BSAC HQ.
The Diver Training Group would welcome suggestions for further Skill Development Courses and would particularly welcome offers of help to work with others to produce them. Please contact John Kermode dtg.leader@bsac.com
DIVING GROUP
Work undertaken so far this year includes;
Earlier this year there was a belief that the Marine Bill had been dropped, and consequently the work that BSAC had put in to explaining how important marine reserves could be to the future of the health of the seas, would come to nothing. We are pleased to be able to tell you that the drafting process is still going on and that a draft Marine Bill is expected in the first quarter of 2008. You can be sure that when the draft Bill is published, BSAC will be looking closely at what it contains and will continue in discussion with DEFRA for as long as necessary to support our case.
We are very pleased to announce that the Nautical Archaeology Society has decided that divers who complete the new BSAC Wreck Appreciation Course can be awarded 6 points towards the NAS part 3 Survey module. This is good news for all BSAC members who are also NAS members, or who wish to do NAS courses leading to Part 3 certification.
Dennis Wigg
Diving Group Leader
INSTRUCTOR TRAINER GROUP
Role
The role of the instructor Training Group is to focus on reviewing, developing, refining and keeping up to date all the instructor grades within the BSAC. The team will strive to maintain the excellent system the BSAC already has in place for developing instructors, as well as looking forwards toward any improvements that can be made in the future. Furthermore, they will work with the coaching scheme to develop additional support for would-be instructors. The team will also raise the profile of the instructor grades and carry on promoting a straightforward means of achieving them.
Who
We are a big group, but that’s hardly surprising we have a big job to do. We are responsible for the very first step of instruction, the Instructor Foundation Course, right up to examining our highest grade, the National Instructor. The team is shown here:
What have we been up to?
Open Water Instructor (OWI).
This year has been another busy year for all things OWI with 853 students attending Instructor Foundation Courses (IFCs) all over the country from the frozen north to the windy south west. The course continues to be to be hugely popular with lessons learned often used in peoples work!
A total of 397 students attended Open Water Instructor Courses (OWICs). As you’d expect from an open water course, the visibility varied from crystal clear to a wee bit challenging. And temperatures from warm to shall we say temperate!
242 students passed the Theory Instructor Exam (TIE), which is where the candidate gives the 10 minute classroom lesson. For those considering this in the future, the key is to hit the essential criteria taught on the IFC and be well practiced.
Practical Instructor Exams (PIEs) were also well attended with 268 passing. We have learned however that people still struggle with teaching rescue techniques and also interestingly buoyancy, so we will be emphasising these skills on both IFCs and OWICs to help students prepare for both teaching these skills and for the examination.
The Theory Exam paper resulted in 238 people passing. Combined, the whole lot resulted in 434 people this year becoming Open Water Instructors. Congratulations to you all. Before you start attacking the maths please note, because the exam is modular people pass various elements at various times hence the numbers. There are also a number of direct cross-overs from other organisations included in the total.
Advanced Instructor (AI).
We ran 11 Advanced Instructor Courses (AICs) this year. This is generally a very busy weekend mostly enjoyed out on boats and we pack an awful lot in. Take a look at the article with more detail about AI in this NDC bulletin.
We are please to announce 28 people passed the Advanced Instructor Exam (AIE), the culmination of a tremendous amount of work and effort.
Once people have passed AI we ask them if they would like to attend an Instructor Trainer Development Course (ITDC). This course is the first step to becoming an Instructor Trainer (IT). This year a very successful ITDC was run in October and the next step for those that attended is to continue their development on the Instructor Training Scheme (ITS) by observing an IFC, a PIE and a TIE.
Please note, all AI’s out there who haven’t attended an ITDC, we have another course running 26/27 January 2008, so if you are interested please contact HQ to put your name down ASAP.
National Instructor (NI).
This year we ran 3 formal prep events for would be National Instructors. A pool, soft boat and hard boat events. Even for these very highly motivated and experienced candidates there is much to learn and these prep events serve to let those attending know what they need to concentrate on.
We have no numbers for informal preps for NI candidates, except to say there are, we understand, 52 weekends in the year!
This year 3 people passed NI a huge achievement for all . . . . if you want details of how much . . . line yourself up a dozen pints of beer and listen to their stories! Contrary to popular belief NI is not an impossible task, far from it. We clearly state what we need in all our material, we also know there are many more people capable of passing the exam, they just need to register, prepare well and take the exam.
The BSAC needs more NIs because there’s plenty of work to be done!
Projects.
Right now we have a number of important projects on the go. We are going to produce a new IFC DVD, and given the feedback we are getting back from instructor events, one of the subjects we will cover will be surprise, surprise – buoyancy!
We are currently reviewing all the things an instructor needs to teach at all levels. As part of that review we are going to ensure that our instructors have the skills and tools to accomplish that teaching.
One of the critical skills of an ITS instructor is to be able to give accurate and relevant feedback to our members that put themselves forward to take instructor exams. To help out our ITS staff we are producing new guidelines to help our staff construct their comments.
To help the development of ITS staff we are going to improve how they progress within the scheme. With that in mind there will be a tighter mentoring scheme with clearly defined objectives and goals.
Snorkelling continues to be important and this year we have been working on the Snorkel Instructor Training Course which now reflect many of the lessons and good practice learned from our IFCs.
Thanks.
Finally we’d like to thank all the students for coming forward to the ITS and encourage them to keep developing and progressing. We also wish them all the best when they take their next steps.
We would also like to thank all the ITS staff. Your commitment is extraordinary, without it we would struggle. Your enthusiasm seems to know no bounds and one of the great kicks we get out of the scheme is watching the students get as enthusiastic as you! Your expertise is a great credit to you and a great asset to BSAC and helps to ensure our instruction and divers receive the very best there is available.
Mark Wilson
Instructor Trainer Group Leader
Becoming a BSAC Advanced Instructor
Learning on the Advanced Instructor Course, practising your skills and then demonstrating them on the Advanced Instructor Examination provides a number of opportunities:
What happens on the events?
Format Instructional dive – acting as buddy and teaching according to the type of dive specified.
Surface teaching – teaching relevant theory and practical short topics at any suitable time. This includes a substantial element of Dive Planning and Management.
Project dive – working in a group to achieve a project, taking responsibility for part of it, including a dry run and then the underwater teaching.
OWI Critique – improving on a short demonstration lesson by the Instructor Trainer underwater and then giving constructive feedback. This develops your skills in helping other instructors in your branch.
Classroom lesson – 15 minute lesson to include as much student involvement as possible.
The above elements make up the AIC. The AIE follows the same format, with the added interest of a theory test – 60 multiple choice questions at Advanced Diver level, in a one-hour paper. This is usually taken before the practical exam at any IFC / TIE venue, but arrangements are flexible. Please don’t let the thought of “taking an exam” put you off – the pass rate last year was over 70%.
People on the Events
The most important people on any AI event are you! Students on the AIC are divers of at least Advanced Diver qualification, who are also Open Water Instructors. Candidates on the AIE must have attended an AIC.
AIC / AIE events are staffed by a team of Instructor Trainers, under the guidance of a Senior Instructor / Examiner. On the AIC, the Instructor Trainers are either National Instructors or very experienced Advanced Instructors/ First Class Divers. On the AIE, the Examiners are all National Instructors who are approved to act in this role. They are, above all, enthusiastic divers with a commitment to passing their knowledge and enthusiasm to others.
We look for two essential qualities in BSAC Advanced Instructors:
If you have those, you’re well on the way to being an AI already! We look forward to welcoming you on an event.
Mike Thomas Advanced Instructor Chief Examiner
Congratulations to new instructors accredited between September 1 and November 27 2007:
National Instructors:
Simon Campbell, Sarah Gauci Carlton, Andrew Procter.
Advanced Instructors
Edward Howarth, Gary Marsh, Richard Wordsworth, Andrew Thompson, Kevin Amaira, Lanny Vogel, Iain Andrews, Philip Kennard, Joseph Ryan, Paul Birkin, Gordon Mackie, Wayne Murray, Michelle Kim
Open Water Instructors
Nigel Lebedev, Victoria Mellor, Stephen Dipiacito, Andrew Jordan, Doug Ward, Chris Prichard, Stuart Dalziel, David Horton, Simon Couzens, Marc Freeman, A Bellamy, Gavin Cairns, Keith Taylor, Graham Timmis, Michael Whitworth, Stephen Lamyman, Henrietta Poon, Duncan Southern-Naylor, Jamie Loberman, Roy Ketley, S S Salih, Patrick Shanahan, Paul Gray, Paul Madden, Mark Jenner, Robert Mark Stevenson, Robert Hanwell, Jack Morgan, John Morgan, Helen Tyrrell, Philip Macdonald, Kevin Smyth, Niall Crichton, David Naylor, Matt Palmer, Mark Marie, Chris Sugden, Alison Smith, Michael Moore, Jennifer Hunt, Barbara Hardie-East, Jason Park, Jan Stevenson, David Donaldson, Steven James Czuprynski, Robert Sewell, Frank Mcharg, Neil Nutt, Andrew Norfolk, M A Price, Malcolm Robertson, Lynnzee-Marie Hart, Alexander Eburne, Christopher Carter, Jonathan Stewart, Paul McIlwaine, Hugh Franklin, Kevin McCulla, Peter Friswell, Michael Jones, David Smallman, Sarah Turpin, Timothy Stobart, Christopher Court, Christopher Williams, Philip Hesden, Michael Worsley, Paul Holland, Mark Hamilton, Ronald Fox, Darren Mcmullen, Chris Fox, Peter Storey, Robert Lowe, Joseph Simpson, Adam Raman, Richard Bailey, Blair Lindsay, Peter Hale, Richard Beck, Steven Belson, Ian Carbin, Richard Cave, John Collins, Ian Dale, Carl Gorton, Spencer Norman, Ian Evans, Michael Edwards, Andrew Sarson, Richard Stone, Mark Busuttil, Richard King, Brian Azzopardi, Franco Bugeja, Thomas Snooks, Brian Ferrante, Ian Pitchfork, Helene Martin, Bernd Kulessa, Paul Dundon, Peter Chamberlin, Peter Crane, Graham Epstein, Piers Bonifant, Peter Davies, Stewart Butterfield, John Steele, Dominic Whyte, Simon Metcalfe.
TECHNICAL GROUP
REMIT
Since the introduction of Nitrox into the World of Sport Diving in the early 1990s, the Sport of Diving has evolved radically and rapidly. The evolution of rebreathers and mixed gas diving has without question altered many divers' perception on the definition of sport diving. 
The Technical Team has been given the remit by the NDO of reviewing current and future dive trends and to investigate the practical and safe integration of the more readily available technologies into the BSAC. Part of the role is to educate divers by demystifying 'technical diving' and to ensure the timely evolution of the BSAC Diver Training Program.
In order to address this scope of works, the BSAC is combining together all the technical elements under one mantle to enable a more pragmatic and cost effective approach to the management of 'technical diving' and its associated issues. In addition, to provide more granularity and clarity to the BSAC membership when addressing issues and concerns.
Technical Group consists of a small core team, but with support from a number of members outside of the core team.
The core team is:
Nick Jewson Technical Group Leader
Jeff Reed Technical Chief Examiner, Rebreather
Paul Haynes Technical Development Officer
Sarah Gauci Carlton Technical Chief Examiner, open circuit
Trevor Davies Technical Author
Gavin Anthony Technical Consultant
Nick Jewson, Leader of the Technical Group, made a number of announcements at DOC this weekend. They included:
What we have been up to so far this year includes;
Development and launch of the new branch gas blender course, the objective of this course is to Branches to blend Nitrox or Trimix using relatively low-cost, simple and available systems.
Updating the Advanced Nitrox course to enable the use of accelerated decompression procedures.
A significant re-write of the old ERD course to make the course more of a progression if members wish to progress to higher level courses.
Development of instructor courses/workshops up to Advanced Mixed Gas open circuit, and up to Advanced Mixed Gas rebreather, a number of pilot workshops have being run in the UK and overseas.
Development of the Expedition Mixed Gas course, this is the highest level technical course and is being written with the objective to train members how to plan, manage and dive on technical expeditions that are to known or unknown sites that may be significantly deeper than 100m.
Evaluation of courses from other agencies to enable BSAC recognition of the certifications within BSAC and Branches, for example the new course being developed by RAID agency for the new CIS Lunar rebreather.
Nick Jewson
Technical Group Leader
COMMUNICATIONS GROUP
Communication to and from our membership, across the NDC Groups and across all the BSAC services has been identified as an area of weakness that NDC felt needed some specific focus. It was therefore felt that the Services Group should have a slight change of focus and become the Communications Group.
The challenge for the Communications Group this year therefore is to improve communications. At the same time, we took the opportunity to strengthen the NDC with some additional cross group support by adding some extra roles:
The role of the Communication Officer is obvious but has commenced with a review of our existing communications and will move on to the development of our ongoing strategy and implementation during next year. Additionally, most recently she has assisted the Coaching Team in promotion of the work of the Coaching Teams. The Technical Editor is working across groups to support and supplement the heavy workload already being undertaken by the Technical Editors in the Diver Training Group and the Technical Group and this we hope will speed much of the work into production, as well as the Quality Assurance of material going out from HQ. If there is anyone who has DTP (Desktop Publishing skills i.e. the use of Desktop packages) and would be interested in assisting, then Howard would be delighted to hear from you. In addition, he is currently seeking volunteers with experience of animation using packages such as Adobe Director. The Coaching Development Officer is assisting the Coaching Team and HQ Coaching Coordinator in the development of cross regional standards and procedures such the standardisation and implementation of training for our Area Coaches and we would hope to see this come to fruition during 2008. We have also now formally added the role of the DOC Co-ordinator to assist the NDO in planning and organising the annual Diving Officer’s Conference and she is already beginning work to look at next year, so needs your feedback and thoughts so we can continue to include your feedback when organising.
We are continuing with the various representations of our membership to ensure that their views are voiced and issues considered within the NDC as well as developing closer working relationships with HQ and providing feedback to HQ, for and on behalf of the NDC Groups. These are:
We should not underestimate what we already do. We currently have over 10,000 of our members opting in to receive updates by email. These are targeted emails depending on your area of interest – BSAC Shop, Snorkelling, BSAC Talk and the NDC E-Bulletin and not forgetting the ITS communications and those to our Branch Officers, Coaches and Instructors. There are of course, the BSAC websites and we will see real improvements to these during the coming year. It is perhaps that we do so much that can make it a task in itself to get the messages out to the right audience and the challenge for each of us to sift this and know what information is new or relevant to us. The advent of the internet, email and the communication highway has brought with it its own challenges and that is the main challenge for the team over the next 12 months as we seek to:
So that when a new message needs to be delivered that we send that message using the right method of delivery (whether it be email, snail mail, web or a mixture of all) for the target audience and ensure there is a clear feedback mechanism, understood by all and that the feedback is then analysed by the appropriate party or parties, improvements acted on if needs be and communicated back and so continue the cycle.
We have already begun the work:
The proposal for improvements we hope to deliver in the first quarter of next year and we then we will be communicating the outcome of those proposals.
In the meantime, don’t forget to use the opt-in function on the BSAC website, which will enable you to receive electronic updates, such as BSAC Talk and the NDC E-Bulletin direct to your designated email address. The ‘opt-in’ button is on the bottom left-handside of the homepage on bsac.org and please encourage your branch members to do the same.
Maggie Driscoll
Communications Groups Leader
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