Course overview

Make the move from guiding divers to teaching them with the PADI Instructor Development Course in Hikkaduwa, on Sri Lanka's south coast. The calm, warm reef waters of this long-established dive town give instructor candidates a forgiving, controlled setting to rehearse confined- and open-water teaching presentations before sitting the independent Instructor Examination. You finish the IDC ready to certify divers of your own and join the worldwide community of PADI professionals.

What you’ll learn

• Deliver knowledge-development, confined-water and open-water teaching presentations
• Apply the PADI system of education and current dive standards
• Demonstrate, evaluate and correct student diving skills
• Manage diver risk and run sessions to professional standards
• Brief, supervise and debrief students with confidence
• Prepare fully for the independent PADI Instructor Examination

Prerequisites

• Minimum age 18
• PADI Divemaster or a qualifying leadership rating from another recognised agency
• Certified diver for at least 6 months
• 60 logged dives to begin the IDC, 100 to sit the Instructor Examination
• Emergency First Response Instructor rating (can be completed alongside)
• Diver medical clearance signed by a physician

What's included · What's not

Probability of sightings · month-by-month

What you're likely to see each month, based on historic operator logs.

Day-by-day itinerary

1. Day1
   Teaching foundations

   Orientation to the PADI system of education and your first classroom knowledge-development presentations.
2. Day2
   Confined-water workshops

   Practise demonstrating and teaching core skills in the calm shallows off Hikkaduwa.
3. Day3
   Open-water teaching

   Deliver open-water teaching presentations and skill circuits on the house reef under evaluation.
4. Day4
   Standards & risk management

   Work through dive standards, risk management, marketing and the business of diving.
5. Day5
   Theory & rescue assessment

   Sit dive-theory exams and complete the rescue assessment to IDC standard.
6. Day6
   IE preparation

   Mock exams, presentation polishing and a full briefing for the independent Instructor Examination.

Verified through iDive

Every partner school in the iDive network is vetted on safety, instructor credentials, equipment standards and student feedback. Talk to a iDive dive pro on WhatsApp for current availability and reviews specific to Hikkaduwa.

Frequently asked questions