Instructor training

On the training you practice being an instructor. You try different methods and approaches that matter when you teach adults. There is only a little theory: you work through it, and you spend the rest of the time on practice. In the evening and overnight you still have homework to do.

The training does not promise a lot of theory, where you only listen, take notes, and forget it in a couple of days.

The training does not promise a course in yacht theory or a course that builds your yacht skills. We expect that you already know all of this. Here you need to develop your ability to train other people effectively.

The training does not promise a separate training in how to work under stress. An instructor already has to keep people safe with a smile where skipper candidates are almost ready to give up.

You need Offshore Skipper or equivalent experience.

You know the collision rules well enough to explain a situation: how it should be under the rules, and what the nuances are in real life.

Ideally you have already helped someone learn and have been an instructor's assistant.

You are ready to learn and to train.

You handle the yacht skills so that you can explain everything calmly and with a smile.

This page has no date.

The fee is for the training per person. It is not a fee for one place in the group and not a price list for one country.

On the page How to become an instructor the path to this training is written. On the page Checklist for instructor candidates the points used to look at a candidate are written.

The base of this training is five full days. Those days do not by themselves issue the instructor certificate.

You might not receive the instructor certificate if your knowledge of the rules and your yacht experience are not enough.

You might not receive it if you only like to tell things beautifully and, because of that, the students' skills hardly grow.

You might not receive it if you do not provide enough safety.

You might not receive it if you cannot manage your own reserves, that is your stock of strength and attention.

You might not receive it if you do not want to learn.

The training will give you a way to develop as an instructor, and not only in yachting.

As a yacht instructor, you will be able to work in different ISSA schools. The certificate gives experience for your own school and teaching skills. If you want to accredit your own school, read that on the page How to open a school separately.

This is the association's matrix: which instructor licence allows which courses. The list is published on the page ISSA instructor careers at the association.

As a rule, the training covers Inshore and VHF. The trainer may widen that list at their own discretion. There are also specialised courses for single levels.

The instructor certificate lasts 5 years. It is not open-ended. That term is written on the page ISSA instructor careers at the association.

To keep the certificate from lapsing, you teach the days and courses the association requires, follow safety and reporting, and attend an update when one is required.

The association FAQ adds this: every 5 years instructors are asked to attend update sessions. The association publishes the dates of those sessions on its own site, not on this page.

If the level is short at the end of the training, we will tell you what you need to work on and give you time to do that on your own. After that you can join the full course or come to the Instructor assessment procedure separately.

The school and the instructor set the cost of the work and of the training. What matters is that the quality standards are met.

Where the training takes place is written on the page How to become an instructor separately.

The main materials for the training are in English. For special groups, as a rule, the session is also held in English, and the materials for it are translated into other languages.