Diving Instructor (Open Water)
A Diving Instructor (Open Water) teaches recreational scuba diving to students in open water environments, typically Australian coastal or inland water sites. They conduct theory sessions, confined water training, and open water certification dives while ensuring strict adherence to safe diving practices, equipment maintenance, and Australian diving standards.
What this job is
A Diving Instructor (Open Water) teaches recreational scuba diving to students in open water environments, typically Australian coastal or inland water sites. They conduct theory sessions, confined water training, and open water certification dives while ensuring strict adherence to safe diving practices, equipment maintenance, and Australian diving standards. The role combines water-based instruction, risk assessment, and pastoral care to prepare divers for independent recreational diving.
Are employers advertising this role?
Rising, up 24.4% over 5 years
Counted across a group of similar roles. These are three-month rolling averages of online job advertisements, not filled positions.
Source: Jobs and Skills Australia, Internet Vacancy Index.
Day-to-day
Deliver theory instruction on dive physiology, pressure effects, gas laws, decompression procedures, and Australian diving regulations to student groups. Conduct confined water training sessions to teach essential skills including mask clearing, regulator recovery, buoyancy control, and emergency procedures before open water certification. Assess student competency in fundamental skills (fin kicks, equipment assembly, weight management) and determine readiness to progress to open water dives. Plan and brief open water dives appropriate to student certification level, water conditions, and site-specific hazards. Lead open water certification dives while maintaining continuous supervision, monitoring student air consumption and buoyancy, and executing rescue interventions if required. Inspect, maintain, and test scuba equipment (tanks, regulators, buoyancy compensators, computers) according to manufacturer specifications and safety standards. Manage dive logs, certify student completion of required dives to issue recreational diving qualifications (such as PADI Open Water Diver or equivalent Australian standards). Conduct pre-dive safety briefings covering entry and exit procedures, underwater hand signals, abort protocols, and site-specific marine hazards or protected species.
Who does this now
About 530 people worked in this occupation across Australia at the 2021 Census.
What this role asks for
Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3)
Registration or licensing is required.
Can employers fill these jobs
Employers hiring for this occupation were generally able to find suitable applicants in 2025. This measures how hard employers found it to fill jobs. It is not a count of jobs, and it does not say whether the occupation is growing.
Requirements
The standard entry pathway requires a Certificate IV or Certificate III with at least two years of on-the-job training (ABS skill level 3). Specific qualification requirements vary by employer and state. Some employers may accept equivalent experience. Check yourcareer.gov.au for available courses and dewr.gov.au/skills-reform/free-tafe for subsidised training options.
The honest hard part
You're liable if something goes wrong underwater. A student panic attack, equipment failure, or missed decompression sickness symptom means potential injury claims against you personally. Seasonal work means quiet winters in most Australian regions. You'll also spend half your time doing equipment maintenance and admin, not teaching.
Where the jobs are
Work is heavily seasonal (summer peaks, winter droughts). Remote work doesn't apply. Almost all positions are with dive shops, resorts, or liveaboard operators rather than independent contracting.
Pay
Published for ANZSCO unit group 4523, the wider group this job sits in, not for this job on its own.
This is the median for full-time employees who are not managers and are paid at the adult rate, before tax and salary sacrifice. It is a guide to what the work pays, not a wage rate.
Source: ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
Skills
- Adapt teaching to student's capabilitiescore
- Adapt teaching to target groupcore
- Adjust sporting equipmentcore
- Goal Setting and Planningcore
- Group Facilitationcore
- Record Managementcore
- Report Writingcore
- Risk Identificationcore
- Team Collaborationcore
- Time Management and Prioritisationcore
- Verbal Communicationcore
- Written Communicationcore
- Adaptability and Flexibility
- Continuous Learning and Upskilling
- Cultural Awareness and Sensitivity
- Disability Awareness and Inclusion
- Feedback Collection and Actioning
- Inclusive Practice
- Microsoft Office Suite Proficiency
- Reporting and Analytics
- Stakeholder Communication
Which of these do you have?
Tick the ones you haveCommon questions
Sources
- ABS OSCA 2024, occupation definition and task statements
- ABS Survey of Employee Earnings and Hours, May 2025, customised report.
- ABS, 2021 Census of Population and Housing based on usual place of residence (Custom Report). OSCA Experimental Estimates.
Role data is drawn from official Australian Government sources, and each figure names where it comes from. Where a role is not in the ABS classification, the page shows no government figures for it. Data may not reflect every local variation.
Last updated: 30 October 2026
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