SSI Assistant Instructor Trainer Course in Gozo, Malta
Step up from teaching divers to training instructors.
The SSI Assistant Instructor Trainer (AIT) rating is where you stop developing divers and start developing professionals. You earn it on a live Instructor Training Course, under SSI Platinum Instructor Trainer Lee Rigby and we run twelve of them a year.
Led by Platinum IT Lee Rigby
12 ITCs a year
All-inclusive pricing
An SSI Open Water Instructor rating: licensed to teach for a living
An SSI Assistant Instructor Trainer (AIT) is qualified to certify Assistant Instructors and Specialty Instructors in their own right, and to train instructor candidates alongside an Instructor Trainer on the full Instructor Training Course. It's the first rung of SSI's trainer pathway: above Divemaster Instructor, below Instructor Trainer.
Once certified, an active-status AIT can:
The hours in front of students are what qualify you
To become an AIT, SSI requires you to hold the Divemaster Instructor rating (or a recognised equivalent), be at least 18, and have issued at least 50 certifications:
Try Scuba, Basic Diver, Referral and Scuba Diver programmes count proportionally toward the Open Water total. Send us your numbers and we'll tell you exactly where you stand.
Train with us, and the 50 certifications happen
on the job
Instructors on our team teach a full schedule at one of the busiest SSI Career Centres in the world, across a season that barely stops. Fifty certifications isn't a target you chase for two years; it's a by-product of the job. Our instructors clear the threshold while they're simply working and the next ITC is just a few weeks away.
That's the difference between training here and training somewhere quiet. It's the next thing you do.
If you're already an SSI instructor with the above 50+ certifications, can can simply joing an ITC and an Instructor Trainer to supervise you: read on.
Not yet an instructor? Start with our SSI Instructor Training Course →
Your earn it evaluating real students
The AIT is not a classroom exercise you complete in isolation. The seminar is academic and in-water training delivered under the direct supervision of an active SSI Instructor Trainer, and it's completed on an active ITC, because training instructors is the thing you're being assessed on, and instructor candidates are what you need in front of you.
You'll learn to present and assess instructor-level teaching presentations, evaluate candidates in the classroom and in the water to SSI standard, and score in line with your Instructor Trainer across both academic and in-water evaluations.
Which means the availability of the rating comes down to a simple question: is there an ITC to join, and an Instructor Trainer to run it? Most centres can't answer yes. We answer yes twelve times a year, under Platinum SSI Instructor Trainer Lee Rigby.
The busiest instructor development programm Worldwide
Bubbles is not a quiet training centre running the occasional instructor course. We certify more SSI instructors than anyone else, with twelve ITCs every year, real candidates in volume, and a team led by Lee Rigby, the most successful SSI Platinum Instructor Trainer in the world.
This is where instructor training feels like the real industry. You are surrounded by courses, students, Divemasters, instructors and daily dive centre operations from the moment you arrive.
You are not waiting for a course to appear. With an ITC running every month through the season, you can choose a date, plan your travel and train inside a system that is already moving.
Volume matters. More candidates means more teaching examples, more feedback, more different learning styles and more real preparation for the people you will teach after qualifying.
Your programme is led by Lee Rigby, the world’s most successful SSI Platinum Instructor Trainer. You are not learning from someone who occasionally teaches instructor courses — you are learning from the trainer setting the benchmark.
Gozo is one of Europe’s premier dive destinations, with 30m visibility, legendary wrecks, caverns, deep sites and world-class training conditions minutes from the centre. It is the kind of place that can take you from your first professional rating to the pinnacle of diving.
The road to instructor trainer
Instructor Trainer is the top of SSI's professional ladder, the rating that lets you run the ITC yourself, certify instructors independently, and open the training centre you actually want to run. It's a rating that comes with genuine leverage: an IT is what a dive centre should be built around.
You don't get there without the AIT, and you don't get there without instructor-course experience behind you. Both live in the same place. Every ITC you train on as an AIT here is experience banked toward becoming an IT, which is why doing your training at a centre that runs twelve a year matters more than it looks on paper.
Tell us that's your goal and we'll plan the whole route, not just the next rating.
Your dates are our ITC dates
Because the AIT is completed on a live Instructor Training Course, the seminar calendar is the ITC calendar. The AIT itself runs across the first week of the ITC (see the full ITC dates →) for the twelve intakes we run each year, and pick whichever suits you.
Want to get more out of the trip? Stay on for the rest of the course, plenty of AITs use the remaining week to keep learning alongside the candidates and see how one the most successful Instructor Trainer runs an ITC before they head home.
Send us your current rating and certification count and we'll come back with a full scope.
One arrangement, no hidden costs.
Accommodation, lunch and certification fees all part of your package, one arrangement, no separate costs along the way.
Nothing to pay SSI, ever
Your SSI certification fees are already covered in your training.
FAQ
What is an SSI Assistant Instructor Trainer?
An Assistant Instructor Trainer is an experienced SSI instructor qualified to teach Assistant Instructors and certify Specialty Instructors, and to train instructor candidates alongside an Instructor Trainer on the Instructor Training Course. It's the first rating in SSI's trainer-level pathway, above Divemaster Instructor, below Instructor Trainer.
How do I become an SSI Assistant Instructor Trainer?
Hold the Divemaster Instructor rating and have issued at least 50 certifications (30 Open Water Diver, 15 Advanced/specialty, 3 Stress & Rescue, 2 Dive Guide/Divemaster). You then complete the AIT seminar on a live ITC, supervised by an SSI Instructor Trainer, and pass its academic and in-water evaluations.
What are the Assistant Instructor Trainer requirements?
Minimum age 18; Divemaster Instructor rating or recognised equivalent; 50 issued certifications in the specified mix; completion of the AIT seminar including the final exam and academic and in-water teaching evaluations, scored within ±3 points of the supervising Instructor Trainer.
How long does it take to issue 50 certifications?
It depends entirely on how much you teach. At a quiet centre it can take a couple of years, especially the Divemaster certifications. Teaching a full schedule at a busy Career Centre like ours, instructors reach the threshold far within a season, for our team it’s a by-product of the job rather than a target.
Do I need to be on an ITC to get my AIT?
Yes, the rating is earned training real instructor candidates under an Instructor Trainer, so you need a running Instructor Training Course to complete it on. That’s the practical barrier for most instructors: few centres run enough ITCs. Bubbles runs twelve a year under Platinum SSI Instructor Trainer Lee Rigby.
Is Assistant Instructor Trainer required before Instructor Trainer?
It's the standard progression. The AIT rating, plus the instructor-course experience you accumulate holding it, is how you build toward the full Instructor Trainer rating, the one that lets you run the ITC and certify instructors independently.
Let's Confirm where you stand
Tell us your current rating and roughly how many certifications you've issued. We'll confirm where you stand against the requirements, tell you which of our twelve instructor courses to join, and plan the route from there.