How does ski instruction certification work?

[alaski]

Sorry for all these boring questions, but here goes - I am just wondering if all ski instructors have to teach skiing the same way. I've seen a few threads talking about having to ski a certain way for ski instructor certification - you have to be able to demonstrate the skills, right?

So does this basically mean that all ski instructors will basically end up teaching the same type, style, and technique of skiing? Can a resort hire a ski instructor that isn't certified in that way?

 

[Pequenita]

Can a resort hire a ski instructor that isn't certified in that way?

This is the only part of your question that I know the answer: Yes. New instructors can be hired (depending on supply/demand) by taking an instructor course given by the hiring resort. It's essentially an evaluation to see how you ski and teaches you how to teach new skiers.

Ski area where I took my course this past winter had some wanna-bes who were renting equipment. I didn't really understand this one.....

In the US, the PSIA that has different level certifications, which require you to be affiliated with the resort that employs you as an instructor (ie, you can't just go to a PSIA clinic/test without first being a member or provisional member or something). There's a website, for it, and the women instructors who are certified can probably give more info. I think it's like an accreditation, like a resort wants to be able to boast that its instructors are PSIA certified, and it's a uniform way of measuring thigns.

 

[Jilly]

alaski - I'm a certified level 2 ski instructor in Canada. The Canadian Ski Instructors Alliance offers 4 levels of certification in Canada. Passing Level 1 allows you to teach at a resort in Canada. You are covered by insurance from the CSIA and your employer. Most level 1 instructors are teaching children and low end intermediates. Level 2 gets you to a more advanced level of teaching skill. Level 3 is more advanced. You can demonstrate and teach bump skiing and advanced parallel techniques. (Just finished this course!) Also a level 3 instructor can take another course and be eligble to be a course conductor for level 1. Level 4's are usually full time instructors at resorts and course conductors for the lower levels. There are only 400 level 4's for all of Canada!
As a CSIA Instructor you are expected to teach the "Canadian technical model". Individual ways of teaching this are promoted. Not all people learn the same way. The end result for the student should be the same given the individuals ability.
At the moment I know of no resort, club, hill in Canada that uses non certified CSIA instructors. The insurance costs would be too high!
Now as for the PSIA - I'll let perma-grin, cnewbound or tcarey educate you on their policies.

 

[tcarey]

Hi there.
In my past experience you do not need a certification to teach skiing.At Okemo it is encourage that you join PSIA but it is not a requirement.The higher levels you attain the higher levels you may end up teaching.This does not mean you won't be teaching those who have never skied wether adults or kids.
The mountain I work for recognizes the commitment it takes to go through the exam process and rewards those with a bit higher pay.

PSIA sets a standard for us to follow but it is not written in stone-there are many pathways to acheive the same outcome.Proper education enables us to understand and use differrent teaching styles to produce the same outcome!

Hope this helps!

T

 

[MaineSkiLady]

In the US, the PSIA that has different level certifications, which require you to be affiliated with the resort that employs you as an instructor (ie, you can't just go to a PSIA clinic/test without first being a member or provisional member or something). There's a website, for it, and the women instructors who are certified can probably give more info. I think it's like an accreditation, like a resort wants to be able to boast that its instructors are PSIA certified, and it's a uniform way of measuring thigns.

The first step is becoming a registered apprentice, which requires ski school affiliation and a certain number of teaching hours before taking Level I exam. Lots of clinics are usually held at the home mountain. The next 2 levels require that the participant take an exam prep course before starting to take exams. Level 2, f/k/a Associate Certified, used to be a 2 day exam - I'm not sure if this is still true now. Level 3, f/k/a Full Certified, is a 3 day exam, with written, teaching and on-snow skills aspects. Each candidate is "examined" by 3 examiners and must pass 2 of 3 examiners in the teaching and skiing/riding skills.

Certification can be obtained in a variety of disciplines: Alpine, Nordic, Snowboard (now a separate division, AASI), Adaptive. Ski school affiliation is not required to maintain current certification. Every other season, a CEU course has to be taken to maintain current level of certification, if membership is still "active." (There is also an inactive status.) Even if not currently teaching, which would apply to my DH.

PSIA, a national organization, is broken into divisions by region.

The certification process in the US is pretty intense. Attaining Level 3 is a big deal. The "gold pin." It's not easy -- very, very few pass on the first try. Involves traveling, sometimes a considerable distance, to exam prep and actual exam sites. Big commitment.

 

[snowmiser]

Hi alaski!

MaineSkiLady pretty much covered it all except that Level II is now 3 full days. For level 1 you can take your written exam on day 2 of the exam. For levels 2 & 3, you must take and pass the written exam before you attend the on hill exam.

At our area, you don't need to be certified to teach, but you must attend training clinics and then be shadowed by an experienced instructor before you can teach a lesson on your own.

The pay scale varies by certification level. For instance, for an assigned lesson, (not requested) and uncertified instructor makes $8.00 per private 1 hour lesson. A Level 1 would make $12 for that lesson, a Level II - $16, and a level III - $20. If you are personally requested to teach the lesson, those rates go up by $4.

I attained my Level III this season and now I make roughly 1/2 of whatever the ski school charges for a lesson - Whew Hooo! . But as you may know, we're not in it for the money -- we're in it for the love of the sport! :D.

~Anne~

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Wow, Level 2 exam is now 3 days --- shows you how long I've been out of the loop. Interesting also is that written must be passed first. I do recall when my son took (and passed!!) Level III that there were some candidates who passed skiing & teaching but had to retake written. Apparently it has changed. As does everything...

 

[tcarey]

MianeSkiLady,
In PSIA-eastern the exam process is in 2 parts now.For L2 and L3 you must pass a two day on hill ski exam.If you pass those you can take the teaching portion on a separate date.This is also a 2 day on hill teaching exam.So really it is 4 days total.

Each region dictates their own exam process.

T

 

[MaineSkiLady]

Wow, TONS of changes!! Involving what could be considerable amount of travel----Thanks for update.

 

[perma-grin]

Certification with the PSIA is a "Bench Mark". It let's students ( and ski school director's)know that your skiing, teaching, and technical knowledge meet the national standards set by the Proffessional Ski Instructors of America. How a test is administered is at the discretion of the Divisional Education, board, staff and their Examiners. It's kind of like the Goodhousekeeping seal of approval, but for skiers. It's not perfect but name one organization that is. It does give you somewhere to start. The National standards are very tough and demanding (Especially at L3)not everyone is going to be able to attain them. I know here in Central the Examiners are often said to be very knit-picky and overly tough on their ski criteria. Unfortunately due to our lack of terrain choices, I think they have to be. Certification ensures quality of skiing and depth of knowledge that you get when taking a lesson from say me or snowmeiser, will be the same "Quality" and on par with the one you take from Tcarey. Even though we are in two different Divisions we are still expected to meet the same standards. You have to keep your certification up to date by attending an educational event every 2 yrs. I tend toward Mini academy, or going to Academy at snowbird both are taught by Alpine Demonstration Team members. I feel these venues give you the most bang for your buck and the info that you recieve comes straight from the proverbial horses mouth.

 

[Jilly]

CSIA level 1 is 4 days of instruction and evaluation.
CSIA levle 2 is 5 days of instruction, testing and evaluation.
CSIA level 3 is 5 day course and 2 days of exams.
CSIA level 4 is 5 day course, another 4 days pre-exam and exams with written test and onsnow. Not sure how many days those exams are.
As my PSIA sister's have said, this certification isn't easy. We have been asked to wear our pins with pride. If you go to any ski school in Canada you will be taught in very much the same method. We are individuals and not all catch on at the same level. That's why we train continuously.
The CSIA also offer CSCF - The Canadian Ski Coaches Federation. These guys and gals are all instructors and coaches. They have just changed the way they are certified to bring it more in line with other coaching associations.
CASI - Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors. They have certification is racing, freestyle and riding.
Not part of the CSIA, but affilated with it is CADS. Canadian Association of Disabled Skiers. They promote - the mountian for all. Sit ski, one leg or blind. Really neat to see these instructors in action. Quite a program here at Tremblant. (I've a friend that had to learn at Mont Snow how it ride a sit-ski. The program hadn't started yet here in Canada.)
As I mentioned before we are covered with insurance. There has been litigation with accidents while students are taking lessons or just after. I'm amazed that resorts in states are allowing instructors that aren't "certified" to teach. Must be something different in the insurance business.

 

[marzNC]

Came across this old thread from 2008 looking for something related to ITC (Instructor Training Clinic) taught by local trainers.

Discovered this season that there is a category in PSIA-East called Master Educator. The instructor has to take a bunch of PSIA courses that are required for those who intend to take the Level 3 exams (skiing, teaching) within a short time span (2 years?). A Master Educator does not take the Level 3 exams but knows pretty much has the same level of training when it comes to teaching. The instructor who I talked to was old enough when he did the Master Educator stuff that it wasn't worth doing the L3 exam (bad knees, already semi-retired).

Any changes since 2008 to CSIA?

 

[Jilly]

Major changes just this year....courses are still mandatory, but so is "professional training". At the different certification levels you require "X" points in order to take the final course (level 2) or the exams level 3 and 4. For example the "pushing your limits" PTS I took on Friday is worth 2 points. The preliminary 2 courses I would need for the 3 exams make your point total you need for 3. If so some reason you didn't want to take those 2 courses, you could make your points using other sessions.

I like the idea of Master Educator. I sometimes wonder about taking my 3. Do I have what it takes? I also think that the CSIA needs to look at under categories...Children specialist, Women's specialist etc. that the PSIA does.

 

[ScottishGirlie]

And here is the British system (BASI = British Association of Snowsport Instructors):

Level 1 (For working on artificial slopes and indoor slopes)
5 day teaching and technical course
Safeguarding Children module required
Emergency First Aid certificate required
35 hours snowsport experience to be completed after attending the course

Criminal Record Disclosure required to validate licence

A one day refresher course to be completed at least once every three years


Level 2 (For working in the mountains/abroad depending on individual countries)
35 hours teaching/shadowing must be submitted prior to starting course
10 day teaching and technical course (a written exam was part of course, maybe not now?)

Criminal Record Disclosure required to validate licence
Emergency First Aid certificate required to validate licence

A one day refresher course to be completed at least once every three years

Optional module includes the Level 2 Performance Course


Level 3 ISIA (Aimed at instructors wishing to work in international ski schools)
200 hours teaching must be submitted prior to starting course
5 day Common Theory course
5 day ISIA technical course
5 day ISIA teaching course
6 day mountain safety course
5 day Level 1 course in a second discipline e.g. adaptive, snowboard, telemark
3 day Alpine Coach Level 1 course
Second language oral test

Criminal Record Disclosure required to validate licence
Emergency First Aid certificate required to validate licence

A one day refresher course to be completed at least once every three years

Optional module includes the Level 3 Performance Course


Level 4 ISTD (Elite level!)
200 hours teaching must be submitted prior to starting course
5 day ISTD technical course
5 day ISTD teaching course
4 day Level 4 European Mountain Safety course
6 days of logged touring
6 day Alpine Coach Level 2 course
Euro Speed test
3000-4000 word written project
Interview

Criminal Record Disclosure required to validate licence
Emergency First Aid certificate required to validate licence

A one day refresher course to be completed at least once every three years

Optional module includes the Level 4 Performance Course


Think all the above is correct!

For the level 3 and 4, I thought they had to refresh earlier than every three years, but that's what the website currently says. But in general, you can do as many refresher days a season as you want and of course, ski schools will have their own training programmes to enable instructors to keep current with new ideas, brush up on personal performance etc.

Like PSIA and CSIA with their own teaching system, BASI has one too. Saying that, not all people learn the same way and sometimes thinking outside of the box to help a struggling student develop is OK!

 

[marzNC]

At some point I picked up the fact that PSIA L2 requires Children's Specialist 1 and L3 requires CS2.

I watched a bit of a CS clinic at Mnut last season. It was a mixed group of students: alpine, telemark, snowboard. The trainer was a snowboarder. The clinic participants had a lot of fun acting like kids at times.

 

[Jilly]

The CSIA level 1 has a lot of kids stuff...but some of us missed that in our training..ie I'm old and I didn't take that stuff...So I really think a Children's specialist needs to be added as well as a Women's specific! But I don't think it needs to be a qualification to go to the next level..But there are those points!

 

[climbingbetty]

Just a point of clarification about PSIA (certainly the Eastern division), there really is no "Women's Specialist." You can take women's only clinics, and I'm sure there is some discussion in there of the differences of teaching women skiers, but it's not like the Children's Specialist designation, which is both a required course and an area of 'accreditation.' (Think like a speciality in medicine.) I think the logic is to make sure that instructors have the skills to teach most of the population of guests that come for ski lessons. Children are a significant portion of the 'new skier population' and they learn differently enough from adults, that this makes sense whereas teaching 'women's only' clinics for the 'new skier population' would be a rare & specialized thing. It would probably only apply to instructors coaching higher level students in special situations.

 

[Jilly]

Our level 1 courses in the past years have been geared to children. My problem is it wasn't when I took it. So I need lots of help working with kids. I'm better with adults. As for women specific courses....no, but there is a focus group (of women instructors) looking at women, I don't want to say it, issues.

 

[climbingbetty]

Yes, PSIA now requires a candidate to take Children's Specialist 1 to take the Level 2 exam, and CS 2 to take the Level 3. Taking (and passing) the Level 1 is a prerequisite to get into the CS 1 class, which I find mildy annoying because I would have liked to take CS 1 ASAP. I'm not great with working with children either. Certainly not in a teaching way. I get along with them, we can have fun, but I struggle to give them tasks to improve their skiing that they can handle or explain them in a simple enough way for them to grasp.

@Jilly Can you expound on some of these women's specific issues? It seems to me that Movement Analysis should be the same regardless and a good instructor should be able to tailor their communication to the guest. So what would be the biggest difference in coaching women? I suspect 'issues' around how women generally approach fear and risk differently, but is there anything beyond that?

 

[marzNC]

I noticed that PSIA-E has a 2-day on-snow course with the title "Skiing for Women Instructors" that is for women who would like to train with other women. There are also courses (indoor, online, on-snow) with the focus on topics like fear or seniors.