Snowboard Instructor Courses
What we will discuss here are introductory courses, designed to give you the skills to take a job as an entry level snowboard instructor, which allows you to teach beginner snowboarders. You will pick up teaching methods, and an understanding of basic snowboard technique. You will also be taught good communication skills and how to plan lessons. These entry level snowboard teaching qualifications are a great way to get advice and tuition from people who already know how the industry works, and can help develop your career. Pre-requisites for any entry level snowboard instructor course are usually your age 16+ and the ability to demonstrate safe riding skills on intermediate terrain.
Short courses generally last a few weeks and are designed to be quite intensive, perhaps allowing you to train and begin teaching in the same season. If you want to have the time to qualify at a more leisurely pace, with more time to practice your technique, you may choose to take a longer course, lasting several months.
Which snowboard instructor course should you take?
Unfortunately, there isn't a single internationally recognised snowboard instructor qualification, so you'll need to decide which course you want to take. The three listed below are about the best and all of a similar standard. One of these qualification should allow you to teach in a number of countries around the world.
Canadian Association of Snowboard Instructors (CASI) Level 1 Snowboard Instructor course qualifies you to teach entry level snowboarding in Australia, Canada, Japan and the USA.
Snowboard Instruction of New Zealand (SBINZ) Level 1 Snowboard Instructor course is the qualification you will receive if you train in New Zealand. It allows you to teach in Canada, Japan, New Zealand and the USA.
British Association of Snowsport Instructors (BASI) Level 1 Snowboard Instructor course only qualifies you to work on artificial and indoor slopes. To work in a ski resort you will also need the Level 2 Snowboard Instructor qualification. Level 2 allows you to work in Australia, New Zealand, USA and Canada, and Switzerland. It is a well recognized qualification and smaller resorts may also help you with your visa.
If you want to teach in Italy and France it gets a bit more complicated. Some resorts in Italy are not as strict, though will often limit the amount of time you can teach. If you want to teach snowboarding in France, you'll basically have to be an ourageously good snowboarder (or skier - they don't recognise foreign snowboarding qualifications but they are quite happy to allow ski instructors to teach snowboarding!?). You are looking at perhaps BASI Level 4 before you can even contemplate teaching in a French resort.
Ski Instructor Courses and Jobs Available
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