First Aid and CPR/AED Instructor Transfer Course

Three groups: current instructors from another recognized organization, Canadian Red Cross Water Safety Instructors, and educators.

• A current First Aid Instructor with another recognized organization
• A Canadian Red Cross Water Safety Instructor holding Intermediate/Standard First Aid
• A teacher with an Education degree and current Intermediate/Standard First Aid

Two entry points exist. If you already teach first aid somewhere else, hold a Water Safety Instructor certification, or teach with an Education degree, this transfer instructor training gets you there in two days. Everyone else uses the Canadian Red Cross Instructor Development Course, the standard six-step route described in the Instructor Development course above.

18 or older, a valid Canadian Red Cross certificate in the discipline you want to teach, and a completed skills evaluation with no coaching. These are the same Canadian Red Cross First Aid Instructor prerequisites checked at Step 1 of both options above.

Only an authorized Canadian Red Cross Training Partner, like Coast2Coast, can deliver Canadian Red Cross Instructor Development courses. Individual instructors teach within a Training Partner’s program rather than running the course independently.

We don’t publish a separate list of Instructor Development centres. Fundamentals of Instruction and the Discipline-Specific Classroom Component run at the same Ontario training locations as our other courses — see our full locations page for addresses.

In principle, yes. Option 1 above is for candidates who are already a First Aid Instructor with another recognized organization, and St. John Ambulance is a nationally recognized Canadian first aid training organization. You would still complete the skills evaluation, Fundamentals of Instruction and Teaching Experience steps — the transfer skips the Discipline-Specific classroom component, not the whole pathway. Call us to confirm your specific certificate qualifies before you register.

Which classroom component you skip. Option 1 is for instructors already certified with another organization, and skips the Discipline-Specific classroom component. Option 2 is for educators and Canadian Red Cross Water Safety Instructors, and skips Fundamentals of Instruction instead. Both groups still complete the skills evaluation, Teaching Experience and certification steps.

Yes, exactly one of the two — never both, and never neither. Which one depends on your background: Option 1 candidates complete Fundamentals of Instruction, Option 2 candidates complete the Discipline-Specific component. Both registration links are above.

Four disciplines are available.

• First Aid & CPR
• Wilderness & Remote First Aid
• Professional Responder
• Psychological First Aid

Yes — Intermediate First Aid and Standard First Aid are the same course under two names. The Canadian Red Cross changed the wording, so older certificates read Standard while newer ones read Intermediate. Either satisfies the prerequisite for this course, as long as it is current — see the first aid courses page.

Three years. Keeping it current is the instructor’s own responsibility. Renew through the Instructor Recertification course: 6 hours for First Aid & CPR, 7 hours for Professional Responder.

You earn a digital Canadian Red Cross Instructor certificate, valid for three years. One item remains after that: the co-teach form set out by your Instructor Trainer, which is what puts you in front of a real class at Coast2Coast.

The First Aid and CPR/AED Instructor course is the standard six-step route. It is four days plus one skills day and does not assume any prior teaching credential. See the Instructor Development course.