Professional Responder Instructor Development Course

You complete a six-step Instructor Development pathway, starting with a skills evaluation and a valid Basic Life Support, First Responder or Emergency Medical Responder certificate. Fundamentals of Instruction, the Professional Responder discipline-specific class, a Teaching Experience assessment and certification follow, then a co-teach session that puts you in front of a real class at Coast2Coast. The full pathway is above.

You must be 18 or older, hold a valid Canadian Red Cross Basic Life Support, First Responder or Emergency Medical Responder certificate, and pass a skills evaluation before you register. If you want to teach both First Responder and Emergency Medical Responder, an Emergency Medical Responder certificate alone covers you for both — you don’t need a separate First Responder certificate first.

Four days plus one skills day. That splits into 8 hours online and 14.5 hours in class for Fundamentals of Instruction, another 14.5 hours in class for the Professional Responder discipline-specific component, and 30 to 45 minutes online for Teaching Experience, whose in-class time varies with your competency.

Yes. Instructor training is booked as two separate registrations. Register first for the Skills Evaluation and Fundamentals of Instruction component, then register for the Discipline-Specific component. Both links sit in the registration section. Booking only one leaves the pathway half finished.

Your Professional Responder Instructor certificate covers three course families.

• First Responder (FR)
• Emergency Medical Responder (EMR)
• Basic Life Support

First Aid, CPR/AED and the child care courses sit outside it — those need the First Aid and CPR/AED Instructor course.

Three years, the same term as the certificates you will issue to your own students. Renew through the Instructor Recertification course: 7 hours for the Professional Responder discipline, 6 hours for First Aid & CPR, and each discipline is recertified separately.

The co-teach is a supervised class where you teach a section of a real Professional Responder course. You apply for it after you hold the certification. One of our experienced instructors watches, gives you feedback afterward, and confirms whether you are ready to teach on your own. If they fail you, you complete the co-teach again.

Partly. Fundamentals of Instruction includes 8 hours online, but the Professional Responder discipline-specific component is fully in class, with no online or blended option — scenarios, lifting and extrication can’t be assessed through a screen.

Yes. A valid First Responder certificate meets the prerequisite on its own. It qualifies you for the First Responder discipline; an Emergency Medical Responder certificate is what additionally clears you to teach EMR. Check with your Instructor Trainer about which disciplines your specific certificate covers before you register.