Hi Tim,
The problem with IKO is the lack of quality control. It has no checks and balances to keep the quality or standards high. IKO has always been about making money for IKO.
I taught more than 200 instructors in the years I was examiner for IKO, and despite my best efforts, the outcome of those courses was poor as once you had the ticket, which was pretty easy to get,as they had no way to ensure continued high performance, you could then simply throw out the learnings and go do whatever the hell you liked. If you couldn't get enough feedback forms then all you had to do was buy "top up" open book exams.
Of the 200 instructors I trained, I would employ no more than a dozen or so. Some even used my knowledge and experience to deconstruct the teaching system to maximize profits by shortcutting almost every important part of the course, producing sweat shop labour, cookie cutter instructor courses of the lowest quality and disillusioned poor instructors whom left the industry soon after. I left IKO years ago on principal because it was broken.
The KA system has been developed and structured by some of the most knowledgeable and experienced instructor/kiters in Australia, all of whom I have the utmost respect for. The system has checks and balances and a system of QC to ensure the safest practices remain in place. Albeit, this is still being implemented and will become stronger in due course.
When looking for instructors each year to work in our school, I disregard anyone who is Level 2 IKO as they have too many bad habits and don't want to relearn the basics. We look for Level 1's fresh out of a course and then retrain them from the beginnings in the right way. Of these, only half end up any good.
IKO is good in concept, but broken in delivery. A KA accreditation is worth a lot more, or you can join the minions of poorly accredited IKO instructors and work in crappy poor standards schools focused on coin and not quality.
Problem is, most people doing IKO courses are generally a bit loose and tend to want to travel and don't accept the job as a legitimate profession. The seriousness of what an instructor does is lost on most and therein lies the problem. It's all a bit of a laugh, just hopping around countries being able to buy enough beer for the next night of partying. This all sounds like fun until you have a student have a catastrophic accident due to your negligence and they may carry the injury for life effecting them and their family.
It's a serious job with serious responsibility and is worth doing a serious course with higher standards. But hey, jump on the IKO system and abuse it as many do.
Best of luck eh?
DM
For personal development.. 
