6 Competent maritime teaching staff T


Professor Captain Stephen Cross, Maritime Institute Willem Barentsz, NHL University


he global shortage of seafarers continues, despite influences resulting


from the economic downturn. So all efforts for retention of seafarers and recruitment of new intakes, are as essential now, as in the past. A shortage of seafarers however, will also result in a shortage of competent seafarer teaching staff.


Preferably, seafarer teachers will be recruited from among seafarers; but, this is becoming difficult, such that many shortcuts and ad hoc solutions are observed, to try to overcome the shortage of qualified teaching staff.


New initiatives are required to recruit potential educators and enhance the professional expertise of those wishing to pursue a career in maritime education and training (MET).


Some of the required characteristics of the maritime educator can be described as follows:


• Subject matter knowledge. The educator should hold at least the same


qualifications as the trainees he/she is supposed to instruct. But the higher or more specialized the training, the more difficult it becomes to find educators holding the same qualifi- cations as the trainees.


• Experience. Like with any teaching programme it is necessary to achieve


the skills to organize a lesson, transfer knowledge and ideas and relate to people. It is essential to communicate remarks or criticism in the appropriate way. The trainees’ background, culture, personality, age, peer group, all have influence on what is appropriate and how sensitivities should be dealt with.


• Motivation. The enthusiasm of the teacher for the training programme,


exercises and equipment, is a crucial element in the success of a course. He/ she should recognize the importance of the training and convey this to the students. However, instructors can be over-experienced, which could result in teaching material becoming so familiar, that the importance for the trainees, who encounter the subject for the first time, is completely overlooked. Even worse is when routine leads to de- motivation of the teacher, due to loss of a new challenge.


Where STCW puts emphasis on the qualifications of instructors and assessors, it gives very little specific information on how this shall be achieved.


Part A, Section A-I/6 of the STCW Code requires that “Each party shall ensure that


The qualities of a trainer Paul Russell, Marine Education specialist


and is still not always the case in other countries. Therefore what should we expect for our money?


I


t would be reasonable to expect that anyone paying for a training course


would be presented with an expert in the field of study indicated by the title of the course. However, whether that person also knows if his/her subject matter will be learnt by the audience is a whole new question.


Companies spend considerable amounts of their budgets on sending staff to expensive seminars and training events but do they know if they are getting value for money? Just having an industry expert at an event without that person having a basic idea about how to deliver information may be a waste of money and could have wider implications if there are safety issues involved.


In the UK, all lecturers in Further Education Colleges are required to be qualified teachers; this was not always the case


When first learning about the art of educating or training, the message is that preparation is the key to being able to deliver a good subject. Therefore the trainer should have the key facts and technicalities of the subject at his/her disposal.


Whether it is a short presentation or a longer course it should be borne in mind that an individual’s learning style is either by hearing the information, seeing the information or being involved in a practical aspect of the learning. It is difficult in a short presentation for trainers or presenters to get the students engaged in a practical activity but they should have a clear and interesting visual presentation ready, and they should speak clearly with some variation in tone.


Another key aspect of learning is ‘going from the known to the unknown’; in other


words the presentation should unfold and take the students on a journey which starts from something that they know and leads on to new information.


Where there is enough time, trainers should organise the learning around an activity base. For example a crisis management course could use a bridge simulator to stage a collision and the bridge teams concerned could then go through a debrief from the collision and then attend subsequent press interview.


One of the most important qualities that any educator or trainer must have is to make sure that the learner reflects on his/her experience. It is this reflection that allows people to internalise their understanding and commit the informa- tion into their long term memory. This will also be accomplished by showing an ob- vious enthusiasm/passion for the subject.


A longer version of this article can be downloaded from: www.he-alert.org/documents/published/ he01070.pdf


instructors, supervisors and assessors are appropriately qualified for the particular types and levels of training or assessment of competence of seafarers, either onboard or ashore.”


‘Appropriately qualified’ implies knowing the present situation on board. Refresher sailing periods are the best way to assure this. Then there is the issue of competence- based rather than knowledge-based training and education. It makes little sense if a graduate knows how to write about a shipboard operation, if he cannot perform it.


The quality of instruction, therefore, will depend heavily on the experience and expertise of the staff in the training institute; which means that, despite the global acceptance of STCW, there will still be considerable differences between the various institutes and thus of the product of their educational efforts.


But above all, how to attract teachers and what conditions are available for them is crucial to consider in assuring that qualitative MET will still be here in the future.


A longer version of this article can be downloaded from: www.he-alert.org/documents/published/ he01065.pdf


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