Quality teaching for maritime students: An ongoing challenge?


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tudies have shown a dramatic downward trend in the average age of


seafarers in management positions and a high demand for qualified senior officers in the years to come. There is also a shortage of seagoing personnel and, moreover, an apparent lack of training personal, which has not been highlighted so far.


The age of seafarers in management positions is continuously decreasing; and less and less seagoing experience or practical experience is the result of the strong market demand by shipping companies. Are these seafarers the future teachers at maritime universities? Hopefully yes – otherwise, we will have teachers with absolutely no practical background coming from various industries and trying to adopt seagoing experience by literature only. Fortunately, a lot of teachers in maritime colleges still have a seagoing or engineering background - which is essential for the training of young seafarers.


But practical experience is only one of the tasks to be an accepted teacher. Teachers need to develop competence in explaining


quite difficult and complex tasks in a simple manner in order to reach the students and to motivate them. The basic elements of didactics and learning methodology are crucial and a key to the learning success. Further, teachers in maritime colleges bear a high responsibility with regard to the development of interpersonal skills of the students. Past experiences have shown that human negligence and lack of responsibility have caused a lot of major incidents in shipping.


Therefore, teachers need to develop expertise in new areas of training like working in an extreme environment, working together with different nationalities, religions and mentalities. The intensive training of leadership skills is just as important as the development of engineering or nautical skills. Motivation of people and good leadership with modern methods is one of the key elements to teach in the future.


Based on my own experience, I would say that teaching offers a lot of direct response and feedback from the students and working with young people daily is brainstorming in every respect. In


Towards reducing the number of human factors-related accidents Allan Graveson , Senior National Secretary, Nautilus UK T


he importance of the human element in shipping safety has become widely


accepted in the industry in words if not in deeds. But how is this knowledge being passed on so that the seafarers of tomorrow can benefit and the number of incidents reduced?


In the early 1990s NUMAST, the pre- decessor of Nautilus International, produced a report that called for higher standards of training to ensure that all seafarers reach a universal level of basic competence. However, there is still a lack of emphasis placed on the relationship between high levels of training and a reduction in the number of human factors- related accidents.


The problems have been all-too evident in the past. In 1988 a fire broke out in the engineroom of the passenger ship Scandinavian Star. With 27 nationalities onboard and no common language, the alarm was raised using hand signals and the fire-fighting efforts were severely impaired. These issues were not resolved


and a similar fire two years later led to the deaths of 158 passengers and crew.


In 1989, responses to the Exxon Valdez disaster largely overlooked the human element. Very little attention was given to the US National Transportation Safety Board report which concluded that the most immediate factor in the vessel’s grounding was the ‘failure of the third mate to properly manoeuvre the vessel because of fatigue and excessive workload’.


Human factors appear to have played a role in the recent Costa Concordia disaster. Many have been quick to point the finger of blame firmly in the face of the captain, but little has been said about the bridge team. Did anybody on the bridge that day question the route the ship was taking? Did the officer of the watch realise the danger and question the master? The safety of any vessel has to be in the hands of all the crew and they must all be willing and able to question decisions.


Those onboard must work in an atmos-


phere free from bullying and aggression if they are to feel able to question the master when they feel something is not right. Similarly, crew resource management training should foster an environment in which cross-checking and double- checking is not seen as close to challenge the master’s authority.


There also appeared to be an issue with language and communications during the evacuation. All crew must be able to speak a good level of English and/or the working language of the vessel if they are to quickly and safely follow instructions from the bridge. They must also be able to communicate effectively with those travelling onboard as the human element is clearly evident in the delivery of clear and concise instructions to passengers.


Better research is needed into the complex role of human factors in marine accidents. If proper collection and analysis of data is undertaken, then the lessons needed for new and future maritime professionals will be much clearer.


Dipl. Ing. Stefan Rother, Flensburg Maritime College, Germany


general, students at a maritime college have the strong intention to get their exams done in the shortest possible time and it is good to watch their progress and see them improving day by day. However, it is essential for teachers to continuously update their know-how and keep track of the latest developments - not only with the technical elements such as engineering, ship building, nautical and forensic developments, the daily shipping business etc, but also with the social aspects and skills, which are not to be underestimated.


Being a teacher involves daily self-study. On the one hand, it is a great opportunity to take part in laying the foundation for young peoples’ future career development and on the other hand, to work on key issues within shipping whilst taking advantage of the previously gained valuable skills.


Providing practical training is an ongoing challenge – but also a very valuable career opportunity.


A longer version of this article can be downloaded from: www.he-alert.org/documents/published/ he01075.pdf


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