Seafarer Cadet Review Report and Recommendations - June 2021

18 - Cadet Training Group Report & Recommendations
Cadet Training Group Report & Recommendations - 19
Attracting, Educating, Developing and Retaining
a Diverse & Differentiated Officer Base
The Seafarer Cadet Training Group heard input from
have become established to broker these relationships
three of the large colleges/Universities offering
Qualifications
(note that these Training Providers are not educational
Practices
merchant officer training. We heard that:
establishments in this context).
Cadet recruitment is declining. Even the introduction of
Senior leadership within the shipping sector consistently told
An example of the peculiarities of tradition is that
SMarT Plus funding in 2018 to increase the proportion of
the Seafarer Cadet Training Group that new officer talent is
From a student perspective, the impact of the
seafaring students at colleges and Universities wear
cadet funding covered by the Government does not
not currently meeting their rising technical and leadership
funding system is:
uniforms during their college studies whilst mixing with
seem to have increased numbers.
needs. Despite this, for those seeking to do an honours
A
They often have little or no choice of where they study
peers doing other subjects. It is questionable whether
degree (or equivalent level 6 qualification), there are currently
and therefore what qualification they receive (eg HNC,
this type of traditional feature really helps to attract
Year: 2015/16 Number: 781
very limited options to meet this aspiration whilst being
HND, Foundation Degree or Honours Degree).
students into this area of education.
2016/17 771
educated as a seafarer.
B
It is unclear where the ownership for their development
2017/18 693
lies between colleges, their sponsoring company and
It is recommended that:
2018/19 816
Those with the highest entry level STEM qualifications will not
the “Training Provider”
Leadership, people and self-management skills are
2019/20 727
therefore have seafaring even on their long list of education/
C
The amount of funding that they receive for living
brought more strongly into the curriculum of seafaring
career options.
expenses during their education is highly variable and
officer training courses and greater use is made of
Entry-level standards are consequently reported to
at the discretion of the shipping sponsor and often
competency frameworks.
be sliding. This is happening at a time when the
insufficient to cover basic living expenses with many
Seafaring officer education be expanded to include
requirements for technical and leadership capability
Testing of competency
cadets reporting having to take out loans.
a stronger appreciation of the business within which
are rising and likely to accelerate further.
they operate and how the basic functions within these
11% of cadets are women – an improvement on the
Rigid application of STCW and a rather traditional teaching
businesses function.
past, but not enough.
approach, often constrained by unimaginative application of
Currency of content
Those things that make seafarer education so
The proportion of cadets not receiving certificates
regulation and a lack of long term perspective of the industry
different from other areas of education are normalised
of competency is high – 40%.
training board, has led to too much emphasis on time spent
Course content is out-dated as are many of the
wherever possible so that following this education
being educated as a measure of individual success instead
teaching tools used. There is generally very strong
route is more routinely considered as a long list career
Two of the colleges that the Group spoke to said
of focus on competency demonstrated. This means that
agreement between colleges/universities and those
choice for talented students from a fully diverse set of
that they believed that a large proportion of their
the pace of learning can be set to the level of the slowest
in the most senior positions in shipping companies
backgrounds and characteristics.
UK cadets came from seafaring families. Cadets
learner. One impact of this is that entry to seafaring education
about what change is needed and yet “the system”
Qualifications earned and course content, where
and newly qualified officers told the Cadet Training
is much less attractive for graduates than it ought to be
around seafarer education continues to resist that
possible, are aligned with having currency and relevance
Group that many of their peers took this career step
because the conversion education courses are not
change. Tradition is often a good thing, but it is
when officers move to shore-based roles.
simply because they could find no other routes to
fast tracked.
clear that the system is as focused as it needs to be
It is essential that, subject to their capability, students
employment. The Nautilus survey 13 confirmed that
on the present and is certainly not focused on future
have a free choice of where they study, and therefore
many students choose a cadetship because of
needs. For example, heated debate continues about
the style of education which they receive, and the
the long term career opportunities in the industry
Funding
whether simulators should play an increasingly
qualification gained on completion. This should
and that the funding available through SMarT was
central role in teaching ship handling and incident
be written into the obligations for sponsoring
important in them making that choice.
The funding system is complex and very different to other
management and how that might impact on
companies.
areas of education. The current SMarT (support for maritime
current sea time requirements – something that
Wherever possible, the MCA drops the use of time spent
Seafarer education is an outlier in the UK
training) funding system demands that students are
the aviation and many other sectors resolved some
in training as a criterion for educational success and
educational environment – one contributor described
sponsored by a shipping company at the point of entry and
decades ago.
encourages the sector to use objective criteria as in
it as “peculiar”. Areas highlighted included:
throughout their education. So-called “Training Providers”
other subjects.