Acceptable merchant navy deck officer education and training systems for Asia Pacific ship owners/managers

摘要

The international merchant shipping industry is suffering from the poor safetyudstandards of vessels and a lack of well trained seafarers. As almost all of Australia'sudsea-based export and import trade is carried on international vessels, the standardudof these vessels, and their crew, is of particular concern to the Australian peopleudand the Australian Government. With the much quoted statistic of 80% of alludshipping accidents being caused by human error, the training of seafarers,udparticularly deck officers, is a major concern for the international shippingudindustry. The Commonwealth Government recognises that the improvement ofudvessel safety requires the provision of adequate education and training forudinternational seafarers. In 1994 the Government encouraged the AustralianudMaritime College to diversify its sources of funding with the object of attracting anudincreased flow of students from the Asia Pacific region (House of Representativesud1994, p. 62). 'udThe Australian Maritime College offers training for deck officer students throughudthe Diploma of Applied Science (Shipmaster) and the Diploma of Applied Scienceud(Nautical Science), and attracts a significant number of full-fee students from theudAsia Pacific region. The majority of the international students are self-funded,udwith very little financial support from the shipowners/managers. The aim of thisuddissertation is to determine a deck officer education and training system whichudwill encourage Asia Pacific shipowners/managers to enter into a contract with theudAustralian Maritime College to fund the training of their deck officer personnel. The dissertation seeks the opinions of shipowners/managers in relation to theudacceptability of training models, the acceptability of delivery methods, theudwillingness to financially support training and the factors that affect the education,udtraining and certification of the deck officer students. The study also investigatesudthe characteristics of the international shipping industry to provide insights intoudfactors that may constrain or encourage the implementation of a deck officer education and training systems. The research is focused through the followingudresearch questions:ud1. Do the Asia Pacific shipowners/managers have difficulty obtaining adequatelyudtrained deck officers?ud2. Do the Asia Pacific shipowners/managers wish to support deck officer trainingudthrough an agreement with a maritime institution and/ or funding to deckudofficers?ud3. What are the acceptable deck officer Certificates of Competency education andudtraining systems for the shipowners/managers in the Asia Pacific region?ud4. What are the desirable/undesirable delivery methods for the deck officerudeducation and training program for the Asia Pacific shipowners/managers?ud5. What do the shipowners/managers see as the major influencesudeducation and training of deck officers in the Asia Pacific region?udon the The dissertation uses two descriptive research methods to collect data from shipping company personnel; face-to face interviews and a survey questionnaire. The results of the research indicate that the shipowners/managers are having some difficulty obtaining well-trained deck officers, with the deficit greater in the senior officer ranks than junior officer ranks. This suggests the training market in the Asia Pacific region is quite secure, as there is significant demand for well trained deck officers. The majority of shipowners/managers do not have, or want, a Certificate of Competency training agreement with a maritime trainingudinstitution. Also, the shipowners/managers from the major shipping centres ofudHong Kong and Singapore are of the opinion that an employer should contribute audrelatively small amount, 0% to 20% (n=7), to the cost of a Second Mate student'sudtraining. The shipowners' I managers' most expected, most desired and best training systemudis the Sandwich, Diploma of Applied Science (Shipmaster), model. The Front-end,udDiploma of Applied Science (Nautical Science), model is regarded as one of theudleast expected, least desired and worst training models. For the Second Mate courseudthe most agreeable delivery methods involve practical training and official assessment by senior officers at sea and by simulation at a training institution. Theuduse of a training institution to delivery lectures and tutorials was also supported.udDistance education for Second Mate students is given marginal support; however,udit is not supported for senior officers due to their at-sea workloads. The factors thatudstrongly influence the education and training of Second Mate students are theudCertificate of Competency government requirements, the International MaritimeudOrganisation's requirements, the Quality Assurance of the shipowner/managerudand increases in the regulation of shipping.udIn order to encourage contracts with Asia Pacific shipowners/managers theudAustralian Maritime College may need to be able to prove the financial benefit of audtraining contract to the shipowners/managers. The basis of this proof could be theudalleviation of a shipping company's concern of port State control detaining audvessel due to incompetent officers, which costs money, and the non-compliance toudQuality Assurance due to poorly trained officers, which may affect insurance. TheudAustralian Maritime College could alleviate this concern by the provision of audcompany approved education and training system that ensures deck officers meetudthe requirements of port State control and comply to the company's QualityudAssurance. Such a system may need to have the following elements: Quality Assurance to recognised international standards;ud• the Sandwich model course structure;ud• competency based curriculum which concentrates on the training andudassessment of practical skills as well as underpinning knowledge;ud• official assessment of deck officer students by on-board senior officers;ud• extensive use of simulators in the training and assessment of students;ud• distance education option for the Second Mate students.udThis system implies that the Australian Maritime College may wish to considerudundertaking the following developments:ud• obtain Quality Assurance to an international standard as a matter of urgency; develop a Competency Based Training curriculum that takes into account theudrequirements of Standards Training Certification and Watchkeeping 1995 andudthe Australian Vocational Education and Training sector;ud• implement Competency Based Training education for the Australian MaritimeudCollege staff;ud• develop a senior officer train-the-trainer and assessor course;ud• develop an on-board deck officer assessment system which ensures alludassessments are carried out validly, fairly and consistently to the satisfaction ofudthe Australian Maritime College and the Australian Maritime SafetyudAuthority;ud• investigate the development of distance education learning packages forudSecond Mate students;ud• develop constructive relationships with shipping companies and shipownerudorganisations in the Asia Pacific region.