International Journal

on Marine Navigation

and Safety of Sea Transportation

Volume 6

Number 4

December 2012

1 INTRODUCTION

The actual Constanta Maritime University maritime

academic training is based on the Bologna process.

Inside of this process, the training period has four

years and at the end, the graduates receive a double

qualification, as officers for maritime industry and

as engineers for complementary industries. To

achieve this double qualification is necessary, during

the four years of study, to cover the special curricula

for both of them. The curricula for maritime

competencies are based on the STCW Convention

requirements and for the engineer qualification is

structured based on the national requirements.

These double qualifications are very useful for

those who do not want to have a long career on sea,

offering them the possibility to find a job on shore

after a number of years on sea, or from the

beginning, after the graduation for those who do not

want to work on the sea. On the other hand, this

system is not convenient for a person with years of

practice on sea as seaman or motorman and who

wants to increase the level of training and pass to a

superior rank, as officer. In this case, more efficient

will be to have implemented a vocational system of

training, shorter and based exclusively on the STCW

Convention requirements for duty onboard ships as

watch keeping officer.

2 VOCATIONAL TRAINING INSIDE OF THE

MARITIME ACADEMIC TRAINING SYSTEM

Starting from idea that the maritime vocational

training is designed especially for those persons with

a background in the maritime field, as ordinary

seaman or helmsman, the training process must

cover only the areas of interest which are not

covered by the onboard activities.

This concept leads to the present stage of

vocational maritime training that exists all over the

world, based on two years of study, when the

students learn only the curricula according with the

STCW Convention requirements. During these two

years, all necessary knowledge required for a duty

activity on the ship bridge is compulsory to achieve.

Taking into account, that the background

knowledge, practical part, about these activities,

already exists in the trainee, the main focus has to be

on the theoretical knowledge and in this direction,

Considerations on Maritime Watch Keeping

Officers’ Vocational Training

L.C. Stan & N. Buzbuchi

Constanta Maritime University, Constanta, Romania

ABSTRACT: The activities on the board of the ships are based on competences and skills. In order to have

competent people, you must to create them. This is the role of the maritime training system, to create

competent persons for the maritime field. Part of this system is the vocational training for the deck officers.

Maybe the most important role of the vocational system is to create competences based on the previous skills

and knowledge acquired during the practice period on the board of the ship.

533

more efficient, could be a modular system of

training.

Inside of this modular system can be included

modules about navigation techniques, ship handling,

cargo handling, regulations, maritime English and

other valuable knowledge for a safety activity on the

bridge.

The modular system represents in the same time

the solution for compression of three or four years of

study in only two, making possible the coverage of

all specialized curricula for the deck officer.

Another opportunity in the way of decrease the

study period is represented by the possibility to

exclude from the training period the on board

practice, this part being considered covered during

previous periods of working on board ships.

The main problem regarding the vocational

maritime training is about the equivalence between

Bologna process training, of four years, and the

vocational training, of only two years. Due to the

shorter period of training inside of the vocational

system, the modular system will be difficult to be

considered as academic level studies and to possess

the same statute. Some actual opinions consider as

optimum to accept the vocational system as training

for the operational level and the long form, as

training for the operational and managerial level too.

These opinions are based on the consideration

that it is not possible to cover all the requested

number of training hours for the managerial level in

only two years of study.

Below, there are described an education scheme

and an assessment system for the maritime deck

officer’s vocational training starting from the

previous consideration and according with the

present situation in Romanian maritime training

system.

3 MARITIME DECK OFFICER’S

VOCATIONAL EDUCATION SCHEME AND

ASSESSMENT SYSTEM

The education scheme for the vocational training of

a deck officer must be centred on the STCW

Convention requirements and on the functions as

navigation, cargo handling and stowage, controlling

operations and care for the persons on board.

Building on these functions as modular system,

the result will be a number of eight modules

containing knowledge in the navigation field, four

modules for the cargo handling, two modules for the

controlling operations and care for the persons on

board, two modules will include the complementary

knowledge as electronics, marine engine and on

board equipments other than navigation ones.

The navigation modules are:

− Module 1: Coastal navigation and celestial navi-

gation

− Module 2: Navigation equipments and ship han-

dling

− Module 3: Radar and electronic navigation

− Module 4: Voyage planning, Bridge Team Man-

agement, Collision Regulation

The modules about controlling operations and

care for the persons on board are:

− Operation and maintenance of the ship

− Search and Rescue Operation

Also, adjacent to these principal modules will be

other two modules dedicated exclusively to the

compulsory IMO Courses, grouped in the basic and

advanced courses.

− This structure will be distributed on four semes-

ters as:

− First semester: Coastal Navigation, part of com-

plementary courses as electronics and on board

equipments other than navigation ones and basic

IMO courses;

− Second semester: Coastal Navigation, Celestial

Navigation, Navigation Equipments, Ship Han-

dling, Operation and maintenance of the ship,

Cargo handling and stowage and marine engine;

− Third semester: Radar Navigation, Electronic

navigation, Collision Regulation, Cargo handling

and stowage, Search and Rescue Operation;

− Fourth semester: Radar Navigation, Voyage

Planning, Bridge Team Management, including

Human Factor and advanced IMO Courses.

A semester of 16 to 18 weeks long is considered

adequate in order to comprise the aforementioned

structure and to cover the complete number of

training hours requested by the STCW Convention.

The arrangement of the modules during the

semesters permits to structure the knowledge in a

natural order and thus, to have continuity.

A part of the modules can be arranged in another

chronology, but it is very important to assure that the

necessary knowledge is offered by a previous

module in order to pass to a new one. So, in this

context, is unnatural to place Celestial Navigation or

Radar Navigation before Coastal Navigation, course

which provides the basic knowledge for all the

following navigation modules.

The introduction of the IMO courses is necessary

in order to proceed to the certification as deck

officer at the end of the training period.

During the courses development, it must be taken

into consideration that the trainees have as

background a period of practice on the ship board

and some knowledge is possible to be known and in

this way is necessary to see first how and what they

know and to try to involve them actively in the

534

training process and to facilitate the knowledge

acquiring and understanding.

An important idea that has not be forgotten is that

one of the main scopes of the vocational training in

the maritime field is to create competences,

competences that can be based on the previous skills

developed during the periods of service on sea.

Any competence based system must be managed

within recognized arrangements for assuring quality.

The requirements for a quality standards system are

included in the revised STCW Convention

(Regulation I/8). They cover all training courses and

programmes, examinations and assessments and the

qualifications and experience of instructors and

assessors. The regulation I/6 requires all training and

assessments to be structured in accordance with

documented programmes and procedures necessary

to achieve the prescribed standard of competence

and conducted and supervised by persons qualified

in accordance with the convention.

It is absolutely necessary to define the standards

of competence required, so that the assessor can

make a judgment against those standards. Otherwise,

each assessor will be guided by opinion and the own

experience. Within the definition of these standards

must be a clear indication as to the level of

competence required.

Assessment is the process of obtaining and

comparing evidence of competence with the

standards. The sources of evidence could be:

− Direct observation: in-service experience, labora-

tory equipment training, simulation.

− Skills, proficiency and competency tests.

− Projects/assignments.

− Evidence from prior experience

− Questioning techniques: written, oral, by comput-

er.

4 CONCLUSIONS

The activities on the board of the ships are based on

competences and skills. In order to have competent

people, you must to create them. This is the role of

the maritime training system, to create competent

persons for the maritime field. Part of this system is

the vocational training for the deck officers. Maybe

the most important role of the vocational system is

to create competences based on the previous skills

and knowledge acquired during the practice period

on the board of the ship.

Also, the vocational training is a viable

alternative for those individuals who have not

enough time for a fourth years training, active

individuals in the maritime field who want in the

same time to increase their level of training and to

have possibility to get an upper position on board, as

officers.

The training scheme must satisfy in the same time

the STCW Convention requirements and also to

offer to the trainee the necessary knowledge for the

future duties. In this way, it is considered as useful

to use a modular scheme, containing a combination

of traditional nautical sciences, as different types of

navigation, cargo handling, ship handling,

regulations and communication.

The assessment must offer the possibility to

obtain and compare evidence of competence with

the standards. The aim is to ensure that sufficient,

reliable and verifiable evidences are available to

enable an assessor to be satisfied that a candidate has

the ability to work in accordance with the required

standards.

The vocational training is in accordance with the

International Maritime Organisation (IMO), STCW

and shipping internationally recognized

classification societies, as DNV, for training and

bridge, engine and liquid cargo handling simulators

but also Telenor Norway for additional equipment

GOC -GMDSS. The training is accredited by

National Council for Adult Vocational Training

(CNFPA), Romanian Agency for Quality Assurance

in Higher Education (ARACIS) and Romanian

Naval Authority (RNA).

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