Training course "Maritime resource management" in the system of training cadets of higher maritime educational institutions of Ukraine: problems and perspectives

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Training course «Maritime resource management» in the system of training cadets of higher maritime educational institutions of Ukraine: problems and perspectives

Prymakova

The key issue considered in this article is characteristics of the training course «Maritime Resource Management» in the system of training maritime specialists. The author determines a great value of mentioned training course in forming professional skills of future seamen in crew management. He considers the issue of reasonability to hold classes on the stated subject in English.

One more aspect of the article, which the author touches upon is compliance of the existing training course «Maritime Resource Management» to the IMO Model Course 1.39 «Leadership and Teamwork» and its requirements to holding classes in this subject at the framework of the experiment on implementation of the competence-based approach to the training process held in Kherson State Maritime Academy.

Key words: training course «Maritime Resource Management», International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, Model Course 1.39 «Leadership and Teamwork», professional English, professional-communicative competence.

It should be stated that efficiency of work of any staff depends on a great variety of factors, but it is evident that the key component in reaching the highest level of work efficiency of any staff is corresponding human resource management. When we are speaking about the work of ship's crew, this statement happens to be more important and meaningful. This issue is a key one, which is being considered and analyzed by the Training course «Maritime Resource Management».

Aim of this article is to characterize the training course «Maritime Resource Management» and to consider problems of the existing training course and possible ways to solve them.

Coming out from the aim of the article, we should realize following tasks:

show the historical background of the training course «Maritime Resource Management» in Ukraine;

show the way Manila amendments 2010 to the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers have influenced the development of the training course «Maritime Resource Management»;

places for improving the training course «Maritime Resource Management» (way of teaching, language of teaching, new role of the teacher etc.).

Among scientists who have ever dealt with issues of human resource management it is necessary to mention E. Hall, V. Torskiy, V. Topalov, J. Spruyt, G. Hofstede, S. Stadnichenko, M. Meskon, I. Volkov, M. Albert, V. Voronkova, S. Popov, F. Katsman, A. Bandurka, M. Herquvist, T.Q.D. Andres and many others.

Speaking about urgency of this subject, first of all we should go to statistics of accidents to happen at sea. In accordance to the research work held by International Maritime Organization (ІМО) in 2008, the conclusion was made that that the reason of approximately 80% of all accidents which happen at sea is a human factor [4, с. 68], which happened because of human errors, inattentiveness, negligence and so on. Here, it is very important to remember the most widely known accidents which happened at sea during last five years among which we should outline:

wreckage of Russian diesel-propelled ship «Bulgaria», which sank in July 2011 in Kuybyshev water storage basin near Syukeyevo Village of Kamsko-Ustyinsky District of Republic of Tatarstan of Russian Federation which lead to death of 122 persons [3];

wreckage of Liberian Panamax container ship «Rena», which ran aground on the Astrolabe Reef off the Bay of Plenty, New Zealand at 20 km distance from Tauranga in October, 2011, while sailing from Napier to Tauranga. The vessel carried approximately 2100 containers. As a result of this accident 200 tons of heavy fuel oil reached the sea, and the major part of the cargo was lost [1];

wreckage of an Italian cruise liner «Costa Concordia» which ran aground at the Mediterranean off Isola del Giglio, Tuscany near Italy shore in January 2012. As a result, 32 persons died [2];

wreckage of South-Korean ferry «Sewol», which capsized in April 2014 off the SouthWestern coast of Korean peninsula, as the result of which, 304 persons died, the majority of whom were pupils of secondary schools and their teachers [8].

Results of investigations of above stated accidents, held by competent organizations showed, that major reasons for these tragic events to occur were: ship officers couldn't clearly understand their role on board the vessel, low level of professional competence which could be clearly noticed in actions of members of the crew, ship offices were lacking their leadership skills and skills in managing ship's crew in general, inability to make difficult decisions in extreme conditions, lack of teamwork skills and so on. All that witnesses about the need and great role of holding classes in the training course «Maritime Resource Management» the main aim of which is to provide a high level of professional competence of Ukrainian seafarers in issues of using leadership and teamwork skills. Also, the mentioned training course is directed to form efficient communication between crew members, and also to form a specific atmosphere of interaction and cooperation between crew members. The training course «Maritime Resource Management» answers the requirements of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers (STCW) in issues connected to leadership and teamwork stated in Tables of STCW Code:

А-ІІ/1 concerning training navigators [5, р. 176-179];

А-ІІІ/1 concerning training ship engineers [5, р. 238-241];

А-ІІІ/6 concerning ship electro-engineers [5, р. 280-281];

A-V/2 concerning issues connected to management in crisis situations [5, p. 338-341].

Speaking about the integration process of the training course «Maritime Resource Management» into the training process of higher maritime educational institutions, it should be stated that Ukraine did not stay aside of this process and work on this issue began already in 2010, when in June on the Diplomatic Conference of Countries-parties of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers, which took place in Manila, Philippines the final text of the Convention with Amendments was approved.

By the Order of the Ministry of Education and Science, Youth and Sport of Ukraine № 1001 dated October, 25, 2010 Kherson State Maritime Academy became the developer of the training course «Maritime Resource Management» for higher maritime educational institutions of Ukraine [6].

In December 2010, by the assistance of the shipping company «Marlow Navigation» there was concluded the agreement between Kherson State Maritime Academy and insurance company in shipping industry Swedish Club Academy. Under this agreement Kherson State Maritime Academy has become the provider of the training course «Maritime Resource Management». As a result, by the team of authors, the majority of which were from Kherson State Maritime Academy, on the basis of the Swedish Club Academy training course «Maritime Resource Management» the appropriate training course and methodological support to it, as well as a manual, which was approved by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine have been developed. Currently the training course «Maritime Resource Management» enters the list of special subjects for training maritime specialists by the educational-qualification levels «Bachelor» and «Junior Specialist».

I would like to point out the fact that knowledge assimilated by cadets while studying the course «Maritime Resource Management» have natural connection to a great variety of disciplines, including Psychology, Basic Rules of Holding a Navigational Watch, Navigational Bridge Resource Management, Religion, etc., and the very course is based on a number of special and other disciplines. But, considering this exact discipline more in detail, first of all attention should be paid to its special features. Thus, the IMO Model Course 1.39 «Leadership and Teamwork» published in 2014, which is actually the background of the course «Maritime Resource Management», states that course participants, owing to knowledge and skills preliminarily gained through auditorium classes and also existing experience of work on board ships will give them the possibility to understand that leadership and teamwork is an essential part of their role on board a ship [7, p. 5].

This indicates that the training course «Maritime Resource Management» stands on a slightly different level in comparison with other subjects. The main reason for this is that to efficiently master the subject is possible only if course participant already has definite knowledge and skills acquired through previous classroom training and experience of working at sea. One more feature which makes the training course «Maritime Resource Management» different from other professional subjects is that along with cadets acquiring knowledge and skills, the main task of this subject is to change the attitude of cadets towards their work on board ship, to make them understand their place in the crew, to study the technology, principles and methods of human resource management on board ship, ways of organizing teamwork on board a ship, to understand ways of creating the atmosphere of friendship and effective communication and interaction between crew members taking into account a great variety of their individual differences, ability to make decisions in crisis situations.

Within the experiment held by me on my dissertational work and also within the experiment held in Kherson State Maritime Academy on implementing the competence approach into the training process, it should be noted that the training course «Maritime Resource Management» develops in cadets a large number of competencies connected to different levels of interaction between crew members in different situations. In turn, all of them may be combined and designated as a professional-communicative competence.

In accordance to the research work held on this issue, under the term «professional- communicative competence» of a seaman we should understand knowledge, abilities, skills and also willingness to use them to organize teamwork among crew members and to interact with them using leadership skills both performing everyday tasks and also in case of emergency. Here, the level of knowledge of English language of crew members and a great number of differences between crew members including cultural, religious, social, etc. should be taken into account.

At present, the majority of subjects, as, in fact, the training course «Maritime Resource Management», are taught in accordance to a classical scheme when the training hours are divided into lectures and workshops. However, as it is stated in IMO Model Course 1.39, what, in fact, is confirmed by the Swedish Club Academy, teaching of this subject in no case should be one-sided, and may be the most effective only by the use of interactive teaching methods - through mastering new material by means of discussions, work in problem groups, presentations, round table discussions, role plays, case analysis, etc., but in no case by mindless learning or listening to the training material [7, p. 1]. The main value of this technique is that each course participant while mastering new training material based on already acquired knowledge and skills during classes may express his personal opinion and share it with the audience. In addition to that, I should note that in order to fix and check the quality of knowledge received in the classroom it is possible to use simulators suitable for practicing leadership and teamwork skills, for example, such as navigating bridge.

As for the role of the teacher in this process, it is to encourage cadets to discuss and to guide them during the lesson to make correct decisions to achieve educational goals. In addition to that, a person, who holds classes in this subject is considered not as a «teacher» or «lecturer», but as a «facilitator», i.e. a person whose aim is to create conditions which could encourage the audience to debate, express and exchange their opinions [7, p. 6].

Thus, in accordance to the IMO Model Course 1.39, teacher (facilitator) who holds classes in «Maritime Resource Management» course should be experienced in interactive leadership and teamwork skills teaching methods, and to be aware of situations which may occur on board a ship, especially when working in a multinational crew. One more requirement to the person who teaches the training course «Maritime Resource Management», in accordance to the IMO Model Course 1.39 is that he has to know well what difficulties may occur during communication process while communicating in English on board the ship and during the process of interaction with representatives of shore services.

In this context it should be pointed out that at present the subject «Professional English Language» owing to implementation of communicative approach into the training process actually is one of special subjects in Kherson State Maritime Academy while teaching which, methods of holding classes in the training course «Maritime Resource Management» are being used, namely interactive teaching methods.

Speaking about the classical scheme of teaching subjects, it is worth mentioning that classes in the training course «Maritime Resource Management» are held in groups of thirty cadets, i.e. a full group of students is always present at each class (both lectures and practical lessons). But taking into account the need to motivate course participants to participate in discussion, in such conditions it is almost impossible. In accordance to recommendations of the IMO Model Course 1.39 to use effectively time and all resources available on the lesson, not more than fifteen and not less than eight course participants should be present on the lesson, otherwise the lesson will be not effective.

Recalling the Article 15(j) of the Convention on the International Maritime Organization, IMO Resolution А.380 (Х), Regulation V/14.4 of the International Convention for the Safety of Life at Sea 1974 with amendments, in IMO Resolution А.918 (22) the Assembly determines, that standardization of language and terminology used in the process of communication, will give the opportunity to safely operate vessels and will assist in raising the level of safety of navigation. Also, the wide usage of English Language is determiner. It is widely used for international communication on board vessels for «bridge to bridge» and «bridge to shore» communication and also for communication between crew members. On the other hand English is used to assist maritime educational institutions s to meet the objectives of safe operation of ships and enhanced navigational safety by means of language and terminology standardization [9, p. 1]. All that is enhanced by point 7 of Regulation І/14 of the International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watchkeeping for Seafarers with Manila amendments 2010 [5, р. 56-57]. In turn, this denotes a high importance for Ukrainian cadets to have a high level of English Language communicational skills. Taking this into account, to achieve higher level of English Language understanding in general practicing the ability to express personal points of view and the ability to exchange them during the process of communication, there exists a possibility to consider the issue concerning holding classes on the training course «Maritime Resource Management» in English, because if to do so, on one hand cadets could have a possibility to improve their English Language communicational skills, on the other hand they will be able to feel by themselves peculiarities of communication between crew members with different level of knowledge of English Language, especially while mastering some new training material during solving professional problematic situations using role play and also while working with simulators.

At present the experiment connected to competence-based approach implementation into the training process of Kherson State Maritime Academy is in progress.

One of the main tasks of the experiment is to enclose as much as possible the system of training maritime specialists in Ukraine to the international practice of training cadets of maritime specialties on the base of learning and mastering professional and also socialproviding material in the area of managing the ship's crew, especially in when working in a crew in enclosed space. On the these bases it should be stated that to raise the competence level, and correspondingly, competitiveness of cadets of higher maritime educational institutions of Ukraine at the national and international labor markets, it is necessary:

to make a detailed deep analysis of the IMO Model Course 1.39 «Leadership and Teamwork» and also contents of the existing training course «Maritime Resource Management», and also requirements to holding classes in the subject. All that is aimed to make the existing training course «Maritime Resource Management» to correspond to recommendations stated in international normative acts. While developing the training course in 2010-2011 it was impossible to take into account a full range of recommendations because the mentioned IMO Model Course was edited only in 2014;

to make a separate analysis of the methodology of holding classes on the training course «Maritime Resource Management» and also to analyze the contents of other subjects to improve the methodology they are being taught by means of more global implementation of the teaching methodology of the training course «Maritime Resource Management» into the training process;

to analyze reasonability to hold classes on the subject «Maritime Resource Management» in English;

to analyze recommendations of the IMO Model Course 1.39 to hold classes on the training course «Maritime Resource Management» in groups of 8-15 persons together with the need to change the contents of the subject.

From the stated above we should make a conclusion that the training course «Maritime Resource Management» plays a very important role in training highly qualified seamen, but to make them competitive on the national and, especially, on the international labor markets, all subjects especially special ones together with national standards of training should 100 % answer the requirements and follow recommendations of international normative acts on training seafarers.

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