Whilst this is applicable to all fields of education, focus herein is on maritime because of its very specialised application through Teaching &Training, creating sailors out of raw willing youngsters.

Contextually, few have given up sea careers prematurely and some continued despite seasickness. Marine is typical, applying knowledge practically with intelligence and presence of mind. Of course, as in history, dropouts & runaways sans education have helped develop maritime adventures.

It is unfair to say that Teacher too fails if student fails, as there could be few who can’t be taught or improved-instilled with minimum standards. Hence only the committed type should be in teaching profession, and not just job seekers or passing temps. Teaching, learning and guiding varies from school, college and research. It is typical in maritime as morphed in last half a century. In all fairness research done for PG, compiling submissions with lots of quotes, footnotes etc leaves much to be desired, diluting the candidates’ own efforts to display their thought processes, conclusions and plausible applications, resultantly creating only data banks for institutions and libraries.

The medium of education and language are important; digitalised and teaching/E-learning indeed really falls short of desired goals and results, as many of the practical learning processes mariners have to necessarily go through with instructors, cannot be well imparted with videos, and without interactions. Fortunately, regular drills/Exercises on board could make up for some such handicaps, but not basic seamanship and many aspects of imbibing through trial and error for perfection.

Language of communication is very important with its pronunciation, accent, short forms etc too. English being the most popular one, could be well used provided the teachers do it right. Not to forget that it is derived from Latin and Greek, and is continuously upgraded in modern internet era, `ayyo’ being a new word accepted by OED. Syntax, punctuations, diction etc all matter. Sincere teachers should check origin of words to learn from etymology and its usage, to avoid mistakes.

Falling into traps of oft used words is one such danger to be foreseen. LEL and LFL seems to be misunderstood and incorrectly used -alternatively- in tanker sector; technically and scientifically it is in error. Would starting a fire (at lower flammable limit: say lighting a candle or diya, set off an explosion? There we are, if not! A flash fire could lead to instant explosion if atmosphere is within `explosive’ range of course. Therein lay the difference.

Affliction of `tankeritis’ user syndrome is `Fire wire’. Well, it may have been initially provided as a precaution against possible fire risk. It is used to pull tankers offshore from terminal for any risk-danger, on tanker itself or terminal too, thus becoming dual and multipurpose! Quite pragmatically practically `emergency towing off-wire’ is being used. However confusion for entrants/newcomers from dry trade (they should also have such provision to avoid the unexpected), is mistaking it with Emergency Towing Bracket, because they both start sounding similar. Herein are pitfalls of teaching and learning that has to be avoided with clear phraseologies and intents.

Ideally, the standard wording/terminologies used in industry literature, safety pamphlets/Check Lists/manuals etc must the same -avoiding inter-changeability and doubts. Oh ‘we have used it so for decades’ will have to be corrected for uniformity and international acceptance to avoid errors and misgivings. Yes, spellings and English terms/words do differ across the oceans and cultures! But beware that multilingual and multicultural hotchpotch is what modern seafarers are.

Handout reference notes explaining much more than slides and those written on black/whiteboard, are essential for students to revise/learn before tests and examinations. Transparencies and slides used for E-teaching must be numbered & cross-referenced with notes for ease of linking. Verbatim quoting of rules could be avoided in slides used to highlight, but they could be inserted in notes. During lecturing, pace must be slow to enable weakest students to grasp and understand. Better students could be asked to explain their understanding so that others can pick up easily from them.  Language -wordology- used must be as simple as possible avoiding short forms, technical jargon etc unless they are unavoidable. Yes, to explain technical points, technical wordings are unavoidable.

Interactions with students is a must to keep them interested, focused and make it simpler. Easy and difficult questions connecting what is being learned with what they know, helps keep interest alive as in references to well-known simple physics, chemistry, maths formulae. Learning and knowledge are step by step building blocks, especially in professional fields. Mixing and reminding students what is being taught/explained with basic science they had learned would make it easily proactive. Starting with alphabets, words and phrases fitting into sentences, para, essays, chapter, book, tomes etc is apt comparison of professional learning process, wherein unlike pure academics, nothing is dumpable as one moves up CoC ladder from helper to operator and manager.

Nonetheless as Safety and Risk Assessment are the basic takeaways, emphasis must be on them, to protect oneself, shipmate, environment, cargo & ship; not theoretical knowledge only. Questioning their habits and safe practices at home, roads etc will help highlight their bad responses not aligned with Safety Culture aboard. Presence of mind, reaction, its time and instincts when alarms, sensors, gauges, equipment malfunction would be critical. Management of those on duty reporting, their lingo, ability, dependability become important during-after crew change, short manning etc etc.

A committed teacher would have opportunities to learn and correct his database of knowledge with silly, surprising or intelligent questions/applications raised by students! Recalling that root of the word science originates from scientia meaning knowledge, as science, knowledge, linguistics, linguism etc expand and come together in our globalised world -albeit within limitations of our senses, those themselves improving with better diet, hygiene, health etc including memories, life expectancies et al, the fact is that our ignorance too enlarges as known that knowns and knowables are much smaller than unknowns and unknowables in ever expanding blackhole bound universe.

Marex Media