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Marine Society has successfully bid to the Maritime Skills Commission for a project to develop a new accredited qualification that introduces school and college leavers to the wide range of shore based roles in maritime.

Project lead, Darrell Bate and curriculum consultant James Bullar plan to revise the existing Open Awards Level 3 Certificate in Maritime Studies to reach a new audience of school leavers for young adults and attract them into the maritime sector.  A steering group comprising shipping firm Casper Shipping, the Institute of Chartered Shipbrokers and Stockton Riverside College has been formed to guide the process through to completion in April 2021. 

The qualification will include brand new modules covering; maritime trade, port operations and commercial shipping. These will sit alongside existing modules such as navigation, boat handling, marine stability and running a maritime business, allowing students to follow a ‘wet’ or ‘dry’ side maritime pathway. First teaching is expected in September 2021 at Stockton Riverside before wider rollout to the post 16 sector.

The Maritime Commission is a representative body of maritime professionals and leaders tasked by the Department for Transport to implement the key themes of the Government’s Maritime 2050 strategy. Details of their work and this project can be found HERE

For many decades Marine Society has proudly managed The Slater Scholarship programme on behalf of Nautilus International. 

These ‘gold standard’ scholarships offer Merchant Navy seafarers up to £18,500 towards gaining their officer of the watch qualification and as a result, more than a thousand seafarers have successfully progressed their seagoing career in the last ten years alone.

During 2020, a downturn in income meant the fund was only able to support 20 scholars, the first time a cap has been applied. However, we are pleased to announce that for 2021 this cap has been lifted to a maximum of 60 applications over two intakes annually with the hope this will be raised higher in future years.

We expect demand will exceed supply, therefore a clear set of criteria has been agreed against which applications will be judged. Those who are unsuccessful at the first attempt will be considered priority in the next intake.

Slater Scholarships are available from the date of award and will be accessible for a two-year period, this must be exercised within a year of being awarded. The Fund is obtainable for any experienced seafarer aged 21 and over and permanently residing in the UK.

We are proud and honoured to play our part in such an impactful Scholarship programme that is helping UK seafarers take vital steps in employment.

Here is the all-important information you need for 2021/22 submissions:

• We are accepting applications from 4th January 2021.
• Application submission deadline is 23rd April 2021.
• Successful applicants will be notified by 7th June 2021.

Applications received after this closing date will not be considered until the next intake as below.

• Application submission deadline is 12th November 2021.
• Successful applicants notified by 10th January 2022.

In these uncertain times it has never been more important to gain professional qualifications that secure your future career.

 We encourage you to visit our dedicated site at https://www.marine-society.org/slater-scholarship for full details on how to apply.

Our Learn@Sea courses have been received positively from all walks of seafarer life, and now we are proud to launch two accredited qualifications by Open Awards: Level 3 Award in Maritime Mathematics and Level 3 Award in Vessel Stability.

These A-level equivalent qualifications have been created to support seafarers’ development in order to further their maritime career.

The units contain learning outcomes and assessment criteria that are suitable for level 3 learning within the sector and offers the opportunity to partake in online learning. This enables more flexibility and seafarer reach with each qualification.

Now let’s breakdown both awards and the accredited courses associated with them:

L3 Award in Maritime Mathematics

Firstly, NQF Level 3 Maritime Mathematics is a combination of our award-winning Maths@Sea and Maths@Sea Plus courses. Our e-learning Maths@Sea course caters for seafarers and nautical students, or anyone set to venture into the maritime sector. The course gives our users a skill set that consists of elementary algebra, trigonometry and geometry; an indispensable requirement at nautical college.

Maths@Sea Plus covers more advanced areas of Maths@Sea modules including spherical trigonometry and calculus – building on existing knowledge.

L3 Award in Vessel Stability

NQF Level 3 Vessel Stability is an award that allows you to accredit your studies through our Stability@Sea course. This course – like Maths@Sea and Maths@Sea Plus – is designed to prepare learners to undertake the formal assessment for its respective qualification. The course itself covers all aspects of the buoyancy and stability of vessels presented in bite-size topics. Content is user-friendly, combining technical diagrams, images and self-test exercises to check understanding.

By the end of the course learners will understand the key objectives and be able to describe the effect of a fluid at rest, describe stability terms and definitions, understand vessel stability and flotation and complete basic transverse stability calculations.

For further information contact our Head of Seafarer Learning and Welfare, Carla Rockson or to sign up to any of our Learn@Sea course please go to www.marine-society.org/learnatsea

The Covid-19 pandemic has caused a lot of industries to reluctantly close their doors temporarily with staff members being caught in this unprecedented wave of uncertainty, having to settle for the government furlough scheme or worse; redundancy.

We have joined forces with an alliance of maritime welfare charities Maritime Charities Group (MCG), the Merchant Navy Welfare Board (MNWB) and Trinity House to launch a bursary fund solely catering for merchant seafarers based in the UK who are facing or have already faced redundancy due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Through this new resource, applicants will feel an element of security in regards to looking for a new role in the maritime industry, due to now being eligible for up to £500 funding towards essential training in these roles.

Applicants can self-select whatever training and/or qualifications they feel will help them to achieve this. This can include transferable skills such as interview preparation or CV writing tailored to a maritime industry. Courses can include MCA-approved and STCW refresher qualifications, maritime-related professional diplomas or ICS qualifications.

The ultimate aim is to keep as many people in the industry as possible, as we not only battle this unforgiving pandemic but also try to keep the maritime industry flourishing and up to date, both technologically and environmentally. We need as many people in the industry as possible to help us do that.

Commander Graham Hockley LVO RN and Chair of the MCG said this about the initiative and why now is the right time: “The cruise and ferry sectors have been hit particularly hard by the economic downturn caused by COVID-19. We know from our trade union contacts that around 2,000 merchant seafarers are already facing redundancy and more are likely to follow. Jobs are in short supply but the market will pick up so now’s the time to invest in training and skills development.”

Our Director of Maritime Training and Development, Darrell Bate emphasised the simplicity of the process and how the Marine Society are always there for to provide help and guidance: “We want to make the process as simple as possible for anyone applying for this new funding. All they need to do is prove that their job is being made redundant, find a course that fills a gap in their training or skills, and apply online through a dedicated page on the Marine Society website. We can also provide information about what’s out there, so if you need help with ideas just get in touch.”

Seafarers that plan to transition to a shore-side role can use their bursary to access our Coming Ashore programme - https://www.marine-society.org/coming-ashore - that provides industry mentoring and access to learning resources.

To find out more about the MCG redundancy and retraining bursary fund and how to apply go to https://www.marine-society.org/redundancy-fund .

Our Learn@Sea courses have been created to cater for every seafarer across the maritime sector, whether you are a Bosun’s Mate or a Captain of a vessel. Everyone should feel they have the opportunity to gain an education at sea and our award-winning suite of courses helps fulfil that.

The key to making this a success is to spread the word as quickly as possible. Therefore we have collaborated with the Fisherman’s Mission, a Fisherman’s charity based in Hampshire, in order to expose our services to their audience.

Helen Lovell, Mission Port Officer for the charity, spoke to members of the public during an Oral Health Tour and had some promising responses.

Alex Passmore of More Seafood attended the tour and he felt he could use the courses to his benefit, taking advantage of the English@Sea and English@Sea Plus courses to provide for his European employees.

Passmore’s family own a fleet of day haulers and a fish processing factory and, with the rules for bringing foreign workers into the UK soon to change, employees will likely need a certain level of foundation English. 

Elsewhere, Leon Tooley, a deckie learner on the Julie of Ladram, felt that he could use the course to broaden his general shipping knowledge in order to reach his ultimate target of becoming a skipper like his grandfather.

Leon already has a Maths and English certificate to his name from college, but would like to explore courses such as Leadership@Sea which simply were not available to him.

Moving forward, Learn@Sea would be a great option for any deckie learners who feel like they are plateauing or stalling when it comes to development. No matter the size of the fleet, managers could really use our product to their advantage.

The Fisherman’s Mission have been a well-respected charity for 130 years and have travelled almost 100,000 miles to deliver their services, and they have realised and discovered the niche that we are trying to fill.

Adapting in this technological era is vital and our Learn@Sea courses being available portably whether the user is online or offline, is a huge selling point for us and an efficient perk for the seafarer.

Whether you need to polish up on your maths and English or work on more soft skills like leadership and project management, we have the resources and the platform for you to achieve your short-term and long-term goals.

To sign up or find out more about our Learn@Sea product, please visit: https://www.marine-society.org/learnatsea