Announcing the theme Maritime Jobs for Future Generations, Seafarers UK has launched its Seafarers Awareness Week 2016 campaign, with the focus on promoting maritime career opportunities, both at sea and ashore.Seafarers Awareness Week 2016 takes place from June 20 to 26 throughout the UK
Commodore Barry Bryant CVO RN, Director General of Seafarers UK (www.seafarers.uk), underlined the importance of the whole sector working together to showcase the maritime world:
‘Many of you will be all too aware of the phrase ‘sea blindness’, and the tendency of the Great British public to be blissfully unaware of the fact that we remain an island nation, or that 95% of our trade comes by sea. Our 2016 campaign will be focused on young people and making them aware of the career opportunities available in seagoing and the maritime industries more generally.’
The industry has welcomed the strong focus on skills in the UK Maritime Growth Study report published in September 2015, with nine of the 18 recommendations relating to skills and education.
Maritime Growth Study – recommendations relating to skills
Recommendation 7 – Seafarer Projections Review
For government to work with industry to better understand the UK maritime sector’s seafaring skills requirement with the aim of developing targets for growing the skills base by refreshing its assessment of the requirement for seafarers in the UK maritime sector to ensure industry and government have the most up-to-date picture of supply and demand.
Recommendation 8 – Future Skills
For the promotional body recommended in this report to identify and prioritise the key skills issues facing the UK maritime sector by assessing the current and future need for wider skills and qualifications across the UK maritime sector as a whole and developing a ‘skills strategy’ with focused objectives for addressing these concerns.
Recommendation 9 – SMarT Review
For government to initiate a review of its Support for Maritime Training (SMarT) scheme for sea-going trainees undertaking HNC, HND, Foundation or Honours Degrees to ensure it is fit for purpose – including how funding can best complement the industry’s contribution into the Maritime Skills Investment Fund recommended in this report (for example through match funding).
Recommendation 10 – Maritime Skills Investment Fund
For the promotional body recommended in this report to establish a ‘Maritime Skills Investment Fund’ to address the decline in seafaring and other skills sector-wide by a) working with existing industry providers to coordinate, rebrand and act as the ‘shop front’ for the various funds that support maritime skills, training and qualifications; and b) design and establish a voluntary scheme to secure contributions into the Fund from those maritime businesses that are not already engaged in maritime training or apprenticeships
Recommendation 11 – Maritime Apprenticeships
For government to initiate work with industry on extending its programme of apprenticeships to include more roles in the maritime sector, including, for example, shore-based business service roles, in order to increase the intake into the sector.
Recommendation 12 – Ship to Shore Mentoring
For the promotional body recommended in this report to develop an industry-wide ‘ship to shore’ mentoring scheme that identifies career structures and develops the sector’s future business leaders from the seafaring community. This scheme should identify or define career paths that ensure participants gain the relevant experience at sea before supporting a move into a relevant shore-based role in the UK.
Recommendation 13 – Education
For government to explore the scope for introducing maritime examples into primary and secondary school teaching in order to raise youth awareness and, where possible, to support bodies seeking the formal accreditation of maritime studies
Recommendation 14 – Maritime Awareness
For the promotional body recommended in this report to coordinate, including with the MNTB, Maritime Skills Alliance, Seavision and others, a year-round programme of awareness raising activities to encourage interest in, and entry into, maritime careers. This should include plans and publicity targeting school and university career fairs, as well as Sea Cadets and other youth groups.
Recommendation 15 – Royal Navy Links
For government to initiate work on creating better links between the Royal Navy and wider UK maritime sector in order to ensure that staff with relevant experience who are leaving the Royal Navy can more easily take-up service on commercial vessels and are made aware of jobs in the wider UK maritime sector.
Source: Seafarers UK