Contradictions in the practices of training for and assessment of competency

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to highlight the contradictions in the current maritime education and training system (MET), which is based on competency‐based education, training and assessment, and to theorize the failure to make the training useful.Design/methodology/approachA case study of education and training in the international maritime domain was conducted. Data sources include historical documents, rules and regulations concerning MET, syllabi, handouts, sample questions, field notes, an ethnographic study in a maritime college and interviews conducted with experienced mariners and course lecturer.FindingsThere are contradictions in the education and training system that do not allow the targeted objectives to be fulfilled. Fundamentally, the assessment system has changed the objectives of the education and training practices from learning skills and knowledge required on‐board ships to passing competency examinations.Practical implicationsThe practical implication of this research is valuable for the International Maritime Organization, marine administration and maritime training institutes to think over the competency‐based system in practice today and how to improve the present maritime training and assessment system in order to achieve its authentic objectives.Originality/valueThis research identified and bridged the gap in literature and research of competency‐based training and assessment in the maritime domain and provides practical solutions for improving this system.

Rules of bending, bending the rules: the geometry of electrical conduit bending in college and workplace

“…This is not unlike what we observe in other programs -such as the mariners we studied returning to upgrade their certificates (Emad & Roth, 2008). Here, too, both students and instructors knew that the course contents were irrelevant to the worksite, but both parties colluded so that students were properly prepared -in contrast with being more proficient on the worksite -to succeed in formal examinations on the basis of which they would receive their certificates.…”

“…Much as in the fish hatcheries and mariner training programs we studied (Emad & Roth, 2008;Lee & Roth, 2004), the difference between college and work has its own discourse that allows the interaction participants to draw on the difference as a resource or topic. There are frequent articulations of differences between college and workplace methods, such as when journeymen and more senior apprentices point out, in the context of a specific job, how something would be taught in college and how things have to be done "in the real world" and "on the job.…”

Learning to navigate: the centrality of instructions and assessments for developing students’ professional competencies in simulator-based training

“…Hontvedt (2015a) argues that training sessions have to be carefully configured in order for such pitfalls to be avoided. Studies examining the use of simulators in maritime training are actually direct warnings about simulator-based training and assessment as being poorly implemented in the MET system (Emad and Roth 2008;Sampson et al 2011). The problems reported concern both simulator misuse and lack of knowledge concerning how to provide efficient training and valid assessment in simulators.…”

Development of a Behavioural Marker System for Rating Cadet’s Non-Technical Skills

“…McCallum and Smith (2000) evaluated simulators and provided a framework for their assessment. From another perspective, Cross (2003Cross ( , 2007, Emad and Roth (2008) researched the development of competence-based training and assessment in simulators. Other researchers have shown that training programs display some weaknesses in the development of decision making skills, when addressing the management of complex situations (Chauvin, Clostermann, & Hoc, 2009).…”