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M A RI T I M E TRAIN ING CONTINUED ��� MARITIME TRAINING���S TASKBOOK BY ALAN MOORE, NZOW MCIT M aritime New Zealand has developed a taskbook for use by candidates wishing to obtain a Skipper Restricted Limit Certificate of Competency. This is the entry level certificate for competency that will be required under the proposed new qualifications system. This book is known as a STaRS book, an acronym for Seafarer Training and Record of Service. The industry has applauded this move as it provides an excellent means for candidates to demonstrate they have the appropriate skills while aboard a vessel and to have these skills signed off by their skipper or an approved assessor. Wide consultation was undertaken by the Maritime NZ QOLs team, and the concept was accepted as a great idea. The plan is for each trainee to receive a task book, and to work his/her way through the tasks required within the SRL (Skipper Restricted Limits) competency framework (syllabus), that need to be demonstrated aboard a vessel rather than just in a classroom. As is usual in these things, the devil is in the detail. When Maritime NZ produced the draft book it all looked great until reading the fine print. In the following statement it was noticed that the book had to be completed PRIOR TO sitting the approved training course: (Extract) ���This STaRS book has been developed to assist candidates for a Skipper Restricted Limits certificate of competency to obtain practical skills and competencies in a workplace environment prior to undertaking an approved training course and an Maritime NZ safety oral examination.��� The statement goes onto say: ���All of the competencies required for SRL can be attained through a combination of completion of the tasks in the STaRS book, (these tasks can be completed while serving aboard a commercial or non-commercial or military ship), and attendance at an Maritime NZ approved training course. When reading this there appears to be a conflict in the language, or at least ambiguity in what is being said. In the first paragraph it clearly states that the book must be completed PRIOR TO the course. There are two statements in the subsequent paragraphs which infer that the competencies may be completed aboard or ashore during attendance at an approved training course. Furthermore the document states that there is a table of competencies included in the book, and in the final version Maritime NZ have removed this. The statement was challenged in the consultation stage and the question was asked. ���How will candidates be able to learn knowledge based subjects such as Navigation, Tidal Predictions, Engineering, Maritime Law���, while aboard a vessel during the normal course of duty. This question has not been answered and Maritime NZ have stated that they have taken into consideration all the submissions made, but have decided to retain the requirement to have the taskbook completed prior to enrolment in an approved training course. The reason for these changes appear to be that, if candidates who, having obtained what is now a very short requirement for sea time (100 hours), are allowed to sit in front of an examiner and get their SRL, the logistics of keeping track of them and ensuring 54 Professional Skipper January/February 2013 that all the paperwork is completed satisfactorily, will be nigh on impossible. The system would however be simple to audit, as candidates will be required to present certificates of completion of the required training courses and prerequisites and their completed task book, when applying for the final oral examination. There are complex issues surrounding the above subjects. In particular, anyone who has attempted to work out what the time and the height of the tide will be at a particular time at a secondary port will remember that it is not easy. The height calculation requires algebra and it is not something that a student, or for that matter his skipper, can easily handle when they are on duty operating a vessel. Can you imagine the skipper of a fast ferry running a regular commuter service teaching his deckhand this skill when he is occupied navigating his way through a busy port keeping to his schedule? Logically, the place to learn and understand this technique is in the classroom, as it would be for navigation, bearings in transit, the universal system of buoyage, code flags, marine law, and so forth. This doesn���t even touch on the engineering curriculum. How will candidates learn the fuel injection system on a diesel engine when the only time these systems are serviced or inspected are overnight when the shore engineers do their regular maintenance? The task book requires the candidate to demonstrate impellor replacement. How can candidates undertake this function as a deckhand on a commuter ferry on a scheduled service? Can you see the chief engineer allowing him to strip a water pump and show them how to replace an impellor half way between Bluff and Stewart Island? All these issues were brought to the attention of the regulator, who has chosen to ignore the matter. Why would they do this? Why not listen to industry? Undoubtedly there is a problem and it will become a major issue if not dealt with adequately. It is the considered opinion of Industry that the problem is with the wording in the STaRS book. The wording needs to be modified so that all the candidates need, is a basic understanding of subjects in the curriculum, so that their skipper/assessor can sign off their book and the candidate can then go forward to their approved training course to learn in an appropriate environment. In the previous version there was a category system describing the various tasks. It differentiated them into skill and knowledge based subjects, and the industry believes that only category, 1A, should be included in the STaRS book. This would clearly show which competencies are required to be completed aboard the vessel, as in skills based training, versus knowledge, or theoretical subjects, which are the subject of the approved training course and-or distance learning. The task book could then be completed prior to the enrolment at an approved training course. This problem needs to be worked through pragmatically, not simply brushed off as a fait accompli. What is needed is a sensible and practical approach to work where all those involved should sit down and work out a solution. If nothing is done this programme is doomed, and the industry will once again suffer through a lack of skilled entrants in the workplace.