Ship to Academe, Seafaring to Teaching: A Paradigm Shift for Marine Officers

Abstract

Years of working on board vessels as marine officers to teaching in maritime schools as full-time instructors entails a big transition and a sharp turn of events in a seafarer’s role and way of life. This investigation aimed to measure the level of commitment of seafarers-turned-maritime instructors on their roles as teachers as well as to determine their level of competence as based on their self-assessment in reference to Lloyd’s list of key attributes for maritime educators, namely, subject knowledge and technical skills, communication skills, pedagogy, and soft skills. It also attempts to identify the challenges that they experience being fully connected with the academe and to propose a customized set of training courses for professional instructors which can be included in the Faculty Development Plan to address the gaps that have been identified.