Views from Maritime Education and Training on the Full Implementation of 2010 STCW Amendments

The full review of The International Convention on Standards of Training, Certification and Watch keeping for Seafarers （the STCW Convention） has been accomplished by International Maritime Organization （IMO） and the new amendment, which is also named as Manila amendment, has been effective since 2012, with a transitional period of 2012-2017. Based on the system engineering context consisting of ＂Human, Machine and Environment＂, human factors at sea, i.e., those factors relevant to the seafarers, are consistently underlined. STCW convention is the unique but systematic international maritime legislation looking after the ＂professional competency standards＂ of seafarers. The amendment thereto is of great significance for the Maritime Education and Training （MET） systems, which should be fully understood so as to respond to it effectively. The paper analyzes major impacts brought by the amendment, with purposes to raise recommendations for MET systems to implement the amendment effectively.

Level of Acceptability of the Instructional Guide in Physical Education 2(Advanced Swimming Skills and Life-Saving Techniques)

This descriptive study aimed to determine the level of acceptability of the Instructional Guide in Physical Education 2(Advanced Swimming Skills and Life-Saving Techniques).The respondents of the study were the content experts currently teaching PE(Physical Education)in other universities in Iloilo and Bacolod City,Philippines together with the BSMT(Bachelor of Science Marine Transportation)students who used the instructional guide throughout the duration of the study.The instrument used to evaluate the materials was adopted from Terunez(2008)and included seven evaluation criteria to include physical aspect,language,content,objectives,instructions,learning activities,and evaluation measures.The statistical tools employed were mean,standard deviation,and rank.The results of the study revealed that the level of acceptability of the instructional guide in physical aspect was“High”which means that the material was suited to the level of the intended users.No significant difference was noted in the evaluation result of the content experts and student users.It can be concluded that the development of Instructional Guide in Physical Education 2 is deemed to be highly beneficial in enhancing learning.It is recommended that this instructional material will be utilized by other maritime institutions offering courses in Advanced Swimming and Life-Saving Techniques.

Seafarers＇ Current Awareness, Knowledge, Motivation and Ideas towards Low Carbon-Energy Efficient Operations

International and national concern about detrimental climate change has generated pressure for the shipping industry to play its＇ role in reducing the 3.3% of global carbon emission it emits. On the 1st January, 2013, the IMO （International Maritime Organisation） enforced regulations to support the reduction of shipping carbon emissions by improving energy efficiency. These measures directly and indirectly affect the daily operations of seafarers and onshore performance and managerial personnel. Whilst the industry has made efforts to raise the awareness of many stakeholders and research has been undertaken to investigate energy efficiency barriers, little has been done to capture the opinions, needs and knowledge of seafarers. A questionnaire was distributed in the last quarter of 2011 to investigate seafarers＇ awareness, knowledge and motivation towards carbon emissions in general and towards shipping carbon emissions. It also investigated opinions as to which personnel have the most influence over carbon reductions and what are the most important operational improvements that can be made. The authors have collected 317 questionnaire responses. The primary benefit of this study is to support the identification of an operational strategy to improve energy efficiency, including the development of LC-EE （low carbon-energy efficiency） MET （maritime education and training）, which is shown to be needed.

Knowledge and Skills in Advanced Swimming and Life-Saving Techniques: A Correlational Study

This descriptive-correlational study was conducted to determine the relationship between the knowledge and skills of the BSMT (Bachelor of Science in Maritime Transportation) students in PE (Physical Education) 2 (Advanced Swimming and Life-saving Techniques). The respondents of the study were the 40 second year BSMT students that were taken through purposive sampling. The study utilized a researcher-made questionnaire for both knowledge and skills that had undergone validity and reliability-testing. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used to analyze the data such as mean, standard deviation, and Spearman’s rho. Results revealed that their knowledge on Advanced Swimming and Life-saving Techniques was “Fair” while the skills of the second year BSMT students were “Very good”. Furthermore, the knowledge of the BSMT students had a positive correlation (substantial) with their skills on Advanced Swimming and Life-saving Techniques. The second year BSMT students are encouraged to undergo trainings and upgrading to enhance their knowledge and skills in Advanced Swimming and Life-saving Techniques in order for them to become life-long learners.