Maritime Literacy – A Preparatory VET Course
Maritime Literacy – A Preparatory VET Course
Strategic Partnership in the VET sector.
Lead partner:
FGU ØstJylland (Denmark)
Other Partners of the consortium:
InterCollege ApS (Denmark)
Sea Teach (Spain)
International Internships (Romania)
Kocaeli İl Milli Eğitim Müdürlüğü – KPDoNE (Turkey)
Project Summary:
European Union has 68,000 km of coastline which is home to 1200 commercial seaports. Including the EEA members, the coastline covers 185,000km. Almost half of the EU’s population lives less than 50 km from the sea. The maritime area under the jurisdiction of EU Member States is larger than the total land area of the EU. More than 37,000Km of inland waterways connect hundreds of cities and industrial regions in the EU. 13 Member States have an interconnected waterway network.
Taking a point of reference in these statistics, the importance of the EU’s blue economy is undeniably fundamental to its sustainable growth and therefore the need of a well-prepared labour force is self-evident. The blue economy represents roughly 5.4 million jobs and generates a gross added value of almost €500 billion a year.
Maritime education is not new, with higher secondary and tertiary educational institutions offering professional education programmes related to maritime industry and the blue sector, as well as maritime academies and sailing clubs offering paid learning programmes and qualifications for people of all ages.
However, this project is innovative as it will develop a preparatory vocational course in maritime literacy, based on non-formal learning methodology, that targets learners with fewer opportunities who are not yet ready or abled to enter mainstream secondary, higher secondary or tertiary education.
Project Objectives:
Through this strategic partnership, the partners aim to develop a preparatory VET course in basic maritime literacy for vocational learners with fewer opportunities.
– Develop a 15-day course framework with lesson plans and learning objectives that address 5 thematic modules (Seamanship, Communication, Navigation, Safety & Ecology)
– Develop a series of suggested training methods that fulfil the learning objectives of the five modules
– Test the developed course and methods on 150 vocational learners with fewer opportunities
– Publish the course in a PDF Compendium as an open recourse
– Ensure the dissemination and exploitation of the course
Output:
The course will result in new learning opportunities for VET learners who face challenges in engaging in mainstream/traditional educational routes. The course will consist of a training framework with learning objectives, and training methods covering 5 modules:
1 – Seamanship
2 – Communication on water
3 – Navigation on water
4 – Safety on water
5 – Ecology (Seas, Oceans, Coasts and Inland Waterways)
The 5 modules will involve 15 days of learning. The course will be published in a pdf compendium including:
– A short description of the course, and suggestions of its integration into broader preparatory VET programmes or its implementation as a standalone short course
– A framework for the course, including the course flow, lesson plans, learning objectives, and suggestions for reflections and observations of learning outcomes
– A series of 30 suggested training methods that use a non-formal learning approach to address the learning objectives of the 5 modules