NEWS IN BRIEF . . .
• WARSASH ETO TRAINING
Warsash Maritime Academy is moving
into ETO training with its first programme
commencing on Monday 09 September .
This will lead to the new CoC as provided
for under STCW 10.
• CITY OF GLASGOW COLLEGE STAFF APPOINTMENTS
Shoukat Khan, Curriculum Leader,
Scottish Professional Diploma programme
Angus Ferguson, Curriculum Leader,
NC/HNC programme
• WARSASH COLLEGE
OPEN DAY
Despite the college’s best efforts in January,
this year’s event needed to be postponed due
to the bad weather. The Open Day was
rescheduled taking place on Friday 08 March.
Nevertheless the weather still managed to
play its part, with bad weather particularly
during the afternoon resulting in a slowdown
in the number of candidates arriving after
lunch.
The college need not have worried however.
The feedback on the day was positive with in
excess of 400 potential cadets attending the
event. The enthusiasm of attendees was
demonstrated by candidates travelling from
far and wide, and notably Scotland, North
Wales, Midlands, Kent and Cornwall.
The college has a second event planned for
Friday 28 June 2013. The next winter event is
scheduled for Friday 24 January 2014.
• LATEST M-NOTICES
Please take note of the most recent
M-Notices, MGNs and MINs issued by the
MCA listed overleaf.
STCW 10: Training Update: Security Training
Once the Manila amendments to the STCW convention come into
force there will be five levels of security training which will apply to
ships required to comply with the provisions of the ISPS Code:
-
-
Company Security Officer (No change).
Shipboard Security Officer (No change).
Proficiency in Designated Security Duties (Only required by
seafarers with designated security duties - except if more than
6 months sea service in this capacity held).
Proficiency in Security Awareness (Required by all seafarers except if more than 6 months sea service held).
Security Familiarisation (Required by all seafarers).
From 01 January 2014 the new training requirements are:
Proficiency in Designated Security Duties
Seafarers with designated security duties under the ships security
plan must complete training on Designated Security Duties as per
STCW Reg VI/6 and Part A of Section A-VI/6. This training leads to
the issue of a STCW Certificate of Proficiency.
Proficiency in Security Awareness
All seafarers engaged in any capacity must complete security
awareness training, according to the STCW Reg V1/6 and Part A,
of Section A- VI1/6.4. This training leads to the issue of a STCW
Certificate of Proficiency.
Security Familiarisation
Every seafarer (excluding passengers) must complete
familiarisation training, according to STCW Reg V1/6 and Part A,
of Section A-VI/6.1. This must be delivered by the SSO, or other
equally qualified person, prior to the seafarer being assigned
shipboard duties.
‘Grandfather’ Rights
There are ‘grandfather’ clauses which allow seafarers with
previous equivalent training and those with relevant sea service
prior to 01 January 2012 to be issued with a certificate of
proficiency without undertaking further training. Shipping
Companies holding UK ISM Document of Compliance may apply
to the Seafarers Training & Certification Branch of the MCA to
issue certificates in:
‘Proficiency in Designated Security Duties’ to seafarers who
have at least six months sea service, which has included security
duties, in the three years prior to 01 January 2012, including
three months sea service in their employment.
‘Proficiency in Security Awareness’ to seafarers who have at
least six months sea service in any capacity in the three years
prior to 01 January 2012, and which must include at least three
months sea service in their employment.
In these cases the MCA may issue Certificates of Service to
holders of UK Certificates of Competency, or UK Watch Rating
Certificates where the minimum employment requirement of 3
months sea service whilst in their employment has not been met.
Further information: IMO circulars STCW Circ.7/16 and STCW Circ.7/17.
South Tyneside College,
Marine Pre-Cadetship Programme
In September 2012 South Tyneside College
enrolled 22 students onto its new one year Marine
Pre-cadetship programme. This is a combined
programme designed to prepare candidates who
wish to follow a full Deck or Engineer cadetship.
The programme leads to a Level 3 Diploma in
Shipping and Maritime Operations that equates to
between 120 – 160 (Pass - Merit) UCAS points.
This award will qualify successful students to be
considered for enrolment onto a Foundation
Degree programme in England and the Scottish
Professional Degree Programme in Scotland.
The course includes studies in a number of key
areas providing the candidates with a good
background knowledge in various aspects of
shipping operations. They benefit from studying in
one of the UK’s largest maritime colleges and from
being taught by the same seafaring lecture staff
that teach on the college’s cadet programmes.
The programme is delivered with a view to treating
the individuals as cadets and not Further
Education students. There have inevitably been
some who are not prepared to tolerate the
demanding standards expected of them, but this is
seen as a positive aspect of the programme
leading to a higher calibre of student who
complete the programme.
We are now receiving qualifications from
candidates who have followed this programme and
who will be assessed by SSTG against the same
exacting standards that apply to all candidates.
Examination Tips
Many candidates continue to face written
examinations at all stages of their training, and
across all disciplines. For most well prepared
candidates these will not present too many
difficulties, but the general experience is that the
percentage of exams passed at the first attempt
could be higher across the board.
Where exams are set internally within a college,
feedback may be available on the paper generally
with more specific guidance sometimes being
given to individual candidates. Any feedback on
externally set exams may be more difficult to come
by.
Recent feedback received from an external
marker, which could equally apply to any
examination, indicated a continuing lack of basic
examination technique with many marks lost as a
result.
The most important advice was to answer the
question given.
The examiner quoted many examples of answers
that provided good material, and in some cases
relevant content - but where the candidate still
failed to receive marks due to not answering the
question asked.
A good example provided by the examiner related
to a question asking what “the purpose of
lubricating oil tests and the purpose of rotating
valves” was. The examiner explained in his
comments that describing the tests and explaining
how the valve is rotated showed a good
knowledge, but obtained no marks as it didn’t
answer the question. In this case many of the
candidates did not describe the purpose - which is
what the question was asking for.
Take care to read the question given and try to
understand exactly what information the marker is
expecting to find.
M-Notices - M-Notices, MGNs and MINs issued by the MCA recently include the following:
• MIN 451 (M+F) Period of Validity of Notice of Eligibility and Time Required Between Re-sits of Oral Exams.
aaa www.dft.gov.uk/mca/min_451.pdf
• MGN 401 (M+F) Navigation: Vessel Traffic Services (VTS) and Local Port Services (LPS) in the United Kingdom.
aaa www.dft.gov.uk/mca/mgn401_amendment.pdf
• MGN 462 (M+F) Pollution: Entry into Force of the Energy Efficiency Design Index
aaaa www.dft.gov.uk/mca/mgn462.pdf
• MGN 465 (M+F) Navigation: Automatic Identification Systems (AIS): Annual Testing
iaaaawww.dft.gov.uk/mca/mgn465.pdf
All links correct at date of publication.