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This paper reports on some of the findings from a study of new technology and training in shipping. It identifies the key significance of motivation in the learning process and identifies potential factors that motivate or demotivate seafarers when undertaking training about new equipment. It shows that seafarers' motivation is likely to be impacted by confidence that training is good for the job as well as for promotion. It demonstrates that companies can facilitate and encourage individuals to initiate learning activities but that they may equally adopt strategies which discourage learning. Enabling factors include: establishing a positive learning environment; adopting clear policies; allowing seafarers to identify their own training needs and allowing seafarers to request support for specific courses. Conversely, companies may demotivate some seafarers in relation to training by shifting the burden of training 'costs', such as time and money, onto them.

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Ship operators have largely contracted out the supply of seafarer labour to crewing agencies recruiting in developing world countries. This case study reports on the quality of seafarer training and on the local enforcement of international training standards in a developing country which has become a major supplier of outsourced seafarer labour. Maritime education and training institutions (METs) cannot compete freely to supply quality training at competitive prices because of the market-fixing activities of the crewing agencies who demand kickbacks from the METs. Other pressures on training quality include the existence of papermill METs (issuing certificates without training) and a developed market in forged certificates. This poses a considerable challenge for the national institutions charged with overseeing examinations and inspecting METs. The struggle to achieve effective governance of the training of outsourced labour in the shipping industry may arguably be viewed as a critical case for other globalizing industries.

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It is not unusual to find that employers operating in low-pay sectors are reluctant to provide vocational training. Frequently they fear benefitting competitors as better-skilled employees command a more competitive position in the labour market and may choose to leave one employer and take their newly acquired skills elsewhere. However, in contrast the expectation might reasonably be that employers in more skilled sectors would be more enthusiastic about such training particularly when the financial, environmental and human costs, of errors are high. This paper therefore analyses vocational training provision in the more skilled sector of professional seafaring. In this sector, accidents may cause massive environmental damage and loss of life, and may incur substantial fines and financial penalties. Using a mix of qualitative and quantitative data, the paper focuses upon the adequacy of the training that is provided to seafarer officers in relation to the introduction of new technology aboard their vessels.

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Vocational education and training (VET) concerns the cultivation and development of specific skills and competencies, in addition to broad underpinning knowledge relating to paid employment. VET assessment is, therefore, designed to determine the extent to which a trainee has effectively acquired the knowledge, skills, and competencies required by employers. Across a range of occupations, such testing has traditionally comprised a portfolio of practical on-the-job assessments, oral tests and laboratory tasks. In recent years vocational training assessment has increasingly adopted new computer-based assessment (CBA) methods and, as a consequence, consideration of the scope of computer-based assessments and their appropriateness for vocational training evaluation is timely. This paper examines the growing adoption of CBA within the safety-critical field of maritime education and training (MET), particularly, in relation to the summative assessment of seafarers for licensing purposes. It discusses the implications for validity, reliability and security.

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This article offers an insight into the regulation and conduct of training and education in a globalised industry, and across an international labour market. Focusing on the cargo shipping sector of the maritime industry, it considers the provision of training and education for modern merchant officers within the context of an international regulatory framework. The article is based on an international, year-long, small-scale study funded by the British Academy (Ref: LRG33549).

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