Traditional seafarer training has always focused on the acquisition and use of
practical skills. The prevailing view is that, while this approach addresses a degree of
cognitive skills, it focuses on and gives much more emphasis to the acquisition of hands-on
practical skills for the performance of specific tasks. On the other hand, academic education
has been seen to be much more focused on the development of in-depth analytical and
critical thinking skills; cognitive skills that are less reliant on hands-on task-oriented
training, but stress critical reading and discussion. The global trend in maritime education
and training is increasingly to link an essentially vocational education that provides specific
and restricted competence outcomes with more general or deeper academic components
leading to an academic qualification. This trend has led to some dilemmas for curriculum
development, for training legislation in a global industry, and for achieving desired learning
outcomes in a professional setting (in the shipping industry). This paper discusses some of
the challenges arising from this trend and the opportunities the trend offers.

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• Vocational and academic approaches to maritime education and training (MET): Trends, challenges and opportunities