MathsatSea.com from Marine Society offers new up-skilling in functional Maths for seafarers.
News Release
Coracle Online Ltd
September 7, 2011
DATE: 6 September 2011
The world’s most experienced seafarers’ charity has launched a new web-based Maths up-skilling programme designed to address the needs of ratings who seek advancement to first Officer of the Watch (OOW) ticket.
The Marine Society’s Maths at Sea offer is at: www.MathsatSea.com. This easily accessible learning package is an up-skilling programme covering the basics of Maths. Key features are that it has been designed from bottom up by specialists in nautical education and that the entire programme has been marine contextualised – in other words, it uses examples and language to which seafarers can relate.
The charity worked closely with South Tyneside Marine College to identify common areas of weakness and specialist maritime eLearning provider CoracleOnline.com to create the content and manage online registration and assessment.
Funding for the programme came from the JW Slater Fund, administered by Nautilus International, which offers scholarships of up to £16,000 to help ratings study for a first certificate of competency.
Trustees of the Slater Fund have for many years delegated day to day responsibility for managing the award of the scholarships and the on-programme support of ratings as they progress towards their OOW to the Marine Society. This is in recognition of the charity’s excellent credentials for the development and delivery of learning to maritime professionals.
The Marine Society recognises that many ratings have not been in a formal learning environment for some time and that the prospect of returning to a classroom can be daunting. Evidence shows that lack of self-confidence, particularly as far as tackling Maths is concerned, can be a formidable barrier to career progression.
Around fifty ratings are awarded a scholarship each year, with about 170 scholars on-programme at any given time. With the launch on 8 June 2011 of ratings apprenticeship programmes that will boost the number of UK ratings in coming years, there is expected to be an increasing number of seafarers seeking advancement to their first OOW. All will benefit from this new Maths up-skilling programme.
Colleges have long recognised the fear engendered by tackling Maths. Apprehension about ability to cope with Maths amongst young people is well founded, there being a constant refrain from colleges that whilst increasing numbers emerge from the education system with formal qualifications in Maths there is a trend in the other direction as to the numbers who are able to demonstrate an adequate grasp of functional numeracy.
And the Maths knowledge demanded at nautical college, with aspects of algebra, geometry and trigonometry, is becoming increasingly specialised, it being no longer a part of many GCSE syllabi. The Marine Society’s programme addresses this knowledge-gap. The result will be greater self-confidence amongst learners and improved retention rates for companies and colleges.
Access to the MathsatSea programme is free of charge to Slater scholars, but there is a small charge for others who wish to use it. Arrangements can be made for access by groups of learners on special terms.
Marine Society director Brian Thomas said: “There is a clearly identified need for this programme that will do much to help individuals, colleges, and sponsoring companies. Feedback from those who have road-tested the programme is overwhelmingly positive. Whilst this project is intended to be primarily for ratings returning to formal learning after years away, it might be that we go forward and develop a complementary programme that supports MN Officer Trainees as a pre-joining course to nautical college.”
James Tweed, founder of Coracle commented, “We were delighted to work with the Marine Society on this exciting project. The team were incredibly motivated to deliver a user friendly and supportive environment to support the desire of seafarers to achieve their goals.”
Quote from Alan Campbell, a Slater scholar and early beneficiary of the Maths course:
Alan successfully achieved his OOW with support from the Marine Society and a Slater scholarship in June 2011. Alan, who left school at 16 with few qualifications, went straight into the family’s fishing business based in the north east of Scotland. The Slater fund has transformed his life, replacing career despair and frustration with hope and confidence.
“ I found the Maths course challenging but at the same time very worthwhile. I left school 25 years ago and the course allowed me to refresh my grasp of maths. I would recommend the course to anyone who is wanting to improve their basic skills in preparation for nautical college. “
The world’s most experienced seafarers’ charity has launched a new web-based Maths up-skilling programme designed to address the needs of ratings who seek advancement to first Officer of the Watch (OOW) ticket.
The Marine Society’s Maths at Sea offer is at: www.MathsatSea.com. This easily accessible learning package is an up-skilling programme covering the basics of Maths. Key features are that it has been designed from bottom up by specialists in nautical education and that the entire programme has been marine contextualised – in other words, it uses examples and language to which seafarers can relate.
The charity worked closely with South Tyneside Marine College to identify common areas of weakness and specialist maritime eLearning provider CoracleOnline.com to create the content and manage online registration and assessment.
Funding for the programme came from the JW Slater Fund, administered by Nautilus International, which offers scholarships of up to £16,000 to help ratings study for a first certificate of competency.
Trustees of the Slater Fund have for many years delegated day to day responsibility for managing the award of the scholarships and the on-programme support of ratings as they progress towards their OOW to the Marine Society. This is in recognition of the charity’s excellent credentials for the development and delivery of learning to maritime professionals.
The Marine Society recognises that many ratings have not been in a formal learning environment for some time and that the prospect of returning to a classroom can be daunting. Evidence shows that lack of self-confidence, particularly as far as tackling Maths is concerned, can be a formidable barrier to career progression.
Around fifty ratings are awarded a scholarship each year, with about 170 scholars on-programme at any given time. With the launch on 8 June 2011 of ratings apprenticeship programmes that will boost the number of UK ratings in coming years, there is expected to be an increasing number of seafarers seeking advancement to their first OOW. All will benefit from this new Maths up-skilling programme.
Colleges have long recognised the fear engendered by tackling Maths. Apprehension about ability to cope with Maths amongst young people is well founded, there being a constant refrain from colleges that whilst increasing numbers emerge from the education system with formal qualifications in Maths there is a trend in the other direction as to the numbers who are able to demonstrate an adequate grasp of functional numeracy.
And the Maths knowledge demanded at nautical college, with aspects of algebra, geometry and trigonometry, is becoming increasingly specialised, it being no longer a part of many GCSE syllabi. The Marine Society’s programme addresses this knowledge-gap. The result will be greater self-confidence amongst learners and improved retention rates for companies and colleges.
Access to the MathsatSea programme is free of charge to Slater scholars, but there is a small charge for others who wish to use it. Arrangements can be made for access by groups of learners on special terms.
Marine Society director Brian Thomas said: “There is a clearly identified need for this programme that will do much to help individuals, colleges, and sponsoring companies. Feedback from those who have road-tested the programme is overwhelmingly positive. Whilst this project is intended to be primarily for ratings returning to formal learning after years away, it might be that we go forward and develop a complementary programme that supports MN Officer Trainees as a pre-joining course to nautical college.”
James Tweed, founder of Coracle commented, “We were delighted to work with the Marine Society on this exciting project. The team were incredibly motivated to deliver a user friendly and supportive environment to support the desire of seafarers to achieve their goals.”
Quote from Alan Campbell, a Slater scholar and early beneficiary of the Maths course:
Alan successfully achieved his OOW with support from the Marine Society and a Slater scholarship in June 2011. Alan, who left school at 16 with few qualifications, went straight into the family’s fishing business based in the north east of Scotland. The Slater fund has transformed his life, replacing career despair and frustration with hope and confidence.
“ I found the Maths course challenging but at the same time very worthwhile. I left school 25 years ago and the course allowed me to refresh my grasp of maths. I would recommend the course to anyone who is wanting to improve their basic skills in preparation for nautical college. “