Sowing the Seeds

At their stand in a recent careers exhibition, the people from Port Skills and Safety (PSSL) found themselves answering the most basic questions. “We had youngsters coming in and asking ‘what is a port’and ‘what do you want a crane for’,”says Harry Tilley, PSSL’s skills and standards manager.

It’s a depressing picture which fits into the general lack of knowledge and understanding of the shipping and maritime sector in the UK and elsewhere.

PSSL is working hard to get the message into schools and colleges in order to attract more young people into the industry.At the same time,a number of similar and commendable initiatives are under way in the UK regions,too,including those of Mersey Maritime and the Haven Gateway Partnership.

Raising the profile of the industry is one thing; making it an attractive option is another. According to Mr Tilley, the most important way in which the industry can persuade potential entrants to consider a career in ports is to put a clear and consistent qualifications framework in place.

“There isn’t a national approach and there isn’t a career structure,” he says. “That is a big issue when trying to attract youngsters from school.Before I joined PSSL I worked for a while in the training sector; and discovered that schools didn’t know anything about the port sector, even some of the schools in Felixstowe.

And that is because schools recognise qualifications, and there weren’t any.” PSSL, the ports industry’s organisation for health, safety, skills and standards set up in 2002, wants to put a career structure in place and a key part of this will be the creation of a “Foundation Degree Framework for Ports”. This project is being progressed by a PSSL steering group which includes representatives from employers, colleges and universities, the Health & Safety Executive, the MCA, the Department for Transport, and others.

The idea is not to create a specific course – but to set out the framework within which colleges or universities can create their own foundation degree. Training,says Mr Tilley,is a big issue.Traditionally port managers used to come from a maritime background – and a master might be expected to know what a port is. But thanks to the well-documented shortage of people choosing a career at sea, that source of talent is drying up in the UK and many other Western European countries.

“Because of the skills shortage in the ports generally we are trying to put something in place that would attract youngsters that perhaps are leaving school with GCSEs or A levels and are looking for a career in port management,” says Mr Tilley. “It is important that they are able to go to college and do a foundation degree which will be nationally recognised.

The framework would provide learning outcomes but the content can be adapted to suit local needs. That is why it is a framework and not a diploma – because every port cluster around the country will need different things.

“The delivery methods we also want to be quite flexible; so people could do the qualification at work,or via distance learning, for example.” The framework is being drawn up as part of a broader cooperation with the Merchant Navy. The aim is that some modules in the ports degree will be the same as those in the seagoing foundation degree.

Around the UK, many colleges have already worked with local employers to develop their own courses, some are of the general logistics type incorporating some port management modules, and others focus on port management. “Our target is really to get a nationally recognised qualification,”says Mr Tilley.

The PSSL project has attracted interest from a high number of educational establishments in the UK and also from maritime sectors in other countries. “We have had requests from all over the world for details; I think we are leading the way,”he says.