This week Seavision is holding an interactive maritime festival at Wyvern College in Hampshire to help celebrate, enthuse and educate the youth of today about the maritime industry and its fundamental role in lives.
The educational initiative aims to spark an interest in shipping to help students overcome generational ‘sea-blindness’ and encourage them to think about a career at sea.
Ewen Macdonald, Director of Seavision says, “Amongst young people there seems to be this ubiquitous lack of knowledge about shipping and in order to encourage them into the sector we need to engage them at an early age. We need to start educating them at school so that growing up they are aware of its importance. Generally most children will develop an interest in professions that they are familiar with or constantly surrounded by, so we need to try and do the same with the maritime industry.”
During the week-long venture at Wyvern College, the curriculum will be focusing almost entirely on maritime related topics and STEM tasks to foster educational development so that students of today may consider the maritime opportunities of tomorrow. It aims to address the current marine skills gap and provide insight into a range of different career paths and possibilities for students.
Wyvern College’s Maritime Week will be involving 29 different maritime sector companies and a number of SV and STEM Ambassadors to talk about their occupation and create activities to reflect the skills used in their workplace. These companies and organisations include the likes of Southampton Solent University, Mary Rose Museum, Marine Skills Centre and Lloyd’s Register to name a few.
As part of the maritime festivities there will also be a community event on Tuesday 7 July aimed at targeting not only the students and parents from Wyvern College, but also six feeder Primary Schools and three associated FE Colleges. The evening will include presentations from the Royal Navy, Warsash Maritime Academy and the National Oceanographic Centre, as well as fun activities such as an exhibition inside a shipping container next to the school’s tennis court.
“We are hoping that this pilot venture be a beacon of proven success, motivating young people into maritime jobs and encouraging the sector to stage similar engagements in other maritime hubs around the UK,” said Macdonald.