‘’Within Competing we learn from each other’s teaching methods’’

As part of Dutch Maritime Week today (November 13th) we ‘celebrate’ the Day of the  Maritime Teacher. Toby Schouwstra (43) is a teacher in inland shipping for the Maritieme Academie in Harlingen.  

Also voor Toby teaching during the Covid-19 pandemic is a big challenge. “Remote teaching is difficult,’’ he explains. “It’s difficult to give the right attention. Dealing with practical examples is also not easy.  We were able to teach subjects such as Communications and Regulations well through among other things, simulations on students’ computers.’’

Toby sees keeping up with all developments in education as one of the greatest challenges. ‘’But the same goes for keeping up with developments in the industry, inland shipping,’’ he adds. ‘’A good skipper is not always a good teacher – and vice versa.’’

According to Toby, the influx of young people who opt for inland shipping shows that there is sufficient attention for inland shipping. ‘’But young people would like to be broadly oriented in the maritime world. The Day of the Maritime Teacher is, I think, essential as a network and sharing knowledge, teaching material and teaching methods. All maritime disciplines come together on this day.’’

Toby is familiar with the project Competing. ‘’That project is very important for inland shipping, especially when it comes to the duties of skipper and sailor,’’ continues Toby. ‘’Within Competing and is sub-projects we notice that we all have the same passion, but the  descriptions of it differ. As teachers we learn a lot from each other’s teaching methods and school levels in relation to the outflow functions.’’