Young Seafarers on Board International Vessels: What Life Has Been
Special project cadets are exposed to various experiences as they embark onboardinternational vessels during their on the-Job Training for 12 months. With theaim of getting authentic information relative to their actual lived experiences awayfrom home, this descriptive study sought to determine the problems encountered by company scholars and their coping strategies particularly at work and in their social interaction with their fellow crew. A survey questionnaire and an interviewguide were employed in gathering data. Forty-seven (47) Engine cadets of a groupof shipowners and a particular shipping company who have returned from their12-month apprenticeship revealed that they learned appropriate work valuessuch as flexibility and adaptability, patience and self-control, humility, resilience, stronger sense of responsibility, discipline and perseverance. Vulnerability todifficult situations, homesickness, and mismatched task assignments wereprevailing problems among the cadets. It is recommended that clear measuresmust be done to address issues on discrimination, abuse by authority, emotionaland physical harassment, excessive workloads, and unpaid overtime which havebeen partially revealed in this study. A feedback mechanism is also suggestedfor shipping companies to allow returning cadets to reveal the quality of theirexperiences for the purpose of ensuring a fair and honest management of crewin their fleets.Keywords: Social sciences, seafaring industry, maritime students, On-the-Job Training,descriptive design, Philippines