Proficiency improvement method in maritime education

The research conducted by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) shows that maritime education not always reaches its pre-established goal. One of the aspects in maritime education development process with the aim to prepare ship officers and other specialists is a thorough selection of the learning content according to real life necessities. Structuring the learning content of the subjects, both significant to profession and conforming to the requirements set by professional bodies, is one of the key issues addressed by curriculum developers. The aim of this research is to create a model for the curriculum development in scientific subjects for outcome-based maritime education. The main criterion which determines the significance/contribution level of the included topic in the curriculum is the anticipated learning outcome increasing the level of proficiency in students. Thus, the present research unveils the necessary steps for the evaluation of the proposed topics in the context of teaching/learning and gives grounds for their selection and the arrangement of topics in a logical order for further implementation in teaching/learning process. The present research is illustrated by a case study concerning the development of teaching/learning content for chemistry curriculum as a study subject in the secondary vocational maritime education programme.