Dec 12, 2017

There is a growing shortage of marine techs all across Canada and the American Boat & Yacht Council (ABYC) has a potential solution to attract more young people into the industry.

The ABYC has announced the release of a marine service technology program to help secondary schools implement standards based curriculum with an inland or coastal focus. The curriculum package includes a textbook, instructor guides, PowerPoint presentations, sample test questions and online videos.

“We are thrilled to launch the only standards based curriculum program in the marine industry and meet the needs of high school teachers,” said Ed Sherman ABYC vice president of education. “Furthermore, by partnering with the National Occupational Competency Testing Institute (NOCTI), we can offer a nationally recognized series of exams that will provide successful students with an industry recognized entry-level credential.”

“ABYC’s goal is to make it very easy to implement an engaging marine service training program that will drive interest and help young people pursue rewarding careers in the marine industry,” said Sherman.

Participating schools will gain access to:

• ABYC’s secondary textbook, Fundamentals of Marine Service Technology

• PowerPoint presentations and digital instructor guides to accompany each chapter in the textbook

• Online demonstration videos that can be accessed by the teacher or student

• Access to its vast online catalog of full color still images that instructors can use in creating their own presentations and course content materials

• Test and quiz question bank with several hundred sample questions

• Digital accomplishment badges for students

• Option for NOCTI certification exams

“Before I started using ABYC’s textbook, I had to purchase several marine books to get all the material necessary for my students,” said Rob Berenwick, instructor at Ocean County Vocational Technical School. “ABYC addresses all of our needs in one easy to read, comprehensive book and the new curriculum package will make it even easier for our marine program to excel moving forward.”

ABYC staff has a booth at the Association for Career & Technical Education (ACTE) Conference to educate school administrators and guidance counselors about career paths in the marine industry and promote ABYC’s built out curriculum package.

Andy Adams, News Week editor had a conversation with Ed Sherman about this and although this is an American program, we believe it would adapt easily into our Canadian High School system. It would seem a logical program to offer in locations like the Pacific North West, Ontario Cottage Country and many East Coast communities.

To learn more about ABYC’s Marine Service Technology Program visit www.abycinc.org/marineservice.