Abstract:

After the crude oil spill accident in the Yellow Sea in 2007, there were an urgent need for training Tug-barge transportation senior farers in Korea. However, very few research studies have been conducted in training for seniors, so that effective training methods for seniors were not been actively developed yet. Since Korea became one of the countries that have fast growing senior population with its economic growth, the need for training seniors will be growing with challenges coming with aging society. In 2008, Korean senior population was 5,016,000 takes up 10.3% of its total population. According to UN’s definition, Korea is already an aging society and Korean society needs to prepare problems coming with aging society.
As one of the preparation for aging society, we developed training program for senior farers who operate tug-barge transportation. Education for seniors should proceed based on the understanding of the senior learners’ characteristics. Physical, mental and social conditions should have been considered before designing training for seniors. Based on the considerations, we tried to assess the factors related to the training for seniors at the beginning of the research and then, suggested senior specialized training methods.
Through out literature review and observations on senior training, rules such as learner oriented training, multi-media utilization, active discussion, repetitive learning, slower speed, and positive feedback were developed and applied to the training for senior farers. Considering senior workers’ characteristics, the training were scrupulously designed to keep the participants’ interests steady. Therefore, the program was designed to help the learners to focus on core contents such as safe operation and accident prevention. Additionally flash animation, video clips and pictures were actively applied to the training contents to substitute senior learners’ low learning motivation, cognitive senses and psychological conditions.

Keywords:

Senior training, tug-barge transportation, collision accident, aging seafarer, safe navigation contents, safe manning, adult education, vocational education.