Teaching/ Learning in a Students’ Hotchpotch

This article is a summary of 15 years working onboard merchant ships with a multicultural crew complement, 25 years on the rostrum at World Maritime University in Malmö, and my Licentiate dissertation. These circumstances have awakened in me an interest in how people with different cultures manage to cooperate, reach consensus decisions and are able to understand and learn from each other and in the classroom. The latter prompts the question how it is possible to learn in an environment with many different teaching styles together with colleagues having equally different cognitive styles. Cognition varies, but how does the individual assimilate a wide variety of teaching styles as well as the different cultures and way of thinking and talking of colleagues? This article aims to pass on findings from data gathered in a study carried out at my workplace using students and teachers outside my office. It has become a special concern today to understand how a group of people comprising different genders and different cultures can work together and learn together. In shipping it has become even more important because of its global nature since crews are seldom from the same nationality but comprise a mixture of people from almost the entire world. Teachers and students world-wide need culture awareness training in order to interact painlessly and communicate effectively. A student’s life at the four walls of the hostel-room and the World Wide Web (www) as the best friend is a recipe for withdrawal and misery. This article will encourage cultural awareness education and cultural sensitivity training at, in particular, education institutions for mariners.