Resources for Schools

Here are links to a range of resources about the maritime sector which schools (and others) might find useful. We're particularly grateful to Nick Harvey of Seafarers UK and Jamie Bullar of London Nautical School for their recommendations.

If you know of something else which isn't here and should be, please let us know. And please tell us what you think: feedback will help us to point schools to the most suitable resources for them.

Qualifications

England: Open Awards Level 1 Award / Certificate / Diploma in Exploring Maritime Studies

England: Open Awards Level 2 Award in Maritime Studies

England: Open Awards Level 3 Certificate in Maritime Studies

Scotland: Skills for Work Maritime Skills National 5, at SCQF Level 5

Scotland: the National Progression Award in Maritime Studies, at SCQF Level 5

Teaching and Learning Resources

Adopt A Ship: Intermanager's adopt-a-ship programme

Buoys, beacons and bananas: education resources for Key Stages 1,2 & 3 from Trinity House

Can a lobster be an archaeologist? Book from the Society of Underwater Technology (plus a free colouring book) created as a way of making young people aware of some of the many career opportunities that the ocean offers and to spark interest in readers as early as possible in their school lives. Key target: ages 10-12.

FutureLearn 4-week course: Exploring Our Ocean - presented by the University of Southampton

Geography@Sea is an introduction to maritime geography, focusing on the production and transport of raw materials, showing why freight shipping is concentrated in certain regions and along certain shipping lanes.

Global Ocean Trade: slides from the World Shipping Council

The Green Blue: educational resources from this joint environmental initiative from British Marine and the Royal Yachting Association

Marine CSI Challenge: An initiative from the joint British Marine / RYA "Green Blue" environmental programme

Maritime SuperSkills project: teaching resources for Key Stages 2, 3 & 4

My Skills My Life: an online quiz to show girls and young women a variety of jobs they may find interesting based on their personality types, determined by answering a set of questions.

National Maritime Museum: resources for Key Stages 1-3

National Oceanography Centre teaching resources, eg Ocean Currents, Life on the Sea Floor, Predicting Ocean Change

RNLI Education Resources - categorised by age group from 3-18

Saildrone: an autonomous Saildrone circumnavigates Antarctica in 196 days

Sea Cadets' Marine Engineering Pathway. Engineering "pods" which you can book to visit your school.

STEMCREW - STEM teaching resources for Key Stages 3 & 4 from the 1851 Trust

STEM Resources for Children from the WISE campaign: Women in Science and Engineering

The Box: the BBC followed a shipping container for a year

The role of seafarers - teaching resources for children aged 5 to 11 from the Mission to Seafarers

World Ocean Day for Schools - 8th June 2021

Articles and Videos

Containerisation: the unsung hero of globalisation? An article from the Geographical Association for AS/A2 students

Guide to an Offshore Wind Farm: Crown Estate: it's not designed as teaching material, but it's well set out and packed with useful information.

Live Shipping Map: find and track ships across the world

Mayflower 2020: an autonomous vessel aims to cross the Atlantic 400 years after the original Mayflower

The great coronavirus toilet paper shortage unravelled.

Why are Nike trainers washing up on beaches? - BBC article

Why Shipping Matters: A free programme for primary schools devised by the Institute for Chartered Shipbrokers (contact ICS for your copy), with an introductory 7-minute video. (Key Stage 2).

Careers Material

Career Job Cards from British Marine

Opportunities to work at sea: a suite of 12 videos from Seafarers UK

"Sea Your Future" from IMarEST (Institute of Marine Engineering, Science and Technology)

Other initiatives

Blog: Rachel Kitley, Principal of Cowes Enterprise College, on "How we created a new maritime studies curriculum", January 2020

Offshore wind developer, Vattenfall, worked with four young women studying A levels at University Technical College Norfolk, taking them as consultants to the Netherlands to work with peers there to share detailed insights into the roles and skills it takes to build a wind farm. Details here.

Wightlink has launched a partnership with three primary schools on the Isle of Wight.