Role and Importance of Simulator Instructor

Traditional concept of seafarers’ training was based upon theoretical teaching in class room followed by the practical training onboard ship. This concept underwent profound changes in 80s due economic and practical reasons emanating from new face of the marine industry. Simulator based training had obvious advantages of being economical, safe and redundant. But it had its own implications as well. How perfect a simulator may be, it still was far away from real ship experiences. Instructor became more and more important and he is actually responsible to connect up the simulator experience with real ship experiences through his visualization and does not let the trainee get into a discourse or fall into a game mood. This study examines how the importance of simulator instructor is on the rise and present tools available for the qualification of the simulator instructors need to be augmented with new measures so as to ensure the quality of the simulator based training of the seafarers.