As job security declines and precarious employment arrangements become more prevalent, transferable skills have become vital for job seeking success. In recognition of this issue, many governments are seeking to redesign their training systems in ways that transferable skills become better emphasised. This paper examines the challenges of developing transferable skills among a nation’s workforce and the tensions that can emerge between training design intentions and training delivery outcomes when training delivery is marketised. Australia, where incremental training sector reforms have occurred since the late 1980s, serves as the context for this study. While training design occurs through a tripartite process involving employer, government and union representatives, training delivery is now determined in an open, deregulated market environment. Our analysis reveals a complex underlying design with an in-built intention of developing widely transferable skills, yet there exists significant concern about the actual training outcomes. We conclude that in an environment where VET delivery is user-choice driven with the aim of fulfilling specific employer skills needs the quality, depth and breadth of transferable skills are compromised.

The shipping industry worldwide is experiencing a shortage of trained and qualified officers to operate a rapidly expanding global merchant fleet. High cadet wastage in Maritime Education and Training (MET) institutions is an obstacle to skills replenishment in the UK. This paper examines the specificity of MET programmes with regard to the question of attrition and explores the intricate ways in which globalisation in the industry and the seafaring sector has influenced declining training opportunities and rising attrition rates in the UK.

This article draws upon recent, detailed, research into the assessment practices of six seafarer labour supply countries in connection with the issue of licences. It outlines the different forms of assessment practiced and includes the relatively recent introduction of computer-based assessment in some states. In considering the validity and appropriateness of the assessment procedures, currently in use, the paper references, and presents, the views of a sample of employers who regularly recruit seafarers to work upon internationally trading deep-sea vessels.