RYA Shorebased Navigation Instructor - Teaching in the Classroom

Prerequisites

This lesson covers the route to teaching the RYA shorebased (theory) courses: Essential Navigation and Seamanship, Day Skipper theory, and Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore theory. Before starting you should:

• Hold, or be close to holding, the Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate of Competence, which is the entry certificate for the Shorebased Navigation Instructor qualification.
• Be fluent in the Yachtmaster theory syllabus: chartwork, tidal heights and streams including secondary ports, course to steer, passage planning, the collision regulations, meteorology, safety and the electronic navigation topics.
• Have read the lesson on teaching afloat; the principles of explanation, demonstration, practice and feedback apply in a classroom just as they do in a cockpit.

Learning Objectives

By the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• State the entry requirements and validity of the RYA Shorebased Navigation Instructor qualification.
• Describe the Teaching in the Classroom course: who must take it, who is exempt, its format and what it assesses.
• Explain how the RYA shorebased courses are structured, assessed and moderated, and what a centre needs to run them.
• Write a lesson plan for a theory topic that sets an objective, chooses a method, checks learning and fits the time available.
• Teach the topics that students find hardest (tidal heights, course to steer, the collision regulations) in ways that work.
• Set, mark and give feedback on the assessment papers correctly.
• Avoid the classroom mistakes that Trainers most often see.

The Qualification

Teaching navigation theory is a different job from teaching afloat and has its own qualification. The requirements for the RYA Shorebased Navigation Instructor are:

• The RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate of Competence (or, for the powerboat route, RYA Advanced Powerboat Instructor).
• Completion of the RYA Teaching in the Classroom course (a requirement since 1 March 2019), unless you are exempt as described below.
• Successful completion of the Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore shorebased course within the last five years. The RYA wants instructors to have sat the course they will teach, recently, from the student's side of the table, because the syllabus and the methods change.
• Attendance at the Shorebased Navigation Instructor course itself, run by an RYA Trainer, after which you are qualified to teach the navigation courses at a Recognised Training Centre.

The qualification is valid for five years, after which a revalidation course is required. Yachtmaster Instructors are recognised to teach the shorebased navigation courses without the separate qualification and are exempt from Teaching in the Classroom.

Being a good sailor does not make you a good classroom teacher, which is why the two-stage structure exists: a general course on classroom teaching, then a subject-specific course. The diagram below shows the sequence.

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Teaching in the Classroom

Teaching in the Classroom (TIC) is the RYA's generic course for anyone who wants to teach any shorebased course: navigation, diesel engine, first aid, marine radio (SRC) assessor, radar and basic sea survival instructor courses all require it first.

Who is exempt

You do not need TIC if you are a Yachtmaster Instructor, a Trainer in the dinghy, keelboat, multihull, windsurfing, wing, powerboat, personal watercraft or inland waterways schemes, hold a valid subject-specific RYA Shorebased Instructor certificate, hold a professional teaching qualification such as a PGCE or CertEd, or hold IMO Train the Trainer (model course 6.09).

Format

• An online pre-learning module of about one to two hours on RYA Interactive, covering how people learn, lesson structure and classroom technique.
• Between the online module and the classroom day you must prepare two lessons.
• A one-day classroom session run by an appointed RYA Teaching in the Classroom Trainer, in which you deliver your prepared lessons to the group and receive feedback.

TIC is not formally assessed; you receive constructive feedback on your teaching, and that feedback is shared with the Trainer who runs your subsequent subject course. The TIC certificate does not expire, although the instructor qualifications it supports have their own five-year validity.

How the Shorebased Courses Work

The three navigation courses are:

Centres run them as evening classes over a winter, as intensive five-day courses, or online with instructor support. Whatever the format, the content and the assessment papers are the RYA's and the centre is inspected on them. Points an instructor must know:

• Course packs. Each student gets the RYA course pack (training charts, almanac extracts, plotter, exercises). The exercises are the backbone of the course; teaching that skips them produces students who cannot do the chartwork.
• The training charts and almanac are fictional (the RYA training area) so that real data cannot be looked up. Learn them thoroughly.
• Assessment papers are set by the RYA, marked by the instructor against the RYA marking scheme, and moderated by the centre's Principal or Chief Instructor and by RYA inspection. A pass is a course completion certificate, not a certificate of competence; the certificate records that the student has reached the standard in the theory.
• Invigilation matters for one specific reason: a Yachtmaster Ocean candidate who holds an Ocean shorebased certificate whose final exam was invigilated at an RTC is exempt from the written part of the Ocean exam. The same principle of integrity applies to all the papers.

The map below shows how the Day Skipper and Coastal/Yachtmaster syllabi relate: the second course revisits every topic at greater depth and adds the harder ones.

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Planning a Lesson

Every classroom session needs a plan. Trainers on the TIC and Shorebased Instructor courses expect to see one, and the format matters less than the content. The template below is a typical one.

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The elements:

1. Objective. What the students will be able to do at the end, stated as a doing word: "calculate the height of tide at a secondary port at a given time", not "understand secondary ports".
2. Prior knowledge. What they must already have: for secondary ports, standard port curves and the rule of twelfths. Check it in the first two minutes.
3. Content, in order. The steps of the method, with the one example you will work on the board.
4. Method. How each part will be taught: short explanation, worked example on the board, students work a similar example in pairs, go round and check, a second example alone, go through the answer.
5. Resources. Which training chart, which almanac page, which exercise numbers, what goes on the board.
6. Timing. Realistic. A secondary port session is 60 to 90 minutes including practice; a session that plans to "cover tides" in an hour will not.
7. Check of learning. How you will know they can do it: the students' second example, marked, is the check. A show of hands is not.
8. Links. What comes next and how this topic will be used on the water.

The lesson plan is also a safety net: when a student asks a question that takes the class down a side road, the plan tells you where to come back to.

Teaching the Hard Topics

Three topics generate most of the failures on the Coastal/Yachtmaster papers, and all three respond to the same approach: a clear method, one worked example on the board, immediate practice, and repetition over the following weeks.

Tidal heights and secondary ports

Teach the method as a fixed sequence written on the board and left there: find the standard port times and heights, apply the secondary port differences (interpolating when the time or height falls between the tabulated values), draw the curve, enter with the time, read the height. Common student errors are interpolating the wrong way, using the wrong range, forgetting the time zone, and mixing up height of tide with depth of water. Make every example answer a real question ("can we cross the sill at 1530 with 0.5 m clearance?") so that the arithmetic has a purpose.

Course to steer

Students confuse the course to steer with the estimated position because both are vector triangles. Teach them as two different questions: "where will I be?" (EP: start with the water track, add the tide, find the position) and "which way do I point?" (CTS: start with the ground track, lay off the tide from the start, swing the boat speed to cut the ground track). Draw the two triangles on the board side by side and keep them there for the whole course.

The collision regulations

Rote learning fails on the water and in the exam. Teach the regulations through situations: a picture or a description of two vessels, then the three questions "what is it, what is it doing, what must I do?" Use the lights and shapes in the same way. Build a bank of scenarios and use three or four at the start of every session as a warm-up, so that by week ten the class answers them in seconds.

Meteorology, safety and electronics

These are less likely to fail a student but easy to teach badly as a list of facts. Synoptic charts should be read in sequence over several days so students see a depression pass; safety topics should be anchored in real incidents (the MAIB reports are an excellent resource); GPS and plotter limitations are best taught by showing a real chart with a datum shift.

Setting, Marking and Feedback

The assessment papers are set by the RYA. The instructor's job is to administer them properly and mark them against the marking scheme. The diagram below shows the marking workflow.

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• Preparation. Students should know the format, the time allowed and what they may bring (course pack, almanac, plotter, calculator) well before the day.
• Conditions. The paper is sat under exam conditions. A student who copies has learned nothing and the certificate would be worthless; this is also why invigilated exams carry weight elsewhere in the scheme.
• Marking. Use the RYA marking scheme. It gives marks for method as well as the final answer in chartwork; a student who sets up the tidal triangle correctly and misreads a scale should get most of the marks.
• Borderline papers go to the Chief Instructor or Principal for a second opinion. Where a student fails one paper, the RYA allows a resit of that paper after further tuition; the certificate is issued when both are passed.
• Feedback. Return papers with written comments, not just a mark. Go through the questions most students got wrong with the whole class, and offer individual time to those who failed.
• Records. The centre keeps the papers and marks for inspection.

Worked Example: A Secondary Port Session

A Day Skipper evening class, week six, 19:00 to 21:00. Twelve students, mixed ability, two of whom struggled with the standard port curve last week.

• 19:00. Warm-up: three collision regulation pictures on the screen, answers in under a minute each. Then a quick standard port question to check the prior knowledge; the two strugglers are watched and helped quietly.
• 19:15. Objective on the board: "By 20:30 you will be able to find the height of tide at a secondary port at a stated time." The method is written on the board as six numbered lines and stays there.
• 19:20. One worked example on the board, talking through every line, including the interpolation of a time difference. Questions invited at each step.
• 19:40. Students work a similar example in pairs from the course pack. The instructor circulates, checking the interpolation step in particular because that is where errors live. Pairs who finish early are given a second example with an awkward time difference.
• 20:05. The answer is gone through on the board. Two pairs interpolated the wrong way; the instructor explains why, using the almanac page on the screen.
• 20:15. Each student works a third example alone. This is the check of learning. The instructor marks them on the spot.
• 20:35. Tea. The three students who got the third example wrong are given a fourth to do with the instructor at the break.
• 20:50. Link to next week: tidal streams, and how heights and streams combine in a passage plan. Homework set from the course pack.

The session taught one thing and checked that it was learned, which is the whole of classroom teaching.

Common Mistakes

• Lecturing. The commonest classroom fault, as talking too much is afloat. If the students have not touched a plotter in the first twenty minutes of a chartwork session, the session is failing.
• Covering rather than teaching. "We did secondary ports" means nothing if the students cannot do them. Teach less, check more.
• Teaching from your own experience instead of the syllabus. Students need the RYA method, because that is what the papers and the practical courses expect. Add anecdotes; do not substitute them.
• Not knowing the training charts and almanac. Students notice when the instructor is finding their way round the course pack.
• Marking leniently. It feels kind and is not. A student with a Day Skipper theory certificate they did not earn will struggle on the practical course and may be unsafe.
• Skipping Teaching in the Classroom because you are a good sailor. It is compulsory unless you are exempt, and the Trainer on the subject course will know.
• Letting the certificate lapse. Five years, then revalidation; and your Yachtmaster shorebased pass must be within five years when you first qualify.

Summary

• Shorebased Navigation Instructor: Yachtmaster Offshore CoC (or Advanced Powerboat Instructor), Teaching in the Classroom, a Coastal/Yachtmaster shorebased pass within five years, then the subject course; valid five years. YMIs are exempt from TIC and recognised to teach the navigation courses.
• Teaching in the Classroom: online pre-learning (one to two hours), prepare two lessons, one-day classroom session; not formally assessed; does not expire; exemptions for YMIs, scheme Trainers, PGCE/CertEd and IMO 6.09.
• The shorebased courses use RYA course packs, fictional training charts and almanac, and RYA-set assessment papers marked by the instructor against the marking scheme, moderated by the centre and inspected.
• Plan every session with an objective stated as a skill, a method that gets students doing, realistic timing and a real check of learning.
• Teach tidal heights, course to steer and the collision regulations by method, worked example, immediate practice and repetition.
• Administer papers under exam conditions, mark to the scheme, give written feedback, refer borderline cases, keep records.

Check Your Understanding

1. List the requirements to qualify as an RYA Shorebased Navigation Instructor.

Answer: RYA/MCA Yachtmaster Offshore Certificate of Competence (or RYA Advanced Powerboat Instructor); the Teaching in the Classroom course unless exempt; a pass in the Coastal Skipper/Yachtmaster Offshore shorebased course within the last five years; and attendance at the Shorebased Navigation Instructor course. Valid five years.

1. Describe the format of the Teaching in the Classroom course.

Answer: An online pre-learning module of one to two hours; preparation of two lessons; a one-day classroom session with an RYA Teaching in the Classroom Trainer in which the lessons are delivered and feedback given. It is not formally assessed and the certificate does not expire.

1. Name three groups exempt from Teaching in the Classroom.

Answer: Any three of: Yachtmaster Instructors; Trainers in the dinghy, keelboat, multihull, windsurfing, wing, powerboat, personal watercraft and inland waterways schemes; holders of a valid subject-specific RYA Shorebased Instructor certificate; holders of a professional teaching qualification such as PGCE or CertEd; holders of IMO Train the Trainer 6.09.

1. Why does the RYA require a recent pass in the Coastal/Yachtmaster shorebased course before you can teach it?

Answer: So that the instructor has recently experienced the current syllabus, materials and methods from the student's side; the content and the course packs change, and a Yachtmaster from fifteen years ago may be teaching an outdated method.

1. Write a correctly phrased objective for a lesson on course to steer.

Answer: For example: "By the end of the session students will be able to calculate a course to steer and estimated time of arrival for a one-hour leg allowing for a given tidal stream and leeway." The objective describes what the student will be able to do.

1. What is the difference between the two vector triangles that students confuse, in one sentence each?

Answer: Estimated position answers "where will I be?": start with the water track (course and distance through the water), add the tide, and the end is the position. Course to steer answers "which way do I point?": lay off the ground track, apply the tide from the start, and swing the boat speed to cut the ground track.

1. A student scores 58% on the chartwork paper and 85% on the general paper. What happens?

Answer: The borderline chartwork paper is referred to the Chief Instructor or Principal for a second opinion; if it remains a fail, the student receives further tuition and resits that paper. The course completion certificate is issued when both papers are passed.

1. Why does invigilation of the Yachtmaster Ocean shorebased final exam matter outside the classroom?

Answer: Because an Ocean shorebased certificate whose final exam was invigilated at an RTC exempts the candidate from the written part of the Yachtmaster Ocean exam. The exemption depends on the integrity of the classroom exam.

1. How should the collision regulations be taught so that students can apply them?

Answer: Through situations rather than rule numbers: show or describe two vessels (by day or by their lights), ask what it is, what it is doing and what you must do, and repeat with a bank of scenarios at the start of every session.

1. What is the real check of learning in a chartwork session?

Answer: Each student completing a fresh example alone and having it marked, not a show of hands or the instructor's impression from the worked example.

Sources and Further Reading

• RYA Teaching in the Classroom: format, exemptions, which instructor courses require it.
• RYA Shorebased Navigation Instructor: entry requirements and five-year validity.
• Chieftain Training: RYA Navigation Instructor course aims: what the subject course covers.
• RYA Yachtmaster Ocean exam: the written-exam exemption for invigilated shorebased certificates.
• RYA Cruising and Yachtmaster Instructor: YMI exemption from Teaching in the Classroom.