The Influence of the Maritime Learning Activities on the Development of Student Competencies: Case Study

Abstract

This study aimed to test the impact of government commitment, curriculum development, and education and training, either directly or indirectly through school management and business actors' participation in maritime learning activities to develop student competencies. This research was conducted in five junior high schools in North Jakarta and Java provinces, Indonesia. The sample size was 175 students of grade IX selected through random sampling techniques. Data was collected through a questionnaire distributed to student respondents, and interviews and focus group discussions with school principals and teachers. Specifically, testing was performed before the questionnaire was administered to determine its validity and reliability using the help of the SPSS program version 24.0. The responses to the questionnaire were processed and analyzed using SEM techniques with the Lisrel 2 version 8.70 program. The findings revealed that variables of government commitment, curriculum development, education and training, directly and indirectly, through school management and business actors’ participation, have a positive effect on maritime learning activities. Furthermore, maritime learning activities also have a positive impact on the development of students' competencies, especially in making career choices, developing entrepreneurial aspirations, and developing the love of marine life. On this basis, marine learning activities require attention to influence variables along with indicators that contribute to each of the variables studied. The development of marine competence requires supporting facilities, establishing cooperative relationships with parties outside of school, apprenticeship or training assistance, the availability of learning media (including digital technology as a source of knowledge, information, etc.).