Turn Your Vacation Into Income: Become a Maritime Instructor, With OWWA's Help

Months at home between contracts can feel long, and savings go fast. If you're an officer or senior rating, there's a land job that fits your vacation and uses the experience you already have: teaching or assessing seafarers at a maritime school or training center.

What you need

MARINA requires two IMO courses before it will accredit you as an instructor or assessor, and a third opens up simulator teaching:

1. IMO Model Course 6.09, Training Course for Instructors. It runs 10 days and teaches you how to plan lessons and teach STCW courses.
2. IMO Model Course 3.12, Assessment, Examination and Certification of Seafarers. It also runs 10 days, teaches you to assess seafarers properly, and needs 6.09 first.
3. IMO Model Course 6.10, Training Course for Simulator Instructors and Assessors. It's for teaching and assessing on bridge and engine room simulators, and needs both 6.09 and 3.12 first. Simulator instructors are in demand, because many required courses now use simulators.

Your certificates count for accreditation only if you took the course within the last five years.

Let OWWA help pay

If you're an OWWA member, check the OWWA Skills-for-Employment Scholarship Program before you pay anything. Through it, the National Maritime Polytechnic (NMP) has accepted OWWA scholars for all three courses: 6.09, 3.12 and 6.10. Thousands of seafarers have already taken 6.09 this way. Ask OWWA or NMP whether you qualify before you enroll.

If you pay on your own

• The 3.12 course at NMP now costs ₱8,000, down from ₱11,400 since May 2026.
• For 6.09 and 6.10, ask NMP for its current fees.
• MARINA's accreditation fees are ₱500 to apply and ₱500 for the certificate, per course.

Some employers also cover these courses. IMMAJ-PJMCC, for example, runs them free for seafarers from its member companies.

How to start

1. Check with OWWA whether you qualify for the scholarship.
2. Reserve a slot at register.nmp.gov.ph. Self-paying enrollees pay a 50% deposit.
3. Finish 6.09, then 3.12, and add 6.10 if you want to teach on simulators.
4. Apply to MARINA for accreditation.
5. Offer your time to training centers near you for your vacation months.

Your years at sea are what make you a valuable instructor. A few short courses, possibly paid for by OWWA, can turn that experience into extra income at home.

Always confirm the latest requirements, fees and scholarship rules with MARINA, OWWA and NMP before you enroll.