A SNAPSHOT OF THE CROSS-CULTURAL VIEWS AND OBSERVATIONS OF TEACHING AND SUPPORT STAFF: MIDDLE EASTERN STUDENTS WITHIN AN AUSTRALIAN MARITIME LEARNING ENVIRONMENT

This paper reports on an investigation that was conducted in order to contribute to the knowledge of factors influencing cross-cultural discourse between students from the Middle East and staff within the Australian Maritime Education and Training (MET) environment. The literature argues convincingly that MET teachers should develop skills relating to cross-cultural interaction in response to the global nature of this sector of the maritime industry. It also suggests that teachers should attempt to discover their prejudices, so that they can become better equipped to spot the learners who are likely to provoke strong responses. The approach adopted for this study is qualitative in nature, and is considered to be a small case study which fits the unique context of an Australian MET institution. The data sought related to views and perceptions held by the staff with respect to MET students from the Middle East region. The population sampled for this study consisted of 35 staff members working in an Australian MET institution. This sample comprised general support staff and lecturers. The survey instrument consisted of a voluntary written survey comprising 33 Likert scale items and four open ended items. Data obtained from the Likert scale items was coded and processed using SPSS. Responses to these items were subjected to a basic descriptive statistical analysis and are reported in terms of frequency counts. The data obtained from the open ended items was processed by classifying words or phrases representing the surve