A challenging five-year journey but training award milestone is reached
The training landscape has altered dramatically in the past five-years as we’ve had to adapt our work because of changes brought about by the Covid-19 pandemic. In early 2020, most of our training courses were delivered in-person or via self-study printed open learning workbooks. However, as we know, in March 2020 we experienced the spread of the Covid-19 pandemic which resulted in lockdown across the United Kingdom and created new ways of working for almost everybody.
In the onshore training team, it caused an immediate change to our training delivery strategy. Many of our approved trainers developed their skills to supply training courses via Zoom or Microsoft Teams. At Seafish we also moved quickly and our first remote training course was delivered in May 2020. This was our Bivalve Purification Operations training course.
As we continued to adapt, we became able to offer exam invigilations via Zoom or Microsoft Teams using our online exam portal. This meant invigilators didn’t have to post printed copies of completed exam papers to Seafish and that multiple-choice exam papers were marked instantly – giving candidates immediate results. Since April 2020, about 40,000 online assessments have been completed via our online test portal with our Elementary Food Hygiene practice test being completed over 26,000 times!
As 2020 progressed and we remained in lockdown, we encouraged more learners to study our Elementary Food Hygiene and Elementary Health and Safety programmes using our online programmes instead of our printed workbooks. Both of these qualifications remain currently fully funded for people working in the UK seafood industry and successful candidates receive a nationally recognised qualification jointly awarded by the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland and Seafish.
Due to industry changes and regulations, we’re always looking to develop courses that reflect the requirements of industry. In 2021, we developed a two-day Bivalve Shellfish Hygiene Verification training course for Environmental Health Officers responsible for inspecting or auditing bivalve purification or depuration centres. Following a change in regulatory approach in 2022 by the Food Standards Agency allowing shellfish producers to collect shellfish and water samples, we created a half-day Official Control Sampling training course.
By 2023, we were able to deliver face-to-face training programmes again and our Intermediate Fish Quality Assessment training course was attended by John Skinner along with some of his colleagues from Portsmouth Port Health Authority.
I wanted to say thank you regarding the Intermediate Fish Quality Assessment training course. It all went very well; my colleagues and I learnt a lot from Seafish approved trainer Adrian Barratt.
The difficult days of the pandemic are well behind us now but the lasting legacy is that working life has changed permanently. Whilst we still organise the delivery of in-person training courses, most of our training programmes are now delivered remotely using Zoom and Microsoft Teams or via online self-study programmes. Learners now don’t have to travel to a training venue or pay for travel and accommodation - but there are still occasions when face-to-face training is preferential to online learning.
Training remains an absolutely crucial part of anyone’s development and in 2025, we were delighted to issue our 3,000th training award since the Covid-19 pandemic started.
One person who has recently been awarded with training certificates is Danna McGregor. Danna came to the seafood industry with over 30 years of experience in business support administration. Securing a role at G Armstrong Fishmongers, she reached out to our onshore training team to undertake some professional training to support her career development.
I started working at G Armstrong Fishmongers in October 2024 and approached Seafish for some training advice. They were able to offer me a fully funded online Elementary Food Hygiene training programme and a part-funded Introduction to HACCP training course. Completing the training and passing the online invigilated exams has helped me to acquire new knowledge which I’m able to use on a daily basis at work. I’m now planning on taking further Seafish training programmes to continue my development journey.
Investing time and money in staff training brings many benefits to both the learner and their employer. Individuals enhance their skills, knowledge and motivation levels whilst businesses experience improved productivity and increased rates of staff retention. These factors then contribute to a more profitable workplace.
We believe that our training programmes offer value for money with many of our online training courses currently attracting up to 50 per cent funding for people who work directly in the UK seafood industry. To find out more about our training programmes, you can opt in to receive our monthly Seafood Training newsletter (and other Seafish newsletters) which includes upcoming course dates. Alternatively, you can email our Onshore Training team; onshore@seafish.co.uk to find out more.