Between Pulpit and Bridge: Lecturers as Pastoral Mentors in Indonesian Maritime Education: A Case Study of Spiritual-Vocational Transmission

Di Antara Mimbar dan Anjungan: Dosen sebagai Mentor Pastoral dalam Pendidikan Maritim Indonesia: Sebuah Studi Kasus tentang Transmisi Spiritualitas dan Vokasional

Abstract

Maritime lecturers frequently function as informal pastoral mentors alongside their technical instructional role, yet this phenomenon has received no empirical attention in the religion-and-wellbeing literature or in maritime education research. This qualitative case study examined how five lecturers at Sekolah Tinggi Ilmu Pelayaran (STIP) Jakarta understand and enact their dual role as technical instructors and pastoral mentors, triangulated with the perspectives of thirty cadets and five veteran maritime professionals. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions and analysed through thematic analysis, cross-group comparison, and narrative synthesis. The findings show that lecturers transmit spiritual-vocational wisdom through four integrated mechanisms — modelling, quiet availability, sea-service testimony, and responsive moral guidance — producing effects that cadets recognise during formation and that veterans identify as having carried across their careers. A multiplier effect was documented, with mentored cadets replicating pastoral behaviour with junior officers during sea service. The study situates these findings within the psychological dimensions of maritime cadet formation — cognitive load, professional identity development, and post-internship readiness — that characterise the broader formational environment in which pastoral mentoring occurs. The study contributes original conceptual insight into the informal agents of spiritual-vocational transmission in vocational education.