Charter & Code of Ethics

Our Strategy

The Thames Skills Academy will:

• Be a not-for-profit organisation, limited by guarantee;
   
• Ensure that the Academy is led by a Board with substantial representation from both larger and smaller, passenger, cargo and other operators on the River and which is fully involved in the strategic leadership and governance of the Academy;
   
• Engage with members to determine their training priorities and needs, and the appropriate allocation of resources necessary to meet those needs;
   
• Provide training of the highest quality to meet the needs of the sector;
   
• Engage with schools, colleges, higher education institutions, specialist private training providers, and the wider community as necessary to achieve our goals;
   
• Mediate between and balance the needs of employers and students;
   
• Support and promote, both the short and long-term training needs of the Inland Waterways marine industry and community, particularly on the tidal Thames;
   
• Provide a holistic workforce development service; and
   
• Engage in ‘peer review’ and share best practice/expertise with other Group Training Associations.

Code of Ethics

As a Group Training Association, the Thames Skills Academy is fully committed to upholding the shared values of and being guided by the sense of professional ethics promoted by the following Code of Ethics. The Thames Skills Academy (TSA) will:

1. Set an example through its professional approach to business and to the treatment of its workforce;

2. Promote equal opportunities and diversity in all aspects of its work; in particular promoting and encouraging the widest possible involvement in training and employment in terms of gender, ethnicity, colour, nationality, religious, sexual orientation – or any other grounds;
    
3. Act in the best interests of its members and learners;
    
4. Ensure its assets and funds are not subject to maladministration or used for purposes other than the sustainability of the TSA;
    
5. Work together with other GTAs to maximize the collaborative advantage to support the diverse needs of its employers and to expand into new areas;
    
6. Only provide services within the area in which it has the necessary levels of expertise and capacity properly to support both employers and learners;
    
7. Be prepared to turn down business opportunities that conflict with this Code;
    
8. Contribute to the collective well-being of the national GTA community;
    
9. Engage in critical peer review to ensure the highest standards of ethical behaviour and leadership are maintained; and
    
10. Safeguard the trust that employers, learners and communities place in it.

In addition, Employer Members will:

11. Apply the very highest standards of occupational health and safety to their operations - always seeking to enhance and improve those standards in order to facilitate a safe working environment, the health and safety of their employees and therefore, the safety of marine operations; and
     
12. Commit to the obligation to contribute to the training and development of apprentices, trainees and students by providing opportunities for training aboard their vessels and within their day to day operations and activities, as may be appropriate and reasonably be requested by the TSA.