WorldSkills Update 7 December 2010

Editorial: By Christine Scoot, Marketing & Project Coordinator, WSI

After a successful General Assembly in Kingston, Jamaica this October, the WSI Secretariat is now busy planning for the upcoming months and years. With new projects, objectives and directions, WSI is poised to advance the organisation and the WorldSkills Competition into new areas that will focus on sustainability, promotion, accessibility and engagement.

WorldSkills London 2011 (WSC2011) is fast approaching with less than 11 months to go. On the road to WSC2011, there are many meetings and working groups that need to take place as well as planning milestones that need to be met. Stay tuned as we bring you stories from every corner of the world in the lead up to the 41st WorldSkills Competition.

In this issue you can read about skill events happening in our Member countries/regions.

WorldSkills Norway hosted another successful National Competition in Lillehammer last month. The US Open Welding Competition was held in Atlanta with the participation of Australian Competitors. Don’t miss the report on the first ever WorldSkills Australia Youth Forum which was conducted in Adelaide. Twenty-five Australian Champions gave their bid on the future of the skills movement.

Honorary Member Charles Turner from United Kingdom looks back on his memorable experiences with WorldSkills.

Lastly we have an update from our new WorldSkills personalities; Steve and Steph. Find out what they are doing and invite them to your skill related event.

Countdown to WorldSkills London 2011

WorldSkills London 2011 is on track to deliver one
of the best WorldSkills Competitions yet

By WorldSkills London 2011

Excitement is mounting amongst the school and college community following the launch of WorldSkills London 2011 (WSC2011) at the Skills London career fair and the Association of Colleges Conference in Birmingham.

However, in the current economic climate, delivering a great skills competition is not enough. As every community and business in the UK thrives on skills and enterprise, the WSL2011 team’s aim is to make the most of the WorldSkills Competition (WSC2011). In doing so, we hope to inspire more young people across the UK to recognise how skills shape our world and encourage them to be more enterprising in their careers.

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News from around the world

The best Nationals ever!

By WorldSkills Norway

The Norwegian National Competition in vocational skills recently took place at the Olympic Village/City of Lillehammer, some 200 km north of Oslo. It was a great success with about 240 Competitors from all over Norway competing in 28 skill areas. More than 15000 visitors were impressed by the level of the competitions, and many young students and parents were amazed by the many opportunities that a vocational education offer.

The Nationals was not only a competition but also an educational exhibition. The target group for the event was all young students aged 15 – 17 and their parents and teachers. All the 12 vocational programs in the Norwegian educational system were presented and demonstrated during the three day event.

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The US Open Welding Competition

By Paul Condran, WSI Chief Expert Welding

The US Open Welding Competition is coordinated by the American Welding Society and was held at the Atlanta Convention centre 2-4 November 2010. Six American Competitors were vying for the final three places available at the final selection that will determine the team going to WorldSkills London 2011 (WSC2011). Australian Competitors have been attending the US Open Welding Competition since 2000. This is an excellent preparation for WSC2011 as it is structured in the same format and the duration is a little over 22 hours.

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Inaugural WorldSkills Australia Youth Forum

By WorldSkills Australia

From 21-24 October, 25 young men and women from all over Australia representing 20 skills categories came together for the Inaugural WorldSkills Australia (WSA) Youth Forum (YF) in Adelaide. No icebreaker games were needed to encourage socialising and group work. The delegates were keen to get to know each other and jump straight into the ‘business end’ of the forum. The delegates were split into three groups with each group focusing on a topic related to improving WSA now and into the future.

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Honorary Member contribution

WorldSkills Competition reminiscences

By Charles Turner, Honorary Member, United Kingdom

My first reaction to experiencing an international competition was similar to that of many others in that I was overwhelmed by its impact and size. This was during the WorldSkills Competition (WSC) in Taipei in 1993, since then, the WorldSkills Membership and number of Competitor entries has almost trebled. I was also immediately struck by the friendliness and camaraderie of the ‘WorldSkills family’.

The WSC in Lyon, France in 1995 was particularly notable for initiatives to promote the Competition to a wider audience. One incident that particularly amused me was, on passing McDonald’s, seeing the UK Expert for Cooking celebrating his Competitor’s gold medal by sampling a burger.

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Update from Steve and Steph

8th WorldSkills ASEAN Skills Competition

By Steph

Right now Steve and I are just finishing our first week of travel around Thailand. As you might have observed on Facebook, we attended the 8th WorldSkills ASEAN Skills Competition. Steve really enjoyed it, he was constantly on the Competition floor talking to Experts and Competitors and trying out new tools and machines to get a first-hand experience.

We had a wonderful time and were humbled by the hospitality our hosts showed us. During the event we got to meet most of the teams, participate in the seminars and tried out some of the activities surrounding the Competition. Congratulations to everyone who participated! When the organising committee sends us the photos of the event, we will be sure to post some on our Facebook pages. You can see all of the results here.

Perhaps my favourite part was getting involved in the Competition spirit with Jack Dusseldorp (President of WorldSkills International). Jack had a couple of our t-shirts to give away so we posted questions on our Facebook page to see which fans were onsite. It was a lot of fun and something we will continue to do for events in the future, so stay tuned for your chance to win a shirt.

Thailand has been great and now we look forward to our next stop: Lisbon, Portugal for the 2nd EuroSkills Competition, 9-12 December.

We want to thank all of the WorldSkills Members who have really embraced us. We already have very full schedules as we have been invited to many competitions next year.

If you want to see what Steve and I are up to visit: www.facebook.com/steph.skills or www.facebook.com/steve.skills.

If you want to know more about us visit www.worldskills.org or email us at steph@worldskills.org / steve@worldskills.org

Upcoming WorldSkills events

Do you have events that you want to see here, send them to ellen.coppens@worldskills.org.