Skills Finland: Success through learning from each other
Skills Finland participate in the European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme “Excellence in Skills” – an international comparison of training and expert exchange project
The European Commission’s Lifelong Learning Programme enables people in all stages of their lives to take part in inspiring and stimulating learning experiences, as well as helping to develop the education and training sector across Europe.
The Leonardo da Vinci Programme is a part in the Lifelong Learning Program. It funds practical projects in the field of vocational education and training. Initiatives range from individual work-related training abroad to large-scale co-operation efforts.
“Excellence in Skills” – project aims at sending 14 skilled professionals from Finland to one of the three WorldSkills organisations: WorldSkills SouthTyrol, Italy, UKSkills and WorldSkills France.
The objectives of the project are
- Exchange of best practice in training for international skills competitions
- The integration of these best practices in our national VET systems
- The possible scope for the development of qualifications
- Exploration of a research project between our two organisations
- Role of working environments in the development of high performance competitors
The aim of the project is also to compare and gain expertise on our VET systems and to share good practice on the training of competitors towards excellence in international skill competitions.
It is also interesting to see if and how the training is recognised in the VET Qualifications or if it is organised outside the VET system. We will compare the roles of trainers, experts and the skill managers/training managers. The participants will learn new ways of thinking and new cultural approaches and increase critical thinking, problem solving and creative thinking. Such skills as are essential for both trainers and competitors.
The result expected is to build a sustainable network of research and pragmatic cooperation in order to strengthen performance of excellence: by peer coaching, tutoring, mentoring and mental training.
The participants are representing the skill areas at the WorldSkills Competition and WorldSkills Europe and trains, both skill managers, training managers , mental trainers and researchers in performance of excellence. There are also participants from the Skills Finland organisation and its stakeholders.
The first groups have been on the way and the outcomes will be soon available.
To be continued…
Thank you to Skills Finalnd for this very interesting contribution to the Blog. Shows clearly the growing value of the WorldSkills network. The “result expected” is right on the mark in terms of the vision of WorldSkills. Hopefully this type of exchange and mentorship can be extended to new members that can use the support to lift the performance of their competitors.
It was a pleasure to receive this motivated delegation. As host organisation, we had a chance to share our experiences in Vocational Training, worldskills preparation and abylimpcs competition. Everyone is a winner in such an experience.