Skills competitions provides an opportunity for individuals or teams to compete against one another to demonstrate their talent in a particular vocational skill. Managing such events require specific competencies to ensure fairness and credibility, in line with the WorldSkills International Code of Ethics and Conduct and competition rules. Skill competition managers coordinate the validation and ensure that modules can be completed within material, equipment, knowledge, and time constraints.
The purpose of a test project is to create a challenge for competitors which authentically represents working life for an outstanding practitioner in an identified occupation. Using tasks derived from real life, industry-based scenarios, experts design and develop test projects and technical descriptions.
Each individual participant’s work is scored by experts to pre-agreed criteria and in line with the technical description, which contains information about the standards required to compete in a particular skill competition, as well as the assessment principles, methods and procedures that govern the competition. Marking schemes assess those skills set out in the standards specification.
Skills competitions make use of fit-for-purpose information management systems, which keep track with technological developments and tailormade software solutions. Competition managers and skills experts need to keep track.
Workshops and the day-to-day management thereof during the competition is defined in the Skill Management Plan, developed by the Skill Management Team, led by the Skill Competition Manager. The team comprises the Skill Competition Manager, Chief Expert, and Deputy Chief Expert.
The wellbeing of competitors and experts are of cardinal importance. Skill competition managers and experts need to demonstrate a thorough understanding of health and safety requirements, including Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) and skill-specific safety requirements.
Skills competitions are often the gold standard of skills excellence and serve as a platform from which members commit themselves to continuous improvement, learning from each other, leading change, and excelling in innovation.
Skills competitions bridge training institutions with best global vocational practices. Infusing and embedding best practice into training curricula contribute to specific educational goals such as the implementation of 21st century skills, enabling more personalised learning pathways, building continuous learning paths, and optimizing alignment between training and the labour market.
Covid 19 has elevated the importance of virtual training and the potential it holds in driving higher performance, whilst at the same time, fast-tracking decisions on how Education 4.0 can enable more personalised learning pathways and how to connect the expertise of established networks of training providers and employers, sector skills bodies and organisations.