WORLDSKILLS AUGUST 22 – 27 2019 KAZAN 2019 TEAM UK & WORLDSKILLS UK FE WEEK REPORTING ON OFFICIAL MEDIA PARTNER WORLDSKILLS 2019 IN PARTNERSHIP WITH 2 www.pearson.com/uk/ WORLDSKILLS KAZAN 2019 A tribute to the team - from FE Week is the only newspaper dedicated to the further education and skills sector in England. competitors to admin crew Editor: Nick Linford Head Designer: Nicky Phillips managers. his take on events. An impressive cast of industry Then, we introduce you to the Designer: Simon Kay Fraser professionals, many of whom are former competitors and training managers who Commissioning Editor: competitors, the training managers focus performed so admirably to make the UK JL Dutant their charges’ existing skillset towards the proud. Whieldon competition tests. What follows is our account of the four Sub Editor: Sarah Wise Reporter Those long hours spent practising and days of competition, from the progress Chief Reporter: Billy Camden learning though, can have a toll on the competitors made on the first day to the Reporter: Fraser Whieldon team members. end of competing on day four. Sales Team Leader: Bridget Stockdale t has been a long journey for Team UK So, it is to the immense credit of For anyone who missed the breath- to get to Kazan and I’ve been privileged WorldSkills UK’s team leaders for lifting taking closing ceremony – never fear! Administration: Georgina Heath Ienough to spend some of it with them. competitors’ moods when it all goes pear- We have all the highlights from Russia’s EA To Managing Director & Financials: They are a truly amazing bunch, the shaped, and maintaining the morale of the fabulous farewell to WorldSkills. Victoria Boyle team, drawn from any number of different team. And we have all the medal and backgrounds and skillsets, bound by a But neither they, nor the competitors medallion results announced on the night common purpose of representing their or the training managers, would have of the ceremony, along with pictures of all Managing director: Shane Mann home on the international stage. made it to Kazan without the legion of the UK’s winners. And what a job they did! Two gold administrative staff at WorldSkills UK But WorldSkills isn’t just about the If you are interested in placing a medals, one silver, one bronze, 15 organising everything. victories, which is why we have two product or job advert contact medallions of excellence. A real tour de So, this supplement is a tribute to pages devoted to interviews with the new force. everyone who made this great national WorldSkills International president, and E: [email protected] Despite the many hours the 37 success story happen. his predecessor, and a report of what T: 020 81234 778 competitors have poured into honing We start with the road competitors took Team UK got up to when they took in their skills however, they would not to Kazan, as well as a piece by WorldSkills a performance of Hamlet at a Russian have got this far without their training UK boss Neil Bentley-Gockmann giving school. ’d like to pass on my huge in partnership with Pearson, found congratulations to everyone who that two in three businesses (68 per Itook part in the WorldSkills 2019 cent) expect the need for staff with event in Kazan, Russia last month and Cindy higher level skills to grow in the years offer a special mention to Team UK ahead, but more than half of those who scooped two golds, one silver, one surveyed feared that they will not be bronze and 15 medallions of excellence. Rampersaud able to access enough workers with the WorldSkills is held every year with required skills. competitors from around the world to Senior Vice President for BTEC and The pace of change and technological demonstrate their excellence in a range Apprenticeships at Pearson advancement is accelerating fast, and of different skilled trades. students around the world will need to As the global hub for skills excellence, be prepared if they are to flourish. They WorldSkills has an important role will need a love of learning, as well in bringing together young people, as great careers advice, support and education providers, governments, and mentoring. Most of all, they will need a industry to celebrate the power and WorldSkills 2019 and the mindset and a skillset to thrive in this importance of vocational education. brave new world. And research shows there has never Events such as WorldSkills, that been a more important time to promote future of work and skills showcase such a huge and impressive excellence in skills both in the UK and array of talent from across the globe, worldwide. prove that if we get skills education The workforce of today is shaping right (and based on what we saw in up to look very different from the if education can deliver these skills it continuous learning will be crucial to Kazan, it seems we are) there should be workforce of tomorrow. Technologies won’t just help individuals; it will also flourishing in a changing world of work. nothing to fear. such as artificial intelligence and have a positive impact on society in Many jobs of the future have yet to be automation are transforming the terms of social mobility too. invented and it is likely that multiple way we work and live, and the global Here at Pearson, we commissioned careers will be the norm. The need to economy will demand thinkers who can the Future of Skills: Employment in 2030 develop skills to help us to flex, adapt act and work effectively with others, report in 2017 with researchers from and prepare for this ‘yet-to-be-imagined’ and practitioners who can think as Nesta and the Oxford Martin School. future will be essential. well as practice the hard and soft skills The report showed that the importance Employers too have a stake. A recent to do a great job. As a knock-on effect, of skills and a culture of lifelong survey of CBI member companies, also @PEARSON @FEWEEK WWW.FEWEEK.CO.UK 3 JOURNEY TO KAZAN eaching Kazan airport in the dead the competitors would have to be up at 6.30 for of night on Monday was a massive yoga and stretching. Rmilestone for many on Team UK, who Their training managers, many of whom are had spent years training for the competition former competitors themselves, helped the that lay ahead of them. competitors get acquainted with what would WorldSkills is a biennial competition be expected of them in Kazan. that took place this year from Friday 23 to WorldSkills UK deputy chief executive Ben Monday 26 August in the Russian city of Blackledge said: “The WorldSkills UK training Kazan. managers are the unsung heroes behind the It featured over a thousand competitors success of Team UK. from 63 countries taking part in 56 “With every medal and medallion, we competitions based around trade skills. brought home from Russia there is a familiar Team UK fielded 37 competitors in 32 story of hundreds of hours of world class competitions, chasing gold, silver or bronze training developed and delivered by these medals in such varied disciplines as visual Team UK in Charles de Gaulle Airport skilled training managers. merchandising, restaurant service, and “The knowledge and experience that they plastering and drywall systems. Kazan had been whittled down from 150 set will get better. bring continues to yield success not just at this The eyes and expectations of their home apprentices and learners from all around “It’s going to come down to their year’s Skills Olympics but across many years. nations were upon them after the last the country, after heats in March and April. interpersonal skills, time management “We thank these industry icons.” WorldSkills competition, held in Abu Dhabi FE Week visited one of these selection problem-solving and how they deal with Before the team set off for Kazan, a special in 2017, where the UK came tenth in the total battles, in Nottingham in March, to see the pressure.” send-off event was held in Parliament where medal points chart. rigour for ourselves. Once the final team was chosen, the then skills minister Anne Milton told they In 2017, Team UK earned one gold medal, There, we met the training manager competitors were put through their paces at competitors there were about to face the three silver medals, three bronze medals for car painting, Richard Wheeler, who a boot camp at Loughborough University, “biggest challenge” of their lives. and 13 medallions for excellence. was having to choose between two good where they were trained by a number of She told Team UK and their families she The gold was won by Kaiya Swain, after candidates for the squad: “Over the period professional coaches. was “incredibly proud” of them, and that she was voted the world’s best young beauty of 18 months, I have been training these Competitors were taught how to diet, they are now ambassadors not just for their therapist. guys up in frequent intervals. They will exercise and sleep to get them in prime chosen skill but for all young people across the Those team members who made it to obviously go away, practise, and their skill condition and then each morning in Kazan, country. IT’S BACK TO THE CLASSROOM FOR TEAM UK WITH VISIT TO RUSSIAN SCHOOL eam UK took in a performance of science experiment, where they mixed English!” a pole the fastest, and a version of Blind Hamlet and even enjoyed a sports day hydrochloric acid with magnesium to see But the school was not finished with Man’s Bluff where a blindfolded competitor Ton a visit to a Kazan school before it hiss and bubble.