Shadowing our international counterparts by Chris Ridgeon

In my last post I mentioned briefly that I attended the most recent WorldSkills Competition at Calgary in 2009. It was a great experience and I would like to share some more of that with you.

The purpose of my visit to WorldSkills Calgary 2009 was to shadow the Workshop Supervisor of the Web Design competition, as this is my role for WorldSkills London 2011. Canadians Ryan Jacobs and Mike Ryan were responsible for the setup and running of the competition as Workshop Supervisor and Assistant.

I cannot believe how valuable this experience was! When you are in meetings about running a world class competition two years in advance, it is very hard to visualise exactly how much is involved. For example, I didn't realise we would be up 'till 2am supporting the systems on our area while the final parts of marking were completed!

Ryan and Mike did a fantastic job throughout the competition, they were great hosts and were able to give me all the information that you just could not find out without being there. Although running a WorldSkills Competition is no simple task, you feel a lot more confident when you see it playing out two years before your own event. I also learnt a lot about Canada that you probably wouldn't learn if you went on holiday there - it was a great experience!

At WorldSkills London 2012 the UK will be hosting the Competition and our counterparts from WorldSkills Leipzig 2013 will be shadowing us to prepare for their own WorldSkills. WorldSkills really is a fantastic collaboration of people from all around the globe, it was great working with the Canadians and I look forward to working with the Germans in October 2011.

Join us!

WorldSkills London 2011 is currently recruiting for several exciting roles, so why not consider joining us?

In October 2011, the UK will host the 41st WorldSkills Competition at ExCeL in London's docklands. 1,200 young people from over 50 countries/regions will come together to compete in 45 vocational skills categories ranging from hairdressing to plumbing. Reaching up to 150,000 people, WorldSkills London 2011 will be the largest international skills competition in the world and will act as a vital means of raising awareness of vocational skills throughout the UK.

We are a thriving team working to deliver an outstanding event and lasting legacy. If you think you're up to the challenge and would like a once in a life-time opportunity to be part of this amazing Competition, we look forward to hearing from you: worldskillslondon2011.com/join-us

Growing World Class Talent

To celebrate the talent and world class skills of young people across the nation, UK Skills is to create a garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show, taking place from 25th - 29th May 2010.

The UK Skills garden, entitled: "Growing World Class Talent: celebrating the workforce of tomorrow", will be created to promote excellence in vocational education and training and also to illustrate how greater investment in skills and development will help lift UK industry out of recession. The garden's design was chosen on merit by the RHS for inclusion in this year's Chelsea Flower Show and will showcase the wide range of skills required to construct an outdoor space suitable for 21st century living. The garden will be judged in the Urban Garden category at the Show.

A team of talented young people, all under the age of 25, will build the UK Skills garden from scratch using their expert skills, which include: landscape gardening, bricklaying, electrical installation, cabinetmaking, plumbing, floristry and stonemasonry. All the skills represented in the Chelsea garden are also present at the biennial WorldSkills Competition, the world's largest international skills competition for young people.

The team creating the UK Skills garden will comprise of past UK WorldSkills Competitiors as well as upcoming, talented individuals who are looking to secure a place in Team UK for the next WorldSkills Competition, which comes to London from 5th - 8th October 2011.