Championing difference for a better workforce

We are all about helping more young people, whatever their background, get the best start in work and life through our programmes to inspire millions of young people to follow apprenticeships and technical careers and to help thousands develop higher level skills every year.

Being more inclusive. Helping more young people from all backgrounds is important to us for three key reasons.

1. It is part of our charitable purpose: helping millions of young people reach their potential through our careers advice and skills competitions programmes. Our work has been proven to boost not just technical competence, but also self-confidence, resilience and life skills. We need to give as many young people as possible the opportunity to get the best start in work and life.
   
2. There is a strong economic case for diversity: helping more young people prepare better for work so that employers will have more choice when recruiting, leading to more diverse and therefore more productive workplaces. So, we need to champion inclusion more with our employer and education partners.
   
3. Our role of representing the best of UK skills systems at home and internationally: helping develop young people from across the UK up to world-class standards, inspiring others to follow in their footsteps. We need to have more diversity to create a wider range of role models for more of the next generation.

This report is based on evidence gathered from over 3,000 skills competition registrants’ data and the experiences of nearly 700 stakeholders through a range of surveys and interviews. This evidence was analysed by TSIP and discussed by an expert advisory group from across the technical education sector. Together they identified five focus areas to help us become a more diverse and inclusive organisation:

1. Reaching and appealing to diverse individuals
2. Tackling stereotypes and preconceptions
3. Improving competitor support and reducing barriers to entry
4. Increasing and appreciating diversity and inclusion within WorldSkills UK, the skills competitions and our partners
5. Forming a clear vision and narrative around diversity and inclusion across our organisation and our partners