WorldSkills UK: On the road to show how competitions can change lives

Pay increases, promotion and plenty of opportunities are what our Skills Champions tell us they have benefited from since entering WorldSkills UK Competitions.

Now they are taking to the road with Peter Bakare, a WorldSkills UK Performance Coach and former member of Team GB at the 2012 Olympics, to show other young people how they too can benefit from entering WorldSkills UK Competitions.  

Six Colleges: Coleg Y Cymoedd, Westminster Kingsway College, Trafford College, North Warwickshire and South Leicestershire College, Birmingham Metropolitan College and City of Bristol College will host the ‘competition roadshows’ throughout February and March.

The Colleges have pledged to work with WorldSkills UK to raise awareness of skills competitions amongst apprentices, students, staff and employers, helping to drive up entries from under-represented groups including young women, Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) and those from disadvantaged backgrounds.   

There will be two session at each college, one aimed at practitioners to show how competition activity can support their teaching programmes and one aimed at students and apprentices to show participating in competitions can fast track their careers.

Parisa Shirazi, Head of Skills Competitions at WorldSkills UK said: “Our research shows that entering our skills competitions offers tangible benefits to all. A recent survey showed that over 95% of young people who participated believed their technical and employability skills had improved, while over 80% felt competing had increased their confidence, team working and ability to work under pressure. Working with colleges, we want to show young people that whatever their background our competitions can help them gain the right skills for their dream job.”