We are thrilled to announce that WorldSkills UK has selected 21 Welsh competitors to join the Phase 4 UK Squad competing for their place at the 47th WorldSkills competition in Lyon next year.
The 21 Welsh competitors will compete across 12 skill areas, including: 3D Digital Game Art, Aircraft Maintenance, Automotive Body Repair, Cyber Security, Furniture and Cabinet Making, Industrial Electronics, Mechanical Engineering: CAD, Plumbing, Restaurant Service, Web Development and Welding.
WorldSkills supports young people from around the world taking part in competition-led training, assessment, and benchmarking, with competitors from national teams testing their ability to achieve world-class standards in an Olympic-style skills competition.
In total, 70 young people will be battling it out to represent the UK in 30 disciplines during the four days of intense competition in Lyon in September 2024. Young people from England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland will battle against peers from more than 80 countries to be crowned world’s best in their chosen skill area.
Phase 4 squad selection follows several rounds of competition, intense training and skills development, with the UK back to basics assessment the final stage to succeed and remain in the journey. This phase will see the competitors train, develop and compete in smaller numbers across an 18 month period, building up to the final stage of selection to head to WorldSkills Lyon. During this time, the competitors will get the very best training from across the UK and internationally to ensure they are testing their skills and benchmarking against the international standards.
The learners that embark on this journey will not only be assessed on their vocational skills, but as individuals too. Competitors will have to demonstrate many softer skills to show they are prepared for the competition scenario and that they can represent themselves and the UK in the best light.
Taking part in skills competitions has been found to develop not only young people’s skill areas, but their confidence, time management, social skills and other highly employable attributes.
The worldwide competition takes place every two years, and is the biggest vocational education and skills excellence event in the world. Battling against rivals from the likes of China, Germany, Australia, Switzerland and Japan, Team UK will be looking to improve on its 10th place finish at the 2022 WorldSkills Special Edition event which took place across 15 different international countries.
Inspiring Skills Excellence in Wales Project Director, Paul Evans, said: “I’m so proud to see so many of our Welsh competitors earning places in the Team UK Squad. WorldSkills offers them the opportunity to showcase their skills and benchmark them internationally.”
“Successes like this demonstrate that as a nation, Wales is continually producing highly skilled, talented young people who are well equipped to join Welsh businesses and further our economy. Good luck to all the competitors from myself and the ISEiW team.”
To see the who the 21 Welsh Competitors are, click here
For more information on the WorldSkills competition process, click here
