The annual 'The Skills Show' – a career showcase for tens of thousands of school children – has just had its third edition. Held last year at Birmingham's NEC, in November, the event was created following the UK's staging of international skills event WorldSkills 2011, held in London that year (see also www.machinery.co.uk/72439). Ross Maloney, CEO of Find a Future, the organisation that runs The Skills Show, said ahead of the most recent event that competitions are at its the heart. Held under the banner WorldSkills UK, some of these annual national competitions are the selection process for the biennial WorldSkills competitions (see extended online article – www.machinery.co.uk/72447). But they need both entrants and competition sponsors.
As far as engineering goes, there is a need for more entrants from smaller companies. Big name companies (and colleges/training organisations) can often be found supporting entrants; but this is far from true for smaller companies, who put in a much lesser showing. And in the case of global competitions, some are non-existent at UK national level, with one about to disappear.
For example, there is no UK skills event in the Plastic Die Engineer category (mould and die, but broader), while the Manufacturing Team Challenge last year was thinly supported, with the UK not certain to have any representation this year at WorldSkills, São Paulo, Brazil (11-16 August).
COMPETITION GROWTHBut before heading into that territory, Eugene Incerti MBE, head of skills competitions for Find a Future and WorldSkills UK technical delegate, points out the positives. "When I joined what is now Find a Future in 2007, there were just two engineering competitions; now there are 10. The UK was ranked internationally at around 17th in the world; my target for London 2011 was to get a fifth place for the UK [by medal count], which we managed, gaining 30 medals and delivering the best ever performance. We are now trying to sustain that, so in terms of medal awards we've done the same, but it is getting very hard to keep medalling, as there are very competitive countries involved, such as China, Brazil, Korea; everybody's moving forward. You can't just say 'I've had success, so I'll stop there', you have to keep moving on."
This 'moving target' situation is amply demonstrated by Team UK's performance in Mechanical CAD. While this has improved year on year since 2007, the UK contestant at Leipzig 2013 was placed fourth, even though his score was higher than that achieved by the medal-winning Team UK member at London 2011.
That said, there are other ways to measure success, Incerti highlights: "Medal count is what everybody thinks of, but at a team level there is another measure. If you take the total points scored by the team and divide that by the number in the team, you get what is called 'average score ranking'. This can see a team placed either higher or lower than the medal ranking position, but it is a demonstration of strength across the board.
"So, rather than say 'we are good at welding', what we want to be able to say is that what we do, we do well across a broad range. The average is a more important metric to me, in fact, because it shows how everybody is moving up." And targets for Team UK across the board for the next WorldSkills in São Paulo, Brazil, are "all the eights", he offers. That's eight or more medals of any colour; eighth, or better, in medal ranking; eighth or better in average score ranking; and at least 85% of the team gaining awards, such as Medallions for Excellence, which indicate a contestant has scored higher than the WorldSkills standard. The UK actually achieved 96% in the latter area at London 2011 and 95% at Leipzig 2013, so Incerti is quietly confident of beating that one.
Looking at skills competitions individually, however, not all are, like Mechanical CAD, improving year on year; CNC Turning and CNC Milling, specifically, are not. That's because the numbers coming through in the competitions are "still very small". Incerti understands why, however. "We are trying to draw from the first or second tier supplier base, and such companies run lean. It's very hard to draw anybody off production. That's why we have a very small number. We would like to see that grow and get some value back to the employers."
So, why would a smaller company get involved in supporting one of their employees' WorldSkills' attempt? Well, the £50/day payment to the employer for each day of training – some on-, some off-site – probably isn't the big draw. And Incerti knows it isn't: "It's just a contribution to admin, not compensation for loss of profit."
Some small employers are very competition focused, he offers; those in the hairdressing sector, for example, but in engineering it is very different. "What we really want to do is give the company back a very well trained and developed individual. Now, I know it doesn't help them initially, but ultimately it will." And he offers some examples of the benefits seen by others. "The CEO of a very large engineering company explained how he would justify his firm taking part. He said that when his company was pitched against business competitors, the price will be about the same; the service level about the same, so 'if I can have a differentiator, say, by being able to say I employ the world's best welder, I'd take part because of that'."
Continues Incerti: "Other companies get involved because it is part of their corporate and social responsibility (CSR) activities. A smaller company, say a florist, might see the benefit as local PR following success, which wins local business, drawing customers to ask for that individual. Other small companies see the benefit as not having any difficulty in recruiting, because people see the employer as attractive and approach it unprompted. Basically, companies have to see value in becoming involved.
"If we can somehow get them [engineering companies] to appreciate that there are some benefits, rather than just something that takes away from the bottom line – and this is best achieved by peer-to-peer discussions: employers talking to employers, companies talking to their suppliers– then I think they would get more involved. But it is a big ask; a big sacrifice. We do have discussions with larger companies that then talk to their suppliers, so it is happening, but not enough."
So what are the demands, in overall terms, on a prospective WorldSkills participant? Well, the competition is held biennially, with the annual national competitions used to filter for that, delivering Squad UK from which Team UK is drawn. Competitors are trained across two years; not for two years, but for 22 weeks on average. Incerti again: "An employer won't give me someone for five months in a row, so we have to spread it over two years. Of course, over that time we hope that they will become a better developed employee, ahead of the competition."
Now it is entirely feasible to take a competition winner from last year's national event and enter them at international level this year, he asserts, adding: "They will not perform in Brazil, however, although the dream is to do that. What you really want is for your vocational education system to deliver people to that standard such that you do very little. Then you go off to a competition and demonstrate your vocational excellence. And there are already countries that take that approach – Switzerland, for example. Part of this is their 'end-testing' of apprenticeships, which operates very similarly to how a skills competition works; but as well as this, their standards are pretty good."
This has to put into perspective, given Switzerland has a smaller population – "eight million to our 64 million, which allows for this system and which we might also have at that size", Incerti observes. Now Switzerland we are not, but the aim to create competition-ready individuals is the same, as he explains. "The trick is to move the standard [of vocational training] up, so that we need to do less; so not 22 weeks' worth of training and coaching. The idea is to take the learning that we are getting in training these individuals for competition, and feed that back into apprenticeship training. And it is happening. We are feeding our experience and suggestions about end-testing, grading and standards into employer-led trailblazer apprenticeships, for example, and giving advice to colleges about how to improve their training offerings."
Taking part in WorldSkills UK, then, is not just a benefit to individuals and their employers, but is also positively helping to raise apprenticeship training standards across the UK – a somewhat less visible element but a worthy and altruistic aim that employers can surely feel proud to be part of.
To have employees considered for this year's national WorldSkills UK competitions, to be held in November at the NEC again, companies need to enter before 20 March (http://is.gd/2PLopG). If employees do well, and are age eligible to be considered for the international competition, then they will progress on their journey to becoming part of Squad UK. And whether they make it all the way through to represent their country or not, all participants have the opportunity to walk away with a variety of vocational qualification units, along with "a developmental experience that money simply could not buy".
COMPETITIONS: NOT GUARANTEED
As for maintaining or boosting the number of competitions themselves, the UK engineering ones have increased from just two to 10 during Incerti's watch, as previously highlighted, but their continued existence cannot be taken for granted. At international level, you need 12 countries to participate for a competition to be run, and the sheet metalworking event, for example, was nearly discontinued until that number could be found.
More locally, a new UK competition has been suggested by a group of interested employers in the truck sector, although this will be UK only, at least at first. But as already noted, we have no UK competition in the mould and die area, called 'Plastic Die Engineer' at WorldSkills level, yet have plenty of companies engaged in that activity. Now, while Find a Future will pump prime and help get a UK competition off the ground, it is for organisations, groups of employers, a single large employer or colleges or universities to support and run them over the long term.
Currently, the Manufacturing Team Challenge is under threat – an event in which we were placed fourth in Leipzig 2013 – as there is no interested organiser: Find a Future has so far managed this competition with the support of SEMTA over three years. "That [UK] competition will disappear next year; a real tragedy," Incerti offers. Andparticipation in Brazil this year is not yet a certainty. Thisdepends on the two teams that competed last November in Birmingham reaching a sensible standard – both were late entrants to the competition. Will anybody step up to save this competition? It would be nice to think so.
Clearly, UK skills competitions have greater import than at first might be assumed – they offer individual, company, sector and country-wide benefits.
