The Skills Show, now in its third successive year, takes place this month at the NEC, from 13-15 November. The event was created following the UK's staging of WorldSkills 2011, held in London, and aims to "inspire a new generation to think differently about further education, skills and apprenticeships", said Ross Maloney, CEO of The Skills Show, at a launch event held in London earlier this year.
In fact, The Skills Show is now part of a group of events under the 'Find a Future' organisational banner, where it joins WorldSkills UK national skills competitions and The Skills Show Experience. And skills competitions are at the heart of The Skills Show, highlighted Maloney, saying: "These provide young people with an aspiration, with them thinking 'that could be me; I could be a gold medallist on the stage in São Paulo or a gold medallist on the stage at The Skills Show, at the NEC'." São Paulo, Brazil, is the venue for the next World Skills event in 2015.
The Skills Show hosts competitions across many disciplines, but the body responsible for the engineering skills competitions at the event is Semta, which designs and reviews sector standards, apprenticeship frameworks and qualifications for the engineering sector – for those with a longer memory, it is the great grandchild of the Engineering Industry Training Board (EITB), established in 1964.
MORE FOCUS ON SKILLS COMPETITIONS
While Semta has been involved with UK engineering skills competitions for many years, the 2011 World Skills event and now the annual The Skills Show have brought more focus to them. The organisation's funding and competitions specialist, Joanne O'Brien, explains.
"Semta has a long link with WorldSkills UK competitions, what were previously called Skill Eng competitions. We have been involved since 1991, when UK Skills was first formed. We have always had a steering group of one form or another that collectively looks after the competitions and how they can be developed.
"When the bid was won to host WorldSkills 2011, we were approached by UK Skills and asked, in October 2008, to take on a stronger role and become what is called an organising partner. It was felt that, in the run-up to 2011, an organisation was needed that would pick the baton up and really get to grips with organising the competitions, so as to ensure we had as many competitors as possible in engineering and manufacturing for London 2011." (There is an 18-month/2-year lead-in time for competitors to be ready for WorldSkills events, hence the perceived early start.)
So Semta brought together the existing competition partners, big and small, and "project managed" the effort for greater effect than had previously been the case. And the profile and effort behind the national skills competitions has clearly been raised. Says O'Brien: "Certainly, the government has taken these skills competitions more seriously, in terms of funding and structure; making sure the competitions are run on a national footing, as opposed to being run by smaller organisations in smaller groups. That has been absolutely fantastic. And the launch of The Skills Show itself, giving such a finale to the competition year, is something that smaller organisations and organising partners couldn't have achieved. It brings economies of scale, while benefiting from government support."
And one measure of the success of this is in the numbers of competitors for the national skills engineering competitions, which are a proxy for employer engagement. According to O'Brien, in 2008 there were 11 competitors for five engineering competitions; this year, there were 600 competitors registered across the current 13 engineering competitions in March when the deadline for entry closed (see box for competition details). That is a stunning increase. And with numbers now at such a level, the real push, she says, is on quality. "In terms of interest, we're certainly getting there, but one of our key drivers as an organising partner is to make sure that we not only have the quantity, but that we have the quality. So making sure that participants progress through regional to national competitions; that competitors are turning up prepared; that they know what they have signed up for," she advises.
In delivering this and the 13 engineering competitions at The Skills Show, there is a team of 100+ people, taking in those at Semta, other industry organisations such as EAL, employers, colleges and other stakeholders.
COMPETITION LINKAGE
In terms of how the national skills competitions at The Skills Show feed into the WorldSkills International event, with the WorldSkills UK skills competitions occurring annually and the international event taking place biennially, it means that the UK squad is effectively selected across two years. So the events at The Skills Show this year will see preliminary selection for Abu Dhabi in 2017. Squad UK 2015 has been selected (see box).
An added complication is that the age restriction for WorldSkills means that success at The Skills Show has to combine with that criterion, too, for eligibility for 2017. But, that being the case, those successful this year will return again to The Skills Show next year and be 'tested' against 2015's cohort, with Squad UK for 2017 being chosen following that.
According to Semta's O'Brien, the idea is to have at least two to three, and maximum five, people per skill area chosen for Squad UK engineering disciplines, prior to final selection of the individual or individuals to become part of Team UK (some skills competitions have one person, like CNC Turning, while the Manufacturing Team Challenge has three, and Mechatronics and Mobile Robotics each have two). Ross Maloney says Team UK will be made up of some 30 individuals.
The national competitions will start on the Thursday morning at The Skills Show, with most still running through to Saturday morning, too. After that, competitors interact more with visitors, by way of 'Saturday Showcase' opportunities, for instance. The engineering competitions are just one element; there are over 60 competitions across five skill areas, with Gold, Silver and Bronze winners picking up their accolades in front of an audience of over 80,000 at the LG Arena, Birmingham, on Saturday evening.
But even as celebrations for this year are in full swing, the push for the next round of the national engineering competitions will start at this year's The Skills Show, with likely candidates identified by colleges, universities and employers during December and January, with registration undertaken in February. And Semta will build on the new initiatives introduced this year to drive and maintain engagement with the skills competitions and improve communication about the requirements and criteria. This has seen greater use of webinars and social media, for example, in an effort to answer all the questions people might have, which, if unanswered, see competitors drop out.
Currently, the UK is ranked 10th in WorldSkills International rankings; further proof of the UK's improving efforts in driving up skills will be revealed by upward movement in that position. Machinery will happily report it when it happens.
Extra information
WorldSkills UK engineering competitions
The 13 competitions are: Aeronautical Engineering, Avionic; Aeronautical Engineering, Mechanical; CNC Milling; CNC Turning; Construction Metal Work; Industrial Electronics; Manufacturing Team Challenge; Mechanical Engineering – CAD and Mechanical Engineering - CAD (Advanced); Mechatronics; Mobile Robotics (Higher); Mobile Robotics (VEX Robotics); SkillWeld; and Sheet Metal Work Technology.
Industrial sponsors for these competitions include: DMG Mori (CNC milling and turning machine tools), Mitutoyo (inspection equipment), Amada (sheet metalworking machine tools), Festo (industrial automation).
The only WorldSkills UK competitions that don't link to the WorldSkills International competitions are Mobile Robotics (VEX Robotics) and Mechanical Engineering – CAD.
WorldSkills 2015 – picking the team
Ninety-eight Squad UK members, some of whom will have the chance to take part in next year's Sãu Paulo World Skills event, were selected following three days of intense competition held at four venues throughout the UK: EMTEC, part of Central College Nottingham, plus Belfast Metropolitan, Northern Regional College and CAFRE, all in Northern Ireland.
Competitors were invited to take part in these selection competitions after excelling at the WorldSkills UK National Competitions, the finals of which are held at The Skills Show.
Squad UK members will now spend the next several months training in their skill, supported by their training provider, college, employer and a dedicated training manager. In May next year, they will compete for a coveted place in the team that will represent the UK at WorldSkills São Paulo 2015.
The training programme for Squad UK includes EuroSkills Lille 2014, Europe's largest skills competition which took place last month, from 1-5 October, and The Skills Show, 13-15 November.
Squad UK engineering members, their age and employer are:
Industrial Control (run under the auspices of Siemens): Ashley Eyley (21, Toyota), Luke Elsmore (19, Industrial Automation and Control), Alex Scott (21, Industrial Automation and Control), Hayley Ramadhar (18, Black County Technical College).
- Industrial Electronics (run under the auspices of Siemens): Naomi Stephenson (19, South Eastern Regional College, Ireland).
- CAD: Andrew Beel (20, Pacson Valves).
- CNC Turning: Alex Elton (19, Clamonta).
- CNC Milling: Michael Watson (20, GKN Aerospace), Steven Castle (19, GKN Aerospace).
- Mechatronics: John Peerless (22, Middlesex University), Calum Knott (21, Middlesex University), Andy Smith (20, Toyota Manufacturing UK), Robyn Clarke (21, Toyota Manufacturing UK).
- Sheet Metal Technology: Jack Higgins (19, Radshape Sheet Metal), Harley Brian (19, KMF), Ryan Murphy (19, KMF).
- Construction Metalwork: Christopher Hanson (20, City Training, Bradford), Gethin Jones (19, Morris Fabrication & Welding), Josh Proctor (19, BAE Systems).
There is currently no Manufacturing Team Challenge entry for São Paulo 2015, although that is still a possibility. But there are four welders in squad battling it out and one of them will be at the Brazil event.
Team UK will be selected from this squad, with one person per skill going through.
Prior to 2011, the last time the UK held WorldSkills was in 1989, when the event was called the Skill Olympics. It was the 1989 competition that spawned UK Skills, established through a small government grant, which was the first professional organisation dedicated to the promotion of national skills competitions, together with the selection, preparation and entry of a UK team for the Skill Olympics. The Skill Olympics themselves kicked off in 1950, driven by José Antonio Elola Olaso, general director of OJE (Spanish Youth Organisation), and the UK got its first taste of hosting the event in 1965, in Glasgow.
First published in Machinery, November 2014
