Learning Through Competing — TVET Webinar

Competitions are “not about the few who win” but “about the many whose lives can be shaped by them” said WorldSkills Acting President Chris Humphries during a webinar organized by Trinidad and Tobago’s National Training Agency.

Mr Humphries used the live session hosted by Dr Patrice Parris Searles, who is responsible for research, development and training at the National Training Agency, to promote the wide-ranging value of competitions. They “inspire initiative and excellence”, he said, among all who attend — from Experts representing Members to their young Competitors.

The WorldSkills Competition is, he said, an “eight day intensive development programme” where participants mix and learn with the best in the world.

With a lifetime in skills education, including leading the successful bid to host WorldSkills London 2011, Mr Humphries made a powerful case for the movement.

Competitions were a critical tool for attracting young people to vocational education and training, he said, but also for keeping TVET up to date with changes in technology and the requirements of industry.

Being part of a WorldSkills Competition will improve teachers’ skills and “drive research for better understanding of how to succeed.”

They were part of a wider range of benefits from WorldSkills membership, which included Global Partners, the new Capacity Building Centres, the Experts Faculty, and Champions Trust, which he described as the “powerful voice of well expressed young people.”

Noting how success at the Olympic Games can inspire young people to take up sports, Mr Humphries concluded the webinar with a resounding case for the power of Competitions:   

“Competitions matter as much, or more, in skills as they do in sport.”