Mark Callaghan’s Welcome

Dear WorldSkills Supporter,

Last week was a big week in Australia for skills and skills excellence with the staging of the 2011 WorldSkills Australia Global Skills Challenge.

Thanks to the combined efforts of our many supporters, in particular TAFE NSW Illawarra Institute, as well as the countless WSA volunteers, we were able to deliver a competition that pitted our 2011 Team Australia Skillaroos against competitors from 8 countries – New Zealand, France, the Netherlands, the UK, Canada, Singapore, Japan and Jamaica.

This ‘delayed’ edition of the July Skill News will provide a comprehensive overview of the WSA Global Skills Challenge – a true celebration of skills excellence and the perfect launching pad for the 41st WorldSkills Competition in London – as well as all the news from WorldSkills Australia.

After months of hard work and preparation, the Global Skills Challenge is now officially over. The four day whirlwind event (no pun intended windy Wollongong!), was a brilliant success with all attendees commending WorldSkills Australia on the impressive competition.

WorldSkills Australia would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the sponsors, volunteers and staff, who provided their time and support. Without all of your assistance this event would not have been possible.

The Global Skills Challenge, which continued to grow since its initial, much smaller inception, took on a life of its own and grew to see Australia hosting a significant international competition, with nine countries and over 80 competitors plus their experts and team leaders.

The event provided an invaluable training exercise for all, as well as a fantastic opportunity for networking prior to London.

In addition to the typical buzz and excitement WorldSkills competitions bring with them, WorldSkills Australia organised some very special events for their international guests, during their short stay.

The WSA team were dedicated to documenting as much of the event as possible. To get a sense of how fantastic the Global Skills Challenge was, visit the WSA website, where daily footage, photos and blogs available to view.

Alexis Scott- Australian Skillaroo in Ladies and
Mens Hairdressing

All international guests progressively arrived in Wollongong in the few days prior to the competition.

The day before the event was launched; guests were welcomed to Wollongong with a familiarization of the TAFE NSW Wollongong Campus, followed by an Aussie style barbeque dinner where they were entertained with a traditional Indigenous dance routine. See the photos from the event here.

Representing the Hon Adrian Piccoli, NSW Minister for Education at the Global Skills Challenge was Pam Christie,Acting Director General of Education and Communities and Acting Managing Director of TAFE NSW who officially opened the challenge after a heartfelt welcome to country by Richard Davis and a beautiful rendition of Advance Australia Fair by Wollongong Sing Australia Group.Competitors were then sent off to their stations where they began day one of their four day challenge.

Click on the following links for day 1 of competition:

• Mark’s Blog
• Video footage
• Photos

Shane Rofe-
BBM Recipient

By the end of day two the competition was well underway and competitor projects were already starting to take shape.

The landscape gardeners were working hard cutting and laying stone and getting the foundations laid for the Japanese style garden they were challenged to build.

Competitors in the hairdressing category had already completed two of their challenges and were onto their third and the IT competitors had also clocked up quite a few hours in front of the screen, working through their challenges.

Click on the following links for day 2 of:

• Mark’s Blog
• Video footage
• Photos

Kate Crocker- Australian Skillaroo in Restaurant Service

Day three of competition has seen the TAFE NSW, Wollongong campus, come alive with competitors and experts chatting and rushing to complete their tasks.

Members of the public and the media are busy clicking away with their cameras, capturing some of the incredible work created so far by these young skilled individuals and the volunteers are busy behind the scenes making sure the event continues sailing as smoothly as it has since day one.

Click on the following links for day 3 of:

• Mark’s Blog
• Video footage
• Photos

Alexia Roux- French graphic design competitor with her
new friend

The last day of the Global Skills Challenge saw everyone in full competition mode, rushing to get the last of the tasks completed, double checking everything was right and for some categories testing their finished product.

The competition was over by lunch time, which was when our international guests received a special visit from some native Australian wildlife. For most, this was the first time that had been given the opportunity to pat; a koala, a dingo, a wallaby and a blue tongue lizard, to name only a few.

An official closing event was held on day four, which gave everyone a chance to bond and wind down from the Global Skills Challenge.

All-in-all the Global Skills Challenge was a hugely successful event and we hope to be able to host another in the future.

Click on the following links for day 4 of:

• Mark’s Blog
• Video footage
• Photos

As a not-for-profit organisation, WorldSkills Australia relies heavily on the good-will of our volunteers, who generously give up their own time to lend a helping hand and to keep WorldSkills not only alive, but also progressive.

The Global Skills Challenge highlighted the fact that we have nowhere near as many volunteers as we need to cope with WSA’s growth.

However, with all of the positive reviews we received from members of the public and our international guests, it is evident that our volunteer shortage remained unnoticed.

This is solely due to the fact that, although they were few, for those voluntary hands we did have, they worked so hard that to the dismay of many were able to pull off a seamless event.

To all of our volunteers; who arrived on site before everyone else, who stayed behind when others went home, who displayed an admirable amount of dedication and work ethic, thank you! We simply couldn’t do it without you!

With the Global Skills Challenge over, focus is now turned toward the 41st WorldSkills International Competition being held in London in October.

The Global Skills Challenge, provided the Skillaroos with the chance to gauge their skills against international competitors and identify their own strengths and weaknesses.

Team Australia will use the next three months training and perfecting their skills, so that they can bring to the international stage the strongest team yet.

To learn more visit the WorldSkills Australia website.

Have a flick through the Pics!

Couldn’t make it Wollongong for the Global Skills Challenge?
Won’t be able to get to London for the 41st WorldSkills International Competition?

Still want to see everything that is happening as it happens? Well, check out the WorldSkills Australia Flickr account!

We have recently added photos from all competition days at the Global Skills Challenge and will be continuing to update our galleries with all event action in the future.

Be sure to bookmark the page, because we have lots more coming soon. We will also update you about new photos and footage through our Facebook and Twitter account, so make sure you sign up!

Click here to see the smorgasbord of photos taken so far.

WorldSkills Australia will be hosting a booth at the Skills Australia ‘Putting Skills at Heart of the Economy’ Conference.

Present at the booth will be WSA staff equipped with information about the organisation.

The conference will provide participants with the opportunity to hear from national and international speakers on the trends in the economy; industry’s future directions and the challenges they pose for our existing skills base; and discuss how the tertiary sector needs to position itself in response.

The sold out conference is to be held at the Crown Conference Centre in Melbourne on Thursday July 21.

Read more about it here.

The 2011 National Focus categories of the Australian Training Awards are now open.

The National Focus Awards, nominated by the Australian Government Minister responsible for Skills, recognise outstanding contributions towards the attainment of Australia’s national training system priorities.

Applications are made directly to the Department of Education Employment and Workplace Relations and close 1 August 2011.

Read more.

This newsletter is about the WorldSkills community, so we want news from the WorldSkills Australia community. If you would like to spread your news across Australia contact: Simone Gioia (sgioia@worldskills.org.au) at the National Office.