Mark Callaghan’s Welcome

Dear WorldSkills Supporter,

On the evening of Monday the 10th of May, the WorldSkills Australia Presentation Ceremony provided the perfect end to a very successful 2010 National Competition.

While we were able to celebrate the achievements of all competitors in a venue that, less than 24 hours previously was still being used for competition, we were also able to celebrate the conclusion of another showcase of skills excellence. Congratulations to all National champions and indeed to all competitors. Each and every one of you should be proud of what you have been able to achieve.

In the coming weeks we will be in touch with all winners regarding the International Pathway options that are available to them - whether it be as a Skillaroo representing Australia in London in 2011 or as a BBM Scholarship recipient.

The 2010 National Competition was the largest Australian National Competition held with over 20,000 square metres of competition space plus an additional 5,000 square metres of Careers Expo space. Anyone who walked the competition halls will attest to the sheer size of the event. While we are gradually sending thank you’s to everyone involved in staging the 2010 National Competition, I would like to take this opportunity to again thank everyone involved.

Without the tremendous government, industry and sponsor support and of course, without the support of the WSA family of volunteers - from site crew to judges - we would be in no position to be able to stage an event the scale of which we saw in Brisbane. Once again I have been humbled by the efforts of those who are committed and passionate about skills development and skills excellence. Through the efforts of all involved I am confident WorldSkills Australia will continue to showcase the high quality of VET both here in Australia and internationally.

Finally, it is with a great deal of sadness that I have to report to you that Nathan Cameron, a young jeweller who represented the Victoria Country region in Brisbane just over 3 weeks ago passed away on Saturday night (the 29th of May). I know everyone involved with WorldSkills Australia will all join me in offering the family and friends of Nathan our condolences at what must be an incredibly difficult and sad time.

Competition Results

Congratulations to all competitors and medal winners! The results from the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010 can be found on the WorldSkills Australia website. Individual medalist photos from the Presentation Ceremony can also be found on the WSA website.

 www.worldskills.org.au

SkillsOne Footage from the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010

The talented team from SkillsOne TV attended all three days of the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010, capturing hours and hours of footage that culminated in 60 individual video stories which can be viewed online via the WorldSkills Australia website.

• View All National Competition Photos
• View Medalist Photos
• View VETiS Medalist Photos
• View SkillsOne Videos

Deputy Prime Minister Shows Her Support for
WorldSkills Australia National Competition, Brisbane 2010

Deputy Prime Minister Julia Gillard attended the Fyshwick campus of the Canberra Institute of Technology (CIT) on Thursday 13th May. The Deputy Prime Minister congratulated the talented young skills champions who represented the Canberra Region following their success at the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010.

L-R: Justin Poidevin - Carpentry Bronze; Gerard Allen - Plumbing Gold;
Deputy Prime Minister, Julia Gillard; Nathan Sandy - VETiS Cookery Bronze.

2009 Skillaroos/BBM Recipients

It was great to see Skillaroos/BBM representatives from the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Sydney 2008 back to assist with the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010. Together with many other past competitors, they kindly gave up their time to give back to WorldSkills Australia and potentially the next generation of competitors to represent Australia on the world stage.

Evatt Shield Winner is Macquarie Region!

The Evatt Shield is awarded to the region with the best overall score for all competitors involved in the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010. For the 2010 National Competition, the Winner of the Evatt Shield is the Macquarie Region. The Macquarie region receives the Evatt Shield until the next WorldSkills Australia National Competition in 2012. Well done Macquarie!

Macquarie wins the Evatt Shield.

CareerOne Award - Best Performing Competitor

WorldSkills Australia together with CareerOne, announced the award for Best Performing Competitor at a National Competition. In line with the WorldSkills International Competition, awarded for ‘Best in Nation’, which was awarded to Jessie-Lee Gladwell at the WorldSkills International Competition in Calgary, Canada last year, WorldSkills Australia is proud to have developed the Best Performing Competitor award with CareerOne. 

The CareerOne Award for Best Performing Competitor is Alexis Scott from the Hairdressing Category. Alexis had the highest score across the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010. Alexis  is from the Western Australia region and her employer is Salon De Coiffure. Alexis trained at the South West Regional College, Bunbury.

Alexis wins the accolade of being the CareerOne Best Performing Competitor in the WorldSkills Australia National Competition. Congratulations Alexis!

Alexis Scott receives Best Performing Competitor Award from Chief Executive Officer
of News Digital Careers, Michael Harvey

VETiS Shield

The winner of the VETiS Shield is New South Wales. The VETiS Shield is awarded to the best performing state in the VETiS Competition at the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010. Congratulations to the New South Wales contingent.

Brodie Hobday and Hannah Power receive VETiS Shield on behalf
of the New South Wales contingent.

More and more environmental sustainability has been a focus for
community interest, industry and government policy. Understanding
skills and sustainability in their vocation is critical to the success of
young people about to enter working life.

Through a partnership with the Dusseldorp Skills Forum (DSF) the
Green Team concept was first introduced at the WorldSkills National Competition in 2008 and since then it’s been adapted at the international
level and repeated again in Brisbane. It’s been amazing to see the take
up in the last two years with focus not only on water, energy and waste
efficiencies but also on design and delivery of the projects themselves.

Again through partnering with DSF, Green Team 2010 saw event management students team up with environmental students to find out how environmentally sustainable the categories at this WorldSkills Competition were.

Guided by a lead auditor from the environmental consultancy ARUP, the Green Team interviewed each category to gather data. This will be shared with all categories through our 2010 Environmental Report, helping us to further improve our performance at the next competition.

View footage of the Green Team and to hear from a couple of creative categories.

ARUP Skills for Sustainability Award - Outstanding Leadership in Showcasing Skills & Sustainability Winners for 2010 - Bricklaying

Congratulations to the category of Bricklaying and, in particular, Bricklaying Chief Judge, Troy Everett.  This year saw the bricklaying category consider sustainability through the design of the project as well as the category delivery at the competition. Through a variety of initiatives they were able to achieve significant savings in water, especially through the application of an innovative water reuse device designed specifically for the competition. Saving the bricks and mortar from the speed challenge for reuse also reduced waste. Eliminating toxic chemicals as well as using a tank to settle clay from the water for reuse was also noted.

The field was extremely tough this year and congratulations must also be extended to the categories of Cookery, Detailed Joinery, Hairdressing, Painting & Decorating and Web Design.

All involved with the Green Team project, DSF and WSA are extremely pleased with the way in which sustainability has been embraced by all categories. Our next step is to ensure that sustainability considerations are embedded in all competition categories from the project design phase.

Troy Everett (Bricklaying Chief Judge) receiving ARUP Skills for Sustainability Award -
Outstanding Leadership in Showcasing Skills and Sustainability from Cathy Crawley of ARUP

At the recent 2010 WSA National Competition in Brisbane
a new research project was initiated, supported by WorldSkills
Australia, Dusseldorp Skills Forum and RMIT.

The aims of the research are to identify, develop and promote
the key characteristics of excellence in trade and vocational skills.

These aims are being addressed by focusing on the experiences of WorldSkills competitors - through their own eyes and through the main groups around them - judges, parents, employers and trainers.

Over the three days of the 2010 National Competition, competitors were asked to share their own story about their WorldSkills experience and to answer some questions related to their story. Likewise, the judges were asked to share stories about their reflections about the experiences of competitors in WorldSkills training and competition. Later in the year the views of parents, employers and trainers about the experiences of their WorldSkills competitor will also be sought.

Read More on the MoVE project.

During the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010 people from all over the world visited the WorldSkills Australia website. People from countries such as Canada, Peru, Japan, Brazil, India, Iran, Germany, China, UK and USA watched as competition updates and highlights were updated daily. In total people from over 73 countries visited the WSA website to keep up to date with the Nationals news.

Be Constructive, an initiative of Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ), launched a new, interactive website aimed at career seekers on Friday 7 May at the WorldSkills Australia National Competition.

The innovative new website contains information and advice about careers in the Queensland building and construction industry for both school students and career seekers. The interactive format showcases a new and exciting look, describing job options within the industry and offering tools to plan careers.

The new Be Constructive website includes a career planner, career pathway guide detailing required education, and an A-Z of careers to assist users in selecting the right career for them, based on their interests. Construction Skills Queensland (CSQ) CEO Brett Schimming said the $85 billion-per-annum building and construction industry is one of Australia’s largest, offering a vast range of great job choices to 985,000 workers nationally.  

“We are very excited about the industry’s new website. Our involvement with WorldSkills Australia is part of an ongoing relationship that supports career seekers and emphasises the importance of training and hands on experience. CSQ actively recognises excellence in industry trade skills at entry level,” said Mr Schimming.

The purpose behind the website is to illustrate the number of career options available in the building and construction industry and assist career seekers on their career pathway.

Read more about Construction Skills Queensland.

Sam Backo - FOG’s (Former Origin Great), Gordon Elledge - SkillsTech Australia, Mark Callaghan -
WorldSkills Australia CEO, Brett Schimming - CSQ, Tony Wright - SkillsTech Australia, Gene Miles - FOG’s

A successful WorldSkills Australia Try’aTrade event was held in conjunction with Group Training Australia as part of the National Careers and Employment Expo, Melbourne on May 21-22. Visitors to the Expo could try their hand in everything from Manufacturing, Cooking, Nursing and Bricklaying.

View photos taken at the WorldSkills Australia Try'aTrade.

With the conclusion of a most successful WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010 we would like to sincerely thank our supporters and sponsors.

The WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010 would not have been possible without your support as it is only via this tremendous support, that WorldSkills Australia is able to continue to inspire young Australians to achieve skills excellence through our programs such as the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010.

View the WorldSkills Australia National Competition Brisbane 2010 supporters and sponsors.

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: Sarah Tulloch (stulloch@worldskills.org.au) at the National Office.