Telford College T-Level students in ‘skills olympics’

Five Telford College(@telfordcollege) students have qualified for the second stage of a competition which could ultimately see them representing the UK in the global ‘skills olympics’.

WorldSkills is a partnership between education, industry and the government, designed to boost the prestige of technical and professional education by embedding world-class training standards.

Five T-Level health students – Meredith Davis, Sophie Flavell, Callum McCarthy, Stephany Jacobs and Claudia Afram – have qualified for the second phase of this year’s competition, which takes place on June 18.

Callum said:

“There are basically four steps – on the first step they send you work to complete, and if they think you’ve done well enough, they’ll progress you to the next stage.

“The second stage involves doing some more work on a zoom or teams call, based on a brief which is provided, and the third stage is an in-person session, where you take on more tasks.

“If you progress to the fourth step, you get the chance to go to France later this year and meet students from all over the world.”

WorldSkills UK is part of the global WorldSkills movement, involving more than 80 countries, which supports young people with competitions-based training, assessment and benchmarking.

National teams ultimately test their ability to achieve world-class standards in the ‘skills olympics’, held every two years. This year’s global final is being held in the French city of Lyon in September.

Around 1,500 competitors from 65 countries and regions will compete in 62 professions, demonstrating their excellence and know-how.

Organisers say:

“Much more than a competition, WorldSkills aims to combat prejudices around professional training to respond to the challenges of these sectors – and to encourage young people to choose these professions of the future.”

Sarah Davies, director of health and science at Telford College, said:

“WorldSkills is a fabulous initiative, which champions the world’s leading students across dozens of categories.

“We’re absolutely delighted to have five of our T-Level health students making it through to the second phase of the competition – students have had the benefit of being out on hospital wards and doing the job, which is great preparation.

“The scenarios they will be working through in the next stage of WorldSkills will be similar to the topics they have already been preparing for their most recent T-Level assessment. 

“The next stage after June 18 is the regional finals, and after that it’s onto the national final and a chance to represent the UK at the global event in France. We’re sure they will do the college proud.”