Raising the bar
The Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council has raised the bar for WorldSkills competitors.
From this week, the preliminary rounds for the competition will commence across TVET institutions and the competitors with the four highest scores will advance to the Finals slated for May 18 to 21 at BMEX 2018.
However, during the recent launch of the WorldSkills Barbados 2018 Competition, Dario Walcott, Chairman of the Local Organising Committee of WorldSkills Barbados, revealed that the TVET Council has implemented some changes to the competition that has been uniquely modelled to target students in the 16-21 age group.
He highlighted that as of now, it will be mandatory for all WorldSkills Barbados Finalists to take part in a new developmental programme.
“We are working on those soft skills that are necessary for them to be competent in their job. We realised that we may be at a level in terms of technical skills, but we want to work on the attitudes and soft skills of these individuals, ensuring that they are young, skilled professionals,” he explained of the three-month programme, which will be delivered and assessed by the Barbados Employers’ Confederation (BEC).
“This programme is mandatory in that the scores form part of their final score for the competition. It has a 40% rating on their final score. The completion of the test projects at the finals has a 60% score… So, they are not only relying on the technical score in order to win the WorldSkill Barbados Competition, but they also need to do well in the developmental programme.
“We are trying our best to raise the level and standards of the competitors that participate internationally, so, in order to represent Barbados at the WorldSkills Americas Competition or WorldSkills International, individuals need to score 75% or more in the technical aspect. They also need to score above 80% in the developmental programme. In the past, as long as you won the competition and were within the age criteria set, you would automatically advance to those competitions,” he indicated.
Moreover, Walcott was pleased to report that WorldSkills Barbados is growing. He said that this year, there has been an increase in the number of skills and institutions participating.
“Last year, we had four skills – hairdressing, cooking, fashion technology and automobile technology. Now, we have added beauty therapy, restaurant service, graphic design technology and car painting.
“We also have more institutions participating in this year’s competition. Previously we had the Samuel Jackman Prescod Institute of Technology (SJPI) and the Barbados Vocational Training Board (BVTB). However, this year, we also have on board the Barbados Community College (BCC), Career Development Institute and Nikita’s School of Cosmetology.”
Executive Director of the TVET Council, Henderson Eastmond further stressed that only the best individuals will be attending the WorldSkills International Competition, which is held every two years. The next WorldSkills Competition takes place in Kazan, Russia in 2019.
Focused on raising the standard, he pointed out, “We realise that most of the people who compete at WorldSkills International are competing at Level 3 minimum, and most of our institutions are currently at Level 2. The TVET council is working with institutions to move the training up to at least Level 3.
“Also, some of them have been exposed to much more technology than the Barbadians, so we are going to try to work with the institutions to expose them to the latest technology and the newer training in the competition as well as the attitude to be competition ready.” (TL)