About WorldSkills

The beginnigs of the competition date back to 1946 when Spain experienced the lack of skilled labour. Director of the Spanish Youth Organisation José Antonio Elola Olaso together with his supporters proposed the organisation of the professional skills competitions as a solution to this problem. Back in 1950 the first competition was arranged where young people from companies from all over Spain were competing for the titles of masters of trade experiencing the spirit of competition, adults held discussions on innovations and results and spectators learned about the diversity of professions and the secrets of trades.

The idea of this competition of professional skills has successfully survived up to today and grown from the national competition of Spain into a global competition – WorldSkills, that will be held for the 41st time in 2011. 950 young professionals representing 46 disciplines will participate in the competition and 910 experts will work in the Jury Commissions.

WorldSkills competition is the attestation that both traditional and modern professions and skills are one of the basis of the global economic and social welfare. WorldSkills London 2011 will be held in London, the capital of Great Britain, from 5 to 8 October. This was the first time when Latvia participated in the prestigious competition of young professionals WorldSkills London 2011.

WorldSkills is organised by the international not for profit membership association WorldSkills International that has defined its mission as the promotion and facilitation throught cooperative action a worldwide awareness of the essential contribution that skills and high standards of competence make to the achievement of economic success and personal fulfilment.

This is a non-political and non-confessional organisation assembled by the institutions promoting the development of the vocational education from all over the world. Each country is represented in this organisation by just one institution delegated by the state; in Latvia this is the State Education Development Agency (VIAA).

Currently there are 57 member states in WorldSkills International representing all the continents of the globe. The membership of the organisation is expanding because the number of countries all over the world understanding the contribution the competition makes in the improvement of the prestige of the vocational education and the standards of skills is increasing. 

Latvia gained the entitlement to participate in the WorldSkills competition in the spring of 2011 upon joining the WorldSkills International organisation and becoming its associated member.

Thus, the following opportunities are open for Latvia:

• the participation in the WorldSkills competitions;
• the participation in the national competitions of other countries;
• the delegation of experts for the participation in the Experts' discussions and development of the competition criteria;
• gaining the international experience regarding the trends of development of the vocational education;
• the assessment of the national skills and professional knowledge level on the global scale.

Young professionals or students of vocational education establishments aged from 18 to 22 are entitled to participate in the competition.

See the list of all the member countries under the section: WorldSkills » Members

In the competition of 2011 Latvia participated in:

• cabinetmaking;
• plastering and drywall systems.

Each member country had to provide an expert participating as a Jury member during the competition in each profession the member had applied for in the competition. The experts delegated by Latvia in 2011:

• Haralds Laucis in the Cabinetmaking profession, a teacher from Riga School of Arts and Crafts;
• Andris Veinbergs in the Plastering and Drywall Systems, a technical manager at SIA "Knauf".

The selection of the participants for the WorldSkills competition is done by each country within the national competitions.
In 2011 the traditional competition "Young professional" was not held in Latvia, therefore the participants to the WorldSkills competition were selected as follows:

• in the cabinetmaking profession - in the annual competition for the wood processing professions "Chair" organised by Riga School of Arts and Crafts;
• in the plastering and drywall systems - in the competition organised by SIA "Knauf".

2 young men representing each of the above professions gained the opportunity to improve their skills. In the cabinetmaking profession they are Haralds Kresse representing Riga School of Arts and Crafts and the graduate of Jelgava Crafts School Kristaps Cielava who currently works at SIA "Spals". In the plastering and drywall works they are the graduate of Riga Building School and currently the 1st year student of Riga Building College Aleksejs Žarkovs and the graduate of Saldus Vocational School Jānis Mellenbergs.

To be able to represent the country in a due way in the prestigious WorldSkills London 2011 competition the Latvian team was working hard during the summer to improve the professional skills, the knowledge of English and listened to the advice of experts concerning the maintenance of the emotional stability under stress conditions. The final selection of the participants took place in September and the two representatives going to London were selected.

In the competition Worldskills 2011 Latvia was represented by the 3rd year student of Riga School of Arts and Crafts Haralds Kresse in the cabinetmaking profession and the graduate of Riga Building School and currently the 1st year student of Riga Building College Aleksejs Žarkovs in the plastering and drywall systems.

Haralds Kresse at Worldskills 2011

Alekseja Žarkova dalība Worldskills 2011