Utilising Skills Competitions in Developing Vocational Education and Training (VET) to meet Future Challenges Seminars on Countries Approaches to Skills Excellence and Development, 15 August 2015 Director General Mika Tammilehto, Finland, Ministry of Education and Culture, Department for Vocational Education and Training

Agenda Education system in Finland Policy priorities Reform of vocational upper secondary education Skills competitions in developing VET Skills competitions and fostering excellence in VET– WHY?

Policy Priorities Strategic Programme of Prime Minister Juha Sipilä’s Government 29 May 2015 New learning environments and digital materials to comprehensive schools Reform of vocational upper secondary education Acceleration of transition to working life Access to art and culture will be facilitated Cooperation between higher education institutions and business life will be strengthened to bring innovations to the market Youth guarantee towards community guarantee

Reform of vocational upper secondary education The status of VET in society will be improved. The funding system and structure of VET will be renewed by keeping the various educational paths open. A regionally comprehensive education network will be preserved. Interaction between educational institutions and working life will be enhanced. Unnecessary overlaps in education will be eliminated. The barriers between VET for young people and adults will be removed. Education providers will be encouraged to intensify their activities. Learning in the workplace will be increased. Apprenticeship training will be reformed by easing the administrative and financial burden of employees.

Skills competitions in developing VET: International Skills Competitions WorldSkills – international skills competitions for young professionals to increase international cooperation and to benchmark Finnish competence globally EuroSkills – European championship in vocational skills to increase European cooperation the mobility of students and teachers within the EU Abilympics – international skills competitions for people with disabilities and special needs to increase appreciation for vocational special needs education

Skills competitions in developing VET: National Skills Competitions Taitaja – Finnish national skills competition for young VET students and apprentices to increase the attractiveness, appreciation and quality of VET TaitajaPLUS – Finnish national skills competition for student with disabilities and special needs to improve the employability of young professionals with special needs Taitaja9 – team competition in craftsmanship for 9th graders to support and help young people in choosing a profession

Skills competitions and fostering excellence in VET– WHY? Student a way to develop into experts in own profession and an opportunity to compare skills against peers better contacts to working life > better possibilities to get a job after studies, also for those with special needs experience, self confidence, professional pride, making the grade under stress Teacher/Trainer opportunity to update vocational and teaching skills and to keep up with the developments in one’s own field progress in personal career path new ideas, content and methods into the teaching, tools for making the teaching more personalised, variety, motivation and inspiration to the work networking both nationally and internationally VET provider stronger and wider cooperation between education and working life support for teacher’s vocational development and motivation better quality of teaching and new teaching methods by making use of the experience gained from training top performers possibility to compare the quality of teaching on both a national and an international level improved image Employer possibility to have an influence on VET > more skilled workforce > increasing competitiveness of Finnish businesses means and possibilities to develop the skills of own staff, new working methods positive visibility and image networking both nationally and internationally

How to try to meet the future challenges and create innovations To utilise skills competitions – all competition are integrated to the development of VET To invest in cooperation with other countries – in cooperation we are stronger To emphasize the innovative role of Taitaja - one of the aims is to create new products and services - in 2016 a pilot project to investigate and present new future skills To continuously develop national competitions and create innovations according to the needs of working life, VET and individuals - TaitajaPLUS - Taitaja9 - Career paths as a tool for guidance

Skills competition bring quality, power and effectiveness to VET. Everybody wins – not only those rewarded with medals.