1. 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 Director General Mika Tammilehto, Finland, Ministry of Education and Culture, Department for Vocational Education and Training

2. 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?

4. 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

5. 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.

6. 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

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

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