Why is WorldSkills Conference 2024 so high on your agenda?
It is simple. WorldSkills Conference 2024 is the single best opportunity our skills community has this year to influence real change for Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). We have some of the world’s most knowledgeable and experienced leaders coming together to lend their voices and ideas. We have a full schedule of sessions that tackle the vast and varied challenges we all share. Added to that, the timing could not be more critical as WorldSkills Conference 2024 takes places just days before the United Nations Summit of the Future and this is our chance to influence the Post-2030 agenda that finally recognizes TVET as critical for sustainable development.
What feels different about the Conference compared to previous years?
WorldSkills Conference 2024 feels different because, collectively, we are dealing with so many new or interconnected challenges – conflict, climate breakdown, rapid digitization, cultural polarization, and the widening of socioeconomic gaps. Our world has never felt so uncertain. The 2023/24 UNDP Human Development Report (PDF, 970KB) found we are living with unprecedented levels of insecurity. With such high levels of anxiety, I understand that change feels hard, and even impossible. Yet WorldSkills Conference 2024 is tackling these challenges head on. We have discussions this year around how we can build gender equity in skills, or how TVET can lead the green transition. For the first time we are looking at skills initiatives for fragile economies. All our Members are facing these same overwhelming challenges and are looking to our skills community for solutions. WorldSkills Conference 2024 is the place to find them.
What will WorldSkills Members learn that they do not already know?
So much! It is understandable that we each focus on our own national challenges because these are always the most urgent issues to solve. But it means we sometimes forget to look up, step back, and see what others are doing. WorldSkills Conference 2024 is the perfect opportunity to learn from our international community. It is going to be a truly global conversation around skills and a place to share knowledge and best practice. Our panels have been carefully designed to include thought leaders from government, education, and business so that we benefit from a balanced set of perspectives. We will hear from changemakers in the global south who are driving skills development forward in new and agile ways. Innovators in AI, data and research, and transformative policymaking will share their cutting-edge ideas and insights. Importantly, each panel will include the voice of youth to make sure any solutions we develop meet the needs of our next generation of professionals.
It is a unique opportunity for Members to engage their national stakeholders in a conference against the backdrop of the Competition and strengthen and elevate their value in their national TVET ecosystem.
You are taking part in two panels. Can you tell us a bit more about them?
Note: The two panels are:
It is a privilege to be involved in these two panel sessions. First, our successful collaboration with the OECD for PISA-VET has shown us, our Members, partners, and the wider world, an additional role in supporting the global skills agenda. As the PISA-VET Framework is trialled and ultimately rolled out, we shall be learning and sharing all the way, alongside some of the best designers and assessors in the world.
Second, at the Closing panel, following such a rich array of themes and speakers, we shall hope to distil some essential themes, messages, and actions, which all participants can take away and work on. We are delighted that through this Conference we ourselves can broaden and deepen the impact of our WorldSkills Competition in line with shared goals. We recognize the seriousness of the educational challenge, worldwide, as spelt out by the United Nations, and pledge to do all we to promote excellence in skills.
What can you share about the Conference sessions specifically for WorldSkills Members?
Among some of the broader topics we are covering throughout the two days, we wanted to ensure we create time and space to tackle some of our own WorldSkills priorities. Namely how we can better track, measure and evaluate impact, and how our competition-based training can be effective in lifting national ambitions around skills development.
The first session, Monitoring Impact: Data For Better Skills Systems, will give an overview of the WorldSkills Global Research Council’s work since it launched in 2023 and then examine how we should be using data more effectively to improve our decision-making, to spot successful programmes, and to mobilize more support so we can scale the impact of our movement. The second, From Competition To Transformation: How Worldskills Can Advance TVET In Low-And Middle-Income Countries, will explore how skills competitions are incredibly effective at showcasing the value and impact of TVET and fostering a national culture around skills excellence. In both sessions, the panels will include a number WorldSkills Members ready to share their experience and examples of best practice.
What would you say to WorldSkills Members who have not yet secured their place?
I would say, what are you waiting for? WorldSkills Conference 2024 is essential for anyone who wants to lift TVET to the top of their own national agenda. This is the only event this year where WorldSkills Members and their governments and educators can connect into an exceptional global skills community that includes world-leading educators, heads of industry, fellow government ministers and dignitaries, and skills innovators and influencers. It is the only place where they can add their voice to debates around our most pressing challenges. It is the only place where they can gain valuable knowledge about successful skills initiatives that they can take back to their own countries and regions.
We all have a mandate to elevate discussions around the value of skills and to drive change for young people, for our industries, and for our communities. We must all be part of the change we want to make and WorldSkills Conference 2024 is a powerful platform to drive that change forward.
WorldSkills Conference 2024 takes place on 11-12 September 2024 in Lyon, France. Registration is open and Members are being urged to secure their place.