Towards a better world through WorldSkills occupational standards

Teija Ripattila

• Chief Training Manager at Skills Finland
• Finland’s official delegate to WorldSkills Europe
• 27 years of experience in vocational education
• Member of the WSOSD working group since early 2024
• Hobbies: small-scale gardening and allotment cottage life, reading, crafts and art, winter swimming

What real benefit do WorldSkills Occupational Standards (WSOS) offer?

This is a question I am often asked. There is no single right answer—it entirely depends on whether the issue is viewed through a national or global lens. I have dedicated my entire career to the development of vocational education and believe that the WorldSkills Occupational Standards contribute to the advancement of both Finland and the world. They also offer a way to support the development of vocational education in developing countries and provide young people across the globe with opportunities for a better life.

The WorldSkills Occupational Standards reflect global occupations or job roles represented in the WorldSkills Competition. These standards are not the same as qualification requirements in every country. While both are based on learning outcomes, the occupational standards focus more strongly on labour market needs and actual work tasks.

Standards in a nutshell

To ensure that the standards are valid, clear and consistent, they:

• cover specialist, technical and general skills that make up middle-level job roles around the world
• define what a competent professional must know, understand and be able to do
• are developed under the guidance of technical and vocational WorldSkills experts
• are reviewed and updated every two years in consultation with global industries and businesses
• indicate the relative importance of each section of the standard.

The main purpose of the standards is to:

• establish a foundation for genuine vocational performance, used as a benchmark in WorldSkills Competitions
• provide a reference for national and regional standards as well as qualification requirements for vocational education
• support young people and adults in coping and succeeding in a modern and constantly changing world. This is especially important in countries where vocational education is still developing. The WorldSkills Occupational Standards give young people access to a profession, a livelihood and a better future.

The skill-specific occupational standards of WorldSkills

The standards also benefit Finland

From a Finnish perspective, the WorldSkills Occupational Standards help us develop vocational education and prepare young professionals for working life.

Every two years, Finnish vocational teachers take part in WorldSkills Competitions as experts (judges). Before the competitions, they must familiarise themselves with the current occupational standards for their skill and analyse how they match the needs of Finnish working life, as well as compare them with the national qualification requirements.

Together with the skill manager and coaches for their skill, the experts coach one or more competitors for the competition—and also learn themselves during this process. By this stage, the competitor has already completed their vocational upper secondary qualification. The focus of the coaching is on the competencies not fully covered by the Finnish qualification. The coaching period is organised so that the competitor completes a qualification or unit, which allows the learning to benefit other students as well.

During the competition, the expert is responsible—together with experts from other countries—for assessment in their skill. After the competition, they take part in developing the competition task further, through the standards. The WorldSkills Occupational Standards are updated after each competition together with skill stakeholders and company representatives. To ensure that the Finnish labour market needs are also reflected in the standards, each expert must provide WorldSkills with relevant business contacts to involve in the updating process.

A key responsibility of experts and skill teams is to disseminate the knowledge gained through WorldSkills Competitions to their own institutions and the companies in their field. This is the only way to spread global vocational competence in Finland for the benefit of as many professionals as possible.