The Skills Ambassador helps build pathways to excellence – book a visit to your educational institution
The Skills Ambassador brings expertise from skills competitions directly to educational institutions and helps create effective ways to support both teachers’ professional competence and students’ pathways to excellence. Spring visit dates are now available for booking.
Chief Training Manager Teija Ripattila and Skills Ambassador Niina Hannuksela.
The Skills Ambassador is an expert in competition activities appointed by Skills Finland, whose goal is to ensure that the opportunities of skills competitions are accessible to all educational institutions and students.
The Skills Ambassador is Niina Hannuksela, a lecturer in restaurant services at Turku Vocational Institute (TAI). Since 2011, she has worked in various roles within competition activities, including coach, judge, skill manager, expert, team leader, and coordinator. She was also chosen as the Restaurant Sector PRO Teacher of the Year 2026, and she has played a key role in developing TAI’s High‑Performance Academy and qualification units focused on excellence.
School visits now available for booking
Our Chief Training Manager, Teija Ripattila, and Skills Ambassador Niina can now be invited to educational institutions for a free visit offering concrete tools for developing competition activities and pathways to excellence within the organisation.
A school visit is a two‑hour interactive and consultative session during which the structures, roles, and benefits of competition activities are reviewed together with the institution’s staff. The interactive work is built around the needs of the institution, ensuring that the resulting solutions are concrete and easy to implement.
During the visit, participants reflect on how participating in competition activities could support teachers’ professional development and students’ individual vocational and study pathways. After the visit, the institution gains new, clear practices for integrating competition activities as a natural part of teaching and staff development.
The spring visit dates are 21 April, 22 April, 11 May, and 12 May. Book a time via Teija,
teija.ripattila@skillsfinland.fi or 040 455 2020. The visit is a unique opportunity to consult two top experts in skills competitions free of charge and ensure that your institution receives concrete support in developing its competition activities.
More information
Chief Training Manager
+358 40 455 2020
teija.ripattila@skillsfinland.fi