A WorldSkills Australia networking event last night was one to remember for those that gathered at Squire’s Landing in Sydney to discuss a 2025 that should be spent further propelling the nation’s future workforce.
The night was an opportunity for WorldSkills to look ahead and draw attention to the important role its pathways and programs play in the landscape of Australia’s vocational education training.
Spotlighted was its 2025 National Championship & Skills Show, which takes place from June 12 to 14 in Brisbane. As Australia’s biggest vocational education and excellence competition, this is just one of WorldSkills’ skills-based competitions that operate at regional, national and international levels.
Present at the event was CEO of WorldSkills Australia, Trevor Schwenke, who has spent around 30 years as a volunteer within the Worldskills family and has more than 24 years’ experience in key vocational education and training, higher education roles.
“Tonight is really about thanking you, some of our partners, sponsors and supporters, for everything that you do for us,” he said.
Schwenke acknowledged that the organisation continues to build on each year, in terms of competitors, attendees, and exposure.
“Across the nation, we held 743, regional Skills Competition. That’s a tremendous number of competitions. There’s nearly 9000 competitors across Australia participating in our skills excellence program. That’s unheard of,” he said.
“At this year’s National Championships in Brisbane, we’re preparing for 600 competitors. They will compete again across 46 open skill categories and 17 events in schools categories, total of 63 individual skills competitions. That number of 600 compares to 454, competitors in Melbourne in 2023.”
Also present was international expert within industrial mechanics, David Baldwin, who has a long history relationship with the organisation that dates back to his time in Ireland.
“My manager back in Ireland was heavily involved with World Skills of Ireland. He called me one day from Abu Dhabi, and tasked me with setting up a national competition in Ireland. I set up a national competition, trained a competitor, and we ended up getting a bronze medal,” he said.
Recently, Baldwin served as a source of inspiration and guidance for World Skills 2024 Skillaroo, Michael Bowen.
“He has developed so much in such a short period of time. He was my student three years ago now. He worked hard, studied hard, was accurate with his work, and I took him on board. He’s after changing roles, he’s in a really good position now, yeah, developing himself personally and professionally as well. And that’s great,” he said.
The night also featured panel discussions with those involved in WorldSkills including technical delegate of WorldSkills Australia, Troy Everett and 2021 WSC Special Edition Skillaroo in cooking, Sabrina Rees. Another panel discussion focussed on the organisations partners, including marketing manager at Kirby, Elizabeth Paparo, TAFE and industry development lead at Reece, John Doig.
The event was not only a celebration of progress and achievements within the vocational education and training sector, but it also highlighted WorldSkills intention and strategy to keep pushing towards a healthy, well-equipped workforce.
