France hosts another exciting event in September – "The goal is to learn, grow and win gold"

Team Finland 2024. Photo: Laura Luomalehto

Mirva Alasjärvi, who competes in Beauty Care, won a gold medal in Taitaja 2022, the Finnish Championships in vocational skills, and silver in the European Championships known as EuroSkills in autumn 2023. At WorldSkills, she is aiming high.

"My goal is to learn, grow and win a gold medal at WorldSkills. My preparation has gone according to plan. The trip to the competition will also be valuable in terms of my future professional goals”, says Alasjärvi. She hopes to stay involved in competition activities and, for example, share her expertise with future competitors. Working as a teacher would be one option.

Team Finland was selected through qualifying events in which all vocational students could take part. Those selected for the national team prepare for the competition at their own vocational institutions and workplaces. While you can only take part in WorldSkills once, the competitors have participated in the national Taitaja competition or competitions in their own fields to gain experience.

The purpose of attending to the competitions is to develop Finnish vocational education and training and working life.

"International competitions are an excellent place for gauging the level of vocational education and training in Finland and for learning from others. When a teacher who participates in competition activities shares their learning in Finland, the entire field benefits, whereas the competitors are creative professionals of the future who will develop working life”, says Maria Ekroth, Skills Finland CEO.

WorldSkills Lyon in France, 10-15 September 2024

• WorldSkills 2024 will feature 62 skills in total, representing a wide variety of TVET occupations ranging from practical nurses and chefs to welders and electricians.
• In most skills, the competitors are vocational top professionals aged no more than 23. A total of 1,500 competitors from around the world will take part in the competition.
• The Eurexpo Lyon fair centre expects 250,000 visitors.
• Team Finland consists of 22 competitors and 22 experts. The competitors take part in 20 skills.
• Experts serve as judges and specialists in each skill. The Finnish experts are often vocational teachers. The competitors are trained in collaboration between TVET providers and employers.
• The goal of each Finnish competitor is to achieve at least the Medallion for Excellence diploma for above-average performance in their respective skills.
• Skills Finland, which coordinates national team activities, puts together Team Finland and sends it to the competition. Skills Finland works closely together with vocational institutions. The competitors are selected in open qualification events.
• In addition to the WorldSkills competition, a national team also participates in the EuroSkills and Abilympics competitions. The next EuroSkills competition will be held in Herning, Denmark in 2025, and the Abilympics competition for professionals requiring special support will take place in Helsinki, Finland, in 2027.
• Finnish professionals have participated in international vocational skills competitions since 1989, winning more than 140 medals in total. The only years in which the team came home with no gold, medal, or bronze medals were 1989 and 2022.

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