Finnish top expertise on an international stage – a dash of French in the competition tasks

Competitors and Experts (judges) of the Finnish national team. Image: Laura Luomalehto.

Finland has participated in the international WorldSkills competition since 1989. Excluding two instances, the Finnish team has never walked away from this biennial competition empty-handed.

This year, the Finnish national team will test their professional skills in 20 categories organised over four jam-packed competition days. The competitors are also racing against time: high-quality results must be achieved within tight deadlines. Many categories keep their tasks secret until the beginning of the competition.

Secret tasks and almost impossible challenges

Piia Pirhonen, the Finnish competitor in Aircraft Maintenance, and her support team has to guess what she might encounter to prepare for the competition. It is likely that one of the five tasks will be to inspect the carbon fibre structure of an aircraft. This involves tapping a damaged area with a small inspection hammer to find damage using hearing and sight. The damaged area is then ground open and repaired.

The task in the Chemical Laboratory Technology category is also completely secret. It is only the third time that this category is included in WorldSkills. Finland will be represented by Toivo Särkkinen. The competitors only receive instructions at the beginning of each stage of the competition, which they follow to perform the task. The tasks include preparing solutions and processing samples for measurements or analyses, using various analysis devices for measurements, and calculating and reporting the results. For any chances at a medal, the work must be finished as completely as possible in a short period.

Some of the tasks also sound almost impossible to complete. Eeli Grén, who is competing in the Web Technologies category, is in a tight spot as competitors are not allowed to use internet or artificial intelligence at all. They must create a technically functional and usable web application based on existing memory and information. Only programming language manuals will be available.

A dash of French

The host country is often visible in the WorldSkills competition tasks. For example, this year the theme in baking is the Eiffel Tower.

In Landscape Gardening, Veeti Lindroth and Pietu Ponkkonen will create a yard area of 50 square metres that has to include elements of stone and wood construction, a water feature and planting themes. Competitors have received images depicting “jardins à la française”, i.e. French formal gardens, as preliminary information. In other words, the task may reveal elements of a French garden.

Landscaping is very practical category and interesting to watch. The competitors' handiwork is visible to the public as the competition area continues to be built up. However, the results won’t be revealed until the end as the assessment also considers measurements, and the tasks are carried out to the accuracy of mere millimetres.

And where landscaping gets accurate with millimetres, bakers concern themselves with grams. Erika Ukkonen, who competes in Pâtisserie and Confectionery, has created recipes with her coaching team to an accuracy of 0.1 grams. Competition tasks include baking cakes, pastries, cookies, confectionery, and chocolate and sugar sculptures. All competition works must be built around the theme of the competition, which this year is French hand puppet theatre and its famous character Guignol.

Traditional and new categories

Many WorldSkills categories are traditional professions that sound familiar even to people without intimate knowledge of vocational education and training.

For example, in Painting and Decorating, even a layman can see and understand what happens when a wall is covered in wallpaper or paint. Still, competitor Laura Lampi has to consider how to do the work efficiently but without errors. Often speed is what separates the top competitors from the rest. When the groundwork is carried out efficiently, there will be time left for finishing touches.

Beauty Therapy, which is Mirva Alasjärvi’s category, is also a well-known skill to many. It involves doing a versatile range of treatments from the beauty sector: from traditional facials and hand and foot treatments to trendy lash and brow services as well as make-up. The host country could be visible in e.g. nail art.

Some categories, on the other hand, highlight future expertise, the terminology of which is still unknown to the general public. One of the most recent and topical categories is Industry 4.0, in which Daniel Alenius and Eeli Pulkkinen compete. Industry is currently undergoing a transition towards competence, which will be measured in the tasks. Perhaps through the competition, the public will also learn how virtual twins and virtual uses will be visible in future work.

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.

More information

Team Leader Teija Ripattila, +358 40 455 2020, teija.ripattila@skillsfinland.fi

Communications Manager Katja Katajamäki, +358 40 732 0691, katja.katajamaki@skillsfinland.fi