Worldskills UK Apprentices reinforce their engineering training

WorldSkills UK (WSUK) International Team candidates in aeronautical engineering visited HMS Sultan during National Apprenticeship Week (NAW), in order to help prepare them to compete for a place in the International Finals 2021 in Shanghai, China.

After coming through regional and national heats at the 2019 WorldSkills UK Live, three apprentices were invited to compete for one place in the final, representing the UK in Shanghai next August. Amongst them were candidates from Titan Airways, British Airways and the RAF.

Under the tutelage of WSUK’s Chief Expert Martin Yates, and with support from the Defence College of Technical Training’s Royal Naval Air Engineering and Survival Equipment School, the candidates spent a week within HMS Sultan practising various engineering techniques including using Hand Skills Trainers and honing their metal fabrication techniques.

Martin, who was nominated by eighteen international experts as Chief Expert for the last International Finals in Kazan, Russia and again for next year’s competition said: “It’s fantastic to be here again at HMS Sultan, particularly during NAW, which offers an excellent opportunity to remind young people that there are other options available to them at college and school. Not everyone has to go down the route of academia and you can go down the vocational route instead.

Being at Sultan again reinforces the success that the UK had at the last International Finals in Kazan, where UK achieved Gold and beat Russia, on their own turf, and also China and it’s important to emphasise to young people that doing an apprenticeship can have its own awards, making them more employable with something extra on their CV.

Being here during NAW is an excellent move on from raising the profile of apprenticeships at WorldSkills UK Live, the biggest display of vocational apprenticeships, many of which are in the engineering field, which is important for promoting the STEM initiative, as supported by the British Government. Indeed, the Royal Navy always compete at the nationals and always do well. In fact, in 2019 the Royal Navy achieved Gold in Mechanical engineering, which is an outstanding result and a true reflection of the training and the skills and opportunities offered to young people within the military.”