What contributes to vocational excellence? Characteristics and experiences of competitors and experts in WorldSkills London

Modelling Vocational Excellence (MoVE) International is a WorldSkills Member research initiative
supporting:
• skills improvement and Competition best practice
• international skills benchmarking, and
• promotion of vocational excellence to young people, employers and policy makers.
MoVE International is the inaugural research project for the WorldSkills Foundation and is also
supported by Skills Finland, WorldSkills UK, WorldSkills Australia and the Dusseldorp Skills Forum.
The research team is a partnership between: University of Tampere, Finland; University of Oxford,
UK; and RMIT University, Australia, with support from Deakin University, Australia.
The research initiative sets out to produce outcomes relevant to the interests of its major
stakeholder groups. The data produced by the study offers WorldSkills International and individual
WorldSkills Members a framework for international benchmarking on skills quality, and a window
into the WorldSkills experience for Competitors and Experts. Through the research reports,
WorldSkills Member organizations will also gain access to global data on WorldSkills Competitors
and Experts which may be applied to improve training and professional development. Importantly,
young people are afforded a global voice. In telling their own stories they can share their
experiences with peers, and provide future Competitors with insights into the experience of being
involved in international skill competitions. For WorldSkills International, the data is a source of
promotional material, and may contribute to event and organizational evaluation.
The MoVE research project launches the WorldSkills Foundation’s program of research,
engagement and advocacy. MoVE offers the Foundation an opportunity to influence the global
debate on vocational education and training, and to shift the orientation of VET research away from
a ‘deficit’ framework to one which highlights benefits and opportunities (see section 2.2 for a fuller
explanation of these research orientations).
The outputs of the 2011 MoVE international research project include this global report and case
studies of the Australian, Finnish and British teams that competed at WorldSkills London 2011.