Myerscough host APL WorldSkills final national heat

A group of Myerscough College apprentice landscapers took part in the heat to compete for their place in the Association of Professional Landscapers (APL) WorldSkills Landscape Gardening competition finals later this year, completing a number of tasks to a high standard.

The annual WorldSkills UK Live in Birmingham has once again been cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic, but skills competitions have skill been taking place, which aims to act as a development programme, and to help students and apprentices to develop the high-quality that skills employers need to combat the economic impact of Covid-19.

The programmes are designed by industry experts and assess an individual’s employability attributes against set criteria in a competitive timed environment. According to WorldSkills UK, they have a real impact on those taking part, with 90 per cent of previous entrants saying their career progression improved after taking part and 86 per cent stating that their personal and employability skills had improved.  

The finalists also have the opportunity to represent the UK at WorldSkills, known as the “skills Olympics”, which takes place every two years in cities around the world. WorldSkills UK is currently training a squad of apprentices and students to take part in WorldSkills Shanghai 2022. 

Dee Aylett-Smith, Head of National Competitions and Careers, WorldSkills UK said: “We have been working hard with our Competition Organising Partners to ensure that competitions can still be delivered safely and effectively, with all competitions being delivered and assessed in a Covid secure way.

“We are proud of the positive impact that our skills development programmes have on our competitors’ technical, employability and mindset skills and we are looking forward to engaging as many young people as possible, from all backgrounds, with this year’s cycle.”

Good luck to Sarah, Evan, Cameron and Edward in the rest of the competition!

www.worldskillsuk.org