Rebuilding through skills
In the aftermath of the Second World War, Europe lay in ruins. Cities had been flattened; industries destroyed. Millions of young people faced an uncertain future.
In 1950, Spain and Portugal staged a vocational skills competition. It was a modest affair – a handful of young people, a small number of skills, two countries testing whether technical excellence might forge the kind of connection that politics had failed to build.
What began as an experiment between neighbours became something larger: a movement built on the idea that skill transcends borders, and that young people with skills can rebuild what conflict destroys.
Francisco Albert Vidal played a key role in the early development of the Competitions, contributing to their organization and gradual expansion.
After joining the Escuela Virgen de la Paloma in Madrid in 1946, a central location for the first Competitions, he became closely involved in their coordination, first as Secretary of the Organizing Committee and later as President of the organization from 1983 to 1993.
Francisco Albert Vidal in a huddle. WSI_0168. Albert Vidal’s family.
Olivetti Lettera 32 typewriter. Albert Vidal wrote speeches and letters on this portable typewriter as he worked for nearly 50 years to promote WorldSkills’ work and mission. WSI_0134. The Francisco Albert Vidal family, Spain.
In the early years, building international participation required sustained outreach and coordination. Correspondence with other countries, including reports and letters prepared on Vidal’s typewriter, now part of the WorldSkills Museum, formed part of this process.
The first Competition in 1950 was modest, but through these efforts — and the involvement of others across participating countries — the initiative developed progressively into an international movement.
We have overcome many obstacles, made great efforts, and even accepted significant moral and financial sacrifices. Yet, we must also acknowledge that, despite the challenges and limitations, we have achieved a great deal – perhaps not everything we dreamed of, but enough to be satisfied with the solid foundation we’ve laid for the benefit of working youth worldwide.
Francisco Albert Vidal, in his farewell speech
Today, the highest-scoring competitor at each WorldSkills Competition receives the Albert Vidal Award in his honour.
From enemies to friends: Madrid, 1953
By 1953, the Competition had expanded to five nations. Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain, and Portugal sent Competitors to Madrid. Among them were nations recently at war – France and Germany – competing side by side less than a decade after hostilities ceased.
The German delegation was 22 strong. All the Competitors came from the industrial city of Wuppertal, braving snowdrifts as they crossed the Pyrenees in a new Mercedes bus.
Karl Heinz Trott was among them. His scrapbook, carefully assembled with photographs, tickets, and handwritten notes, records the experiences of someone who understood he was living through a historic moment.
A page from Karl Heinz Trott’s scrapbook. WSI_1580 Karl Heinz Trott’s sons, Germany.
A life changing event
Klaus Etzel was a teenager when he joined the German delegation. His diary captures the mixture of apprehension and excitement of young people from countries recently at war, meeting as fellow craftspeople. One entry ends: “I will never ever forget this adventure.”
A page from Klaus Etzel’s scrapbook. WSI_1583 Klaus Etzel, Germany.
Edgar Stengel, another German Competitor, recalled in a 2020 interview that the experience had been life-changing. It was a crash course in skills and friendship beyond borders.
A businessman and his son
Also present in Madrid in 1953 were Frederick Hill and his son Douglas, who had travelled independently from Canterbury (United Kingdom) after learning about the Competition. Douglas, then 17 and an apprentice, was not an official participant, but brought his own loom on which the organizers allowed him to demonstrate his skills informally. He was later presented with a commemorative medal in recognition of his participation.
For Frederick Hill, witnessing young people from different nations working alongside each other was transformative. He became one of the movement’s early champions. Over the following years, he personally financed British teams, his commitment recorded in album pages labelled simply “Fred’s team.” The United Kingdom’s first official participation came in 1955.
Hill at his loom-making workshop in England, where he taught many apprentices, circa 1950s. WSI_1789 Douglas Hill, United Kingdom.
Try not to best one another but do try to understand one another, to appreciate each other, to get to know each other in this great opportunity of friendly rivalry. For it is upon youth that the future of the world will depend, the new world is yours to inherit.”
Frederick Hill, speaking to apprentices in Tokyo, 1970
Pioneers like Frederick and Douglas Hill embodied a vision that lives on today in every young person who steps onto the global stage for skills — not simply to participate, but to connect, learn, and ultimately build a better world.
A culture of excellence and friendship
Over 75 years, WorldSkills developed something no formal structure could mandate: a shared culture that transcends languages and borders. It emerged through rituals – a flag raised at an Opening Ceremony, a pin exchanged between Competitors, a medal design carrying the host nation’s story. These small gestures created belonging, turning strangers into a community united by craft, mutual respect, and the pursuit of excellence.
The flag and the founding
In 1956, representatives from ten countries – Spain, Portugal, France, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy, Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland, and the Netherlands – signed a constitution and formally established the International Vocational Training Organization, the IVTO.
The IVTO flag. The flag features the IVTO’s logo of a globe nestled within a gear topped by a flame and the initials of the organization in English, French, German, and Spanish. WSI_1615 WorldSkills International.
Medal awarded in Gas Welding, 8th International Vocational Training Competition 1959, Modena. WSI_0256 WorldSkills International.
The early Competitions between Spain and Portugal now had a legal structure, a set of rules, and a democratic process. The IVTO set out to improve vocational training, facilitate the exchange of ideas between nations, and encourage young people to experience each other’s cultures.
The flag became the visible symbol of that shared endeavour. Carried at Opening Ceremonies and displayed at Competition venues, it continues to represent a commitment to young people and to the value of skilled work.
Moments of glory: A medal for every Competition
Since 1950, every WorldSkills Competition has produced its own award – designed by the host, reflecting the culture and era in which it was created.
In the early years, winners were presented with trophies rather than medals. It was later, from the Competition in Modena, that medals were formally introduced as the standard recognition for excellence.
Taken individually, each is an artefact of its time. Together, they form a visual history of the movement itself.
As the Competitions grew and moved to new continents, medal design became more ambitious – evolving from the plain, standardised medals of the early Madrid editions to designs incorporating national symbols, local craftsmanship, and increasingly sophisticated production techniques. From Busan 1978 to Lyon 2024, each medal represents a young person at the peak of their ability, recognized for excellence.
Trophy from the first international event in Madrid in which Spain competed against Portugal. WSI_3057. Joan Arsequell Callejas, Spain.
47th WorldSkills Competition, Lyon 2024 – Gold medal. WSI_1922. WorldSkills International.
The WorldSkills Museum includes objects whose significance outweighs their size. Commemorative stamps issued by host nations – Japan’s delicate watercolours for Osaka 1985, bold graphic designs from European hosts – signalled that a country considered the Competition important enough to mark on its postage. These stamps carried skills excellence into homes and offices worldwide.
WSI_0285. WorldSkills International.
Pins tell a different story. At WorldSkills events, lanyards worn by participants are often heavy with badges representing countries, skills, and Competitions. The tradition of exchanging pins is one of the movement’s most enduring customs: part introduction, part gift, part proof of presence.
You can imagine arriving there and not knowing anybody and having to pave your way and get involved. Then suddenly you find out just how easy it is to work with people at WorldSkills. That’s why we talk about WorldSkills as a family. No matter how much work it is or how little sleep you end up getting, every two years you can’t wait to get back to see your family. And that’s how it goes.”
Andre Vermeulen
A clothing pin from the International Vocational Training Competition, Munich 1973. WSI_2427. Toni Mevissen, Germany.
A pin from the International Vocational Training Competition, Duisburg 1961. WSI_2571. Dermot O’Rourke, Ireland.
Apprenticeship as a life-changing path
For the young people who competed – often travelling abroad for the first time, many from backgrounds where university was not an option – the experience of a WorldSkills Competition was often transformative. They met new, like-minded people and discovered the value of their skill in the world beyond their workshop and their community.
Peter Walsh: a ladder to a new life
In 1957, Ireland’s Peter Walsh was selected to represent his country in Joinery at the Competition in Madrid. His split ladder won first place.
When Walsh returned home, he was offered a new job at seven times his previous salary. The Competition had not changed his ability; it had revealed it to a wider world.
His story has been echoed many times since. WorldSkills does not teach excellence – it reveals it and gives it a stage.
Recollections of Peter Walsh. WSI_2144. WorldSkills Ireland.
Encarnación Molina: the first woman to win gold
WorldSkills’ first female Gold medal winner. WSI_2311. Encarnación Molina Moreno, Spain
In 1964, the Competition rules were changed to allow women to compete, a landmark initiative led by Germany. A hairdressing demonstration featuring women was included at the 1966 Competition in Utrecht, but it was not until 1967 that women competed for medals.
At least eight women competed in Hairdressing, Engineering Drawing, Tailoring, and Sheet Metal Work in Madrid that year. Five won medals.
Spain’s Encarnación Molina took gold in Women’s Hairdressing – the first female gold medallist in the movement’s history.
She had already broken new ground. She trained at the School of Industrial Mastery in Madrid, one of the first institutions in the city to offer official diplomas up to mastery level.
After winning gold, she became a trainer, helped develop course curricula, and later co-authored a multilingual dictionary of hairdressing.
A year later, the breakthrough continued. Switzerland’s Silvia Felix, just 19, won gold in Cabinetmaking at the 1968 Competition in Bern.
Silvia Felix on the podium at 17th International Vocational Training Competition, Bern 1968. WSI_0210. Swiss Skills
Find out more about the women pioneers that first entered WorldSkills Competitions.
The telegram
Among the personal artefacts in the collection is a telegram from Donal Cooper, sent in excitement after winning the junior Joinery category in 1962. His prize – an all-expenses trip to London and a tool chest from a woodworkers’ union – reflected how Competition could transform a young apprentice’s prospects at the start of their career.
Donal Cooper’s excited telegram following his win in the junior Joinery category, 1962. WSI_2185. Michael Casserly, Ireland
Growing across continents
In its early decades, WorldSkills was largely a European affair. As the movement grew, new Members joined and new regions hosted Competitions. Each country brought its own priorities and approaches, reflecting the different ways skills were taught and valued by different cultures.
Attendees at a ceremony, 19th International Vocational Training Competition, Tokyo 1970. WSI_0421. SENAI São Paulo, Brazil
Tokyo, 1970: the biggest leap
The 1970 Competition in Tokyo marked a major shift. It was the first held outside Europe and signalled the movement’s growing international reach.
Japan later hosted again in Osaka (1985) and Shizuoka (2007), and will host again in 2028.
Busan, 1978: a shift
When Korea hosted the Competition in Busan in 1978, the results marked a clear shift. Korea won 31 medals, including 22 gold.
This reflected long-term investment in education and vocational training. WorldSkills provided an international benchmark against which that progress could be measured.
Andre Vermeulen
Andre Vermeulen’s involvement with WorldSkills began unexpectedly in 1995 when, at the last minute, he was selected as South Africa’s Technical Delegate for the Competition in Lyon. South Africa was emerging from apartheid with limited resources, but Vermeulen secured sponsorship from his employer and made the journey.
“That was a great experience,” he later recalled. “I fell in love with WorldSkills immediately.” What struck him most was how accessible the community was. “You can imagine arriving there and not knowing anybody and having to pave your way. Then suddenly you find out just how easy it is to work with people at WorldSkills.”
Over the following decades, Vermeulen held many volunteer roles and became a key figure in the movement’s expansion into Africa. In 2018, he helped establish the first WorldSkills Africa Competition in Kigali, Rwanda. “Starting with nothing and building something meaningful was both challenging and exhilarating,” he remembers. “That’s what WorldSkills does. It pushes countries out of their comfort zones and shows them what’s possible.”
An identity that continues to evolve
The first International Vocational Training Competition took place in 1950, marking the beginning of the movement we now know as WorldSkills. In the years that followed, the organization — then named the International Vocational Training Organization (IVTO) — grew from that founding competition into a formal international body.
Since then, the organization has evolved significantly: its name, its scale, and the range of skills have all developed. Yet the central idea remains unchanged: that skills matter, and that young people deserve recognition for excellence.
A new name
The transition from IVTO to WorldSkills reflected a broader ambition: to expand from running Competitions to shaping how skills are understood and valued globally.
What has changed
Early test projects were drawn by hand and shared on paper.
Brooch, Jewellery Test Project, 1970. Designed by Reginald Hill. WSI_2419b-b. Robin Kyte, United Kingdom.
A brooch design for the Jewellery in 1970, carefully drafted by Reginald Hill, represents the analogue era of competition planning.
Bricklaying Test Project, WorldSkills São Paulo 2015. WSI_2417. WorldSkills International
By 2015, test projects had become digital but remained culturally grounded. The test project in Bricklaying from WorldSkills São Paulo 2015 featured a brick wall incorporating the word “Brasil” and a floating football — celebrating the host nation’s passion.
The tools have changed. The standard of excellence has not.
Jenny Shackleton: from Competitions to global standards
Behind WorldSkills’ evolution from Competition Organizer to international thought leader was a decade-long transformation led by Jenny Shackleton, who served as Standards and Assessment Advisor from 2013 to 2023.
When Jenny arrived at WorldSkills, she saw a fundamental challenge. “WorldSkills already knew it needed to embed workplace standards and benchmarks into the Competition,” she recalls. “Without them, decisions around excellence were being left to competing ideas or subjective opinion.”
What followed was a comprehensive overhaul. Jenny led the development of the WorldSkills Occupational Standards (WSOS), a framework that aligned skills competitions with real-world industry expectations.
“It became very clear, very quickly, that skills competitions had to be about workplace readiness,” she explains. “That meant the standard had to be occupational – technically, and more broadly through transversal skills.”
The impact extended far beyond Competitions. The WSOS brought WorldSkills into strategic alignment with UNESCO, the European Union, the ILO, and other global bodies. Standards developed for WorldSkills Competitions now underpin national training systems and inform international TVET policy.
Jenny’s message to WorldSkills in its 75th year reflects both pride and urgency: “Believe you are 75 years young and not 75 years old. Remember the post-war strong sense of purpose that was the origin of the organization. Look for your energy so together you can ensure that WorldSkills stays relevant, useful, and valuable.”
The Special Edition
In 2022, WorldSkills held a Special Edition across multiple cities worldwide following pandemic disruption. 62 skill competitions took place across 26 cities.
It demonstrated the organization’s ability to adapt while maintaining its commitment to Competitors.
“WorldSkills already knew it needed to embed workplace standards and benchmarks into the Competition. Without them, decisions around excellence were being left to competing ideas or subjective opinion.”
Jenny Shackleton