Raising the attractiveness of VET has been on the UK as well as the European agenda for some time, primarily for economic and social development reasons. However, little is known about the role of skills competitions in improving the attractiveness of VET. This study uses the data from 110 individual interviews with WorldSkills competitors and their associates to examine the potential contributions of skills competitions to revitalising VET in the UK.

International skills competitions started in post-WWII Europe. In 1950 the first Skill Olympics were held between Portugal and Spain. This competition has evolved into a global contest known as the WorldSkills Competition (WSC) organised by WorldSkills International (WSI), a non-profit association. Currently, the competition brings together around 1000 young contestants from 53 countries, who gather every two years to compete publicly and demonstrate excellence in more than 40 skill areas. The WSC is recognised by many as the pinnacle of excellence in VET and provide opportunities to better understand the factors that contribute to the development of vocational skills to a high standard and the benefits of acquiring world-class skills. In this way, skills competitions could carry some potential for interrupting the policy cycle that perpetuates the vocational/academic divide.

Attractiveness and parity of esteem are two constructs which are often used with reference to the status of VET in literature. Attractiveness refers to the status of VET in its own right whereas parity of esteem focuses on the relative value of VET compared to academic education. 

Four strategies have been used to promote the parity of esteem between vocational and academic/general education. These are unification, linkages, enrichment, and enhancement (Lasonen, 2010). Unification refers to bringing vocational and general education into a single post-16 education system. Linkages are made by connecting the two routes through a common certification framework, credit recognition and transfer as well as curriculum. Enrichment encourages cooperation between vocational and general/academic institutions to offer integrated courses. Finally, enhancement focuses on the distinctive ethos of vocational education by promoting measures which preserve and reinforce the unique characteristics of VET, such as the high standards of curriculum and pedagogy that lead to good employment, to HE or to improving collaboration with employers (Lasonen, 2010). While the first three strategies assume the improvement of VET status solely in relation to the academic pathway, the fourth strategy focuses on VET status as relatively independent from the academic alternative.

The enhancement strategy has little to do with 'parity' and more to do with the value of the VET in its own right. We separate the enhancement strategy from the rest of the three strategies and use it to serve a broader goal of raising the attractiveness of VET. A good degree of esteem and not parity of esteem needs to be sought, as '"parity of esteem" is probably a chimera; a good degree of esteem, will however, greatly enhance the attractiveness of TVET' (Winch, 2013, p. 96). Those who find VET attractive and acquire a vocational occupation may not necessarily think that socio-economic rewards associated with the vocational pathway are comparable to those that the academic pathway may lead into. VET may be attractive in its own right, for its intrinsic value. It is the enhancement of the attractiveness of VET rather than the establishment of parity of esteem that we are focusing on in this study.

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