The Southern Heat - the day's events

Teams from 24 colleges around the Southern region competed in 6 different challenges, in the hope of winning a coveted place at the national finals in Leicestershire at the end of June.

This physically demanding competition is ideally suited to those preparing to enter one of the uniformed services. The competition tested each competitors’ skills in important aspects of the job role.

Competition Entry Requirements

The competition was intended for those undertaking a relevant programme of study at level 3 (BTEC, S/NVQ, AS/A2 Public Services)

Timetable of the day

About the competition

Each college entered one team comprising of 8 competitors of which 2 must be female.

The uniformed services competition provided competitors with an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in important aspects of job role in the following physically demanding tasks:

Stand 1 – Service Entry Level Fitness Test

The Army Physical Training Corp College ran this event and close attention was paid to technique and quality of the Press-Ups and Sit-Ups and where applicable points deducted for either incorrect or incomplete exercises. The stand was scrutinised by an independent judge in order to assure fair scoring by the Army Physical Training Team.

This stand required each team to put forward six competitors and two teams competed at the same time. The test was not the full entry level test, but included the following three elements – Bleep Test, Sit-Ups and Press-Ups. Points were awarded for each element in the following way – Totals for Press-Ups and Sit-Ups and an average score for the bleep test for all six competitors in the team. The time allowed for this event was 40 minutes and included time for competitors to change into sports kit.

Each team was fully briefed by the Army prior to the test on the correct techniques.. The bleep test was the standard 20 metre shuttle run test starting with the initial time of 9 seconds per 20 metre shuttle. At the end of the test all scores were added together and the average level was taken. In the event of injury during any of the three elements, the team had to continue with their remaining members.

Stand 2 - Mobile Military Climbing Wall

This stand required competitors to ascend and descend the climbing walls as many times as possible in a 15 minute period. Each team were allowed to nominate six members for this stand and points were awarded for each successful climb and descent. Extra points were awarded by the controlling services if more difficult climbs were attempted and completed. There were two walls on site for the competition run by the Royal Marines and the Army. Competitors were required to wear compulsory safety equipment and infringement resulted in points being deducted or the team being suspended from the stand.

Points were awarded in the following way – 1 point for the easy climb and 2 points for the difficult climb. Total climbs were counted and points awarded at the end of the competition in order. The stand was scrutinised by one of the independent judges to ensure correct and fair scoring.

Stand 3 – Core Units Written Test

This stand was a written test based on the six core units. Each team entered all eight members for this stand. The test was formatted by Edexcel and delivered directly to World Skills UK prior to the event. No teams had access to the exam paper until the day of the competition.

During the test competitors were allowed to confer and there was a time limit of 20 minutes for the test. The test comprised of a mixture of multiple choice questions and short written answers.

Marking of the tests was carried out by one of the independent judges and a representative from World Skills UK. Edexcel provided answers and guidance information for the judges.

Stand 4 – Command and Teamwork Task

This stand was run and scored by the Royal Engineers Display Team. The scenario for this stand was based on an Improvised Explosive Device stop and search exercise. This involved searching occupants and vehicles in suspected movements of Improvised Explosive Devices in overseas operations. Competitors were fully briefed by the Royal Engineers.

Competitors were not expected to remove any parts from the vehicle or manoeuvre the vehicle. The stand was run in a closed area to avoid unfair advantage by other teams observing the scenario. Members of the Royal Engineers assessed and scored this stand based on their observations and the compulsory elements. An independent judge moderated and advised on appealed decisions with reference to scoring. The stand brief was sent directly to World Skills UK prior to the competition and fully risk assessed by the Armed Forces.

The brief for this stand could be varied by up to 30% by the visiting service. Teams were not notified of any changes prior to the competition. The core element of this stand involved six competitors. Each team selected a commander for this task who gave the operation brief by the Royal Engineers. Further elements included teamwork and communication, following the command task accurately, observing correct procedures, team safety, area assessment and correct detention and evacuation. The time allowed for this event was 30 minutes.

Stand 5 – Emergency Service Casualty Extraction

Under advisement from Wiltshire Fire service. This stand allowed all 8 members of the team to participate. This is a standard service practice for causality extrication and is an accepted national fire service operation.

This stand was run by members of the Fire Service and a representative from one of the Paramedic Services.

The scenario included incident command, safe cordoning of the incident area, vehicle stabilisation, accessing vehicle safely, casualty welfare and safety, casualty stabilisation from within the vehicle, treatment of injuries, extraction of casualties and evacuation to ambulance.

Points for this stand were awarded jointly by both services, based on observation and correct procedures being used by competitors. Each team were briefed at the start of this stand about the scenario and on health and safety procedures. Safety equipment was provided.

An independent judge moderated any appealed decisions. As with stand 4 this scenario included teamwork and command and additional points were awarded at the discretion of the judges from the services. This stand could also be varied by up to 30% prior to the event at the discretion of the Fire or Paramedic Services.

This stand was a closed event in order to prevent unfair advantage being gained by observation from other teams. The time allowed for this event was 30 minutes.

Marking and assessment

The competition was judged by a panel of members from the Uniformed Public Services and a representative form World Skills UK. The judges’ decisions was independently moderated and quality assured before being confirmed. The judges were briefed on assessment procedures prior to the competition.

Below outlines the broad allocation of marks:

Each Stand carried a maximum total of 20 Points

Stand 1 and 2 were objectively marked.

Stands 3 – 5 carried 15 objective marks and 5 subjective marks.

Competition rules

Scrutinisers observed stands and judges at all times to ensure no infringement of the rules took place. Judges on each stand provided instructions and a Health and Safety brief before each task. Points were awarded using the professional judgement on the aspects indicated on the scoring sheets. Judges imposed the following rules:

All competitors must follow the instructions and rule guidelines provided by the judges on each stand.

At least one female member must participate in each competition stand.

If a team makes a minor infringement or accidental breach of health and safety guidelines the judge will stop the task and provide re-instruction, then ask the team or individual member to verbally acknowledge they have understood before allowing the team to carry on.

A team will be allowed a maximum of 2 minor infringements per stand. A third will result in disqualification from the stand.

If a team commit an infringement that obtains unfair gains which is not correctable during the task i.e. taking short cuts on a run or act in an unsporting manner. The judge will stop the activity and disqualify the team from that stand.

If a team or member act in a deliberate and dangerous manner i.e. breach health and safety guidelines endanger others, the judges will stop the task and disqualify the team from the entire event. If an individual team member acts in a dangerous manner, the team will be disqualified from the task but allowed to continue in the other stands as long as they have 6 competitors.

If a team deliberately infringes on another team they will be disqualified from the entire event. The infringed team (whether intentional or accidental) will receive compensation which could involve them restarting the task.

Contact details

Paul Holland and Mark Walker provided technical advice throughout the competition.

For more information about what happened on the day email: paul.holland@newcollege.ac.uk or mwalk@blackpool.ac.uk

For general information about WorldSkills competitions please contact the WorldSkills UK contact centre:

Free phone: 0800 612 0742

Email: worldskillsuk@ukskills.org.uk

www.worldskillsuk.org