Bailey Lowes with TAFE Wollongong mentor David Baldwin. Photos: Supplied.
Shell Cove trades teacher David Baldwin has taken Wagga Wagga’s rising mechanical engineering star Bailey Lowes under his wing to prepare him to compete against other elite trade talent on the world stage next year.
Bailey, a 21-year-old mechanical fitting apprentice from Temora, is one of 39 apprentices, trainees and young professionals in the national training squad for the 2026 WorldSkills International competition in Shanghai, China next September.
For the next year, Bailey will travel to Wollongong to train under David, a TAFE NSW Wollongong Fitting and Machining head teacher, for what is regarded as the Olympics of vocational excellence.
David is an international skills expert with more than 20 years’ experience in the trade and a decade spent training elite tradespeople in Ireland and Australia.
His history with WorldSkills harks back to his own apprenticeship when he was asked to compete in the national competition.
“I always thought about what it would be like to compete against the best in the world at what you do,” David said.
“Unfortunately, I was too old to compete, so I had to park it, and I thought that opportunity had gone.
“Fast forward 20 years, I was in a teaching role, and the manager I had was involved at WorldSkills Ireland, and he asked me would I be interested in going forward as an expert?”
The Irish-born teacher went on to mentor two international competitors – a bronze medallist in Kazan, Russia in 2019 and Bomaderry’s Michael Bowen to top 10 in Lyon, France last year.
Now, David is guiding Bailey to the global stage.
Bailey first became involved with WorldSkills through TAFE Wagga Wagga, holding six TAFE NSW qualifications, each building on the last.
Speaking from the TAFE Wollongong campus, Bailey said he originally competed in fitting and turning during regionals, achieving gold for fitting and silver for turning.
“Due to the guy that got gold in turning being ineligible to go forward to the national competition, I had to make a decision whether I wanted to pursue fitting or turning,” he said.
“I picked fitting due to the experiences and opportunities that could come.”
Bailey went on to earn bronze at the national WorldSkills championships in Brisbane and was selected for the WorldSkills Australia national training squad, which will travel to Shanghai for the international competition next September.
For David, he sees immense potential in his protege.
Bailey prepares for WorldSkills International.
“What I did like about Bailey and what really drew me to him was his commitment, his attitude and his work ethic,” he said.
“Having somebody that can listen to you and take on your instructions, but also can think under pressure, is huge.
“I can only get him so far in preparation for the competition, but when the whistle goes and the competition starts, he has to be able to think for himself.”
David, who is involved with the WorldSkills skill management team internationally, said the fitting and machinist competition was different to other categories due to covering a broad range of skills.
He said in Shanghai, competitors would make different components over three days from pneumatics, machining and mechanical assembly skillsets, before undertaking a final build that pulled together all the parts made during the three previous days.
Bailey will travel to the Illawarra fortnightly to undergo training with David, a commitment David factored in when selecting to mentor him based on his strong employer and family support.
David said competition was expected to be tough, with competitors from Asia, Brazil and Canada often training full time for two years for a competition.
“These guys are handpicked. They’re almost bred for these competitions,” he said.
David said that was in contrast to Bailey, who was working three days a week, travelling to Wollongong to train, and studying and training after hours.
“The one thing we have is that our guys work in the field day to day, they’re able to deal with a lot of different situations and scenarios, and that’s really what brings it back in our favour,” he said.
“This competition is a blind competition, so they don’t know what they’re going to get each day they go in.
“It’s being able to adapt and deal with different situations, and that’s not something you can train for. You have to learn those things over time.”
David said Bailey’s real-world experience with Goldenfields Water in Wagga maintaining critical water infrastructure was teaching adaptability and problem-solving under pressure.
“Think of the pressure that is on those guys if they have a water system that’s down and thousands of homes are without water,” he said.
“That’s the perfect way of preparing him for a pressurised competition that he will have to deal with in Shanghai next year.”
