The Competencies Conference: Future Directions in Education and Credentialing in Professional Psychology was organized around eight competency-focused work groups, as well as work groups on specialties and the assessment of competence. A diverse group of psychologists participated in this multisponsored conference. After describing the background and structure of the conference, this article reviews the common themes that surfaced across work groups, with attention paid to the identification, training, and assessment of competencies and competence. Recommendations to advance competency-based education, training, and credentialing in professional psychology are discussed. This is one of a series of articles published together in this issue of the Journal of Clinical Psychology. Several other articles that resulted from the Competencies Conference will appear in Professional Psychology: Research and Practice and The Counseling Psychologist.

What is professional competence and how should it be assessed? Professionalism in psychology requires the habitual and judicious use of knowledge and skills as well as ongoing assessment. The authors synthesize discussions of the Assessment of Competence Workgroup that met during the Competencies Conference: Future Directions in Education and Credentialing in Professional Psychology. The workgroup discussed how to establish a culture of competence and elaborated principles and considerations necessary for the development of methods to assess competence. Principles identified include maintaining a developmental perspective, practicing multicultural sensitivity, and conducting formative and summative, career-long assessment. Recommendations are offered that support a "culture shift" from the current levels of competence assessment to an embracing of continual assessment of professional knowledge and skills over the life span.

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