Being competent and having ‘competencies’

Abstract

The basic aims of NVCQ are ones which can be fully endorsed. However, it has been envisaged that the notion of 'competence' will provide the required flexibility to enable NCVQ aims to be realised in the new vocational qualifications system. This is not so. In this paper, the distinction between 'having NCVQ competences' and actually being competent is clearly drawn. For instance:1. Theoretical knowledge and understanding is essential to being competent. But scant attention is paid to this in the specification of NCVQ competences. The value of knowledge and understanding is reasserted in this paper.2. Being competent in the workplace usually involves the ability to engage fully in teamwork. But NCVQ actually adopts an individualistic orientation by emphasising personal competences. In fact, the required capacity for teamwork is hardly analysable in individual terms.3. Competences are based on a strictly behavioural analysis. While this looks attractive from the point of view of assessment, it tends to support both the biases above, being individualistic and ignoring relevant mental activity. IntroductionThe basic aims of NVCQ are ones which can be fully endorsed. Developing a set of vocational qualifications which are coherent and interlinked is a project which is both worthwhile and very much needed. A person who is (for instance) a competent architectural technician should indeed be acknowledged to have attained a large proportion of the requirements necessary for full architect status, and ought, in principle, to be able to build on existing attainments without being hampered by artificial educational hurdles. NCVQ values such as the realisation of full personal potential, overcoming the confusion created by the existence of many different awarding bodies, and facilitating access to higher education and the professions via vocational routes are all throughly commendable.

Training for tenants: ‘Citizens’ and the enterprise culture

“…The priority is not for general theoretical knowledge to make wider, more reflective, sense of a situation, but for information or narrower technical knowledge to choose between alternatives or to secure specific 'success' in competitive enterprise. Similarly, Ashworth observes that advocates of the competence model of education treat the role of knowledge and understanding in human accomplishment "in a paltry way", viewing it simply as serving the function of "keeping things going and helping the transfer of skill" (Ashworth, 1992). But 'knowledge' and 'understanding' are not to be reduced to knowledge and understanding of how to fulfil a particular occupational task such as how to take minutes at a tenants' association meeting or to produce publicity material for a tenants' ballot.…”

“…Rather, it is to underline the connections between this training offered under the Section 16 'regime' and Conservative concepts of 'citizenship' and 'enterprise'. However, we shall draw here from a developed critique of the growing prevalence of 'competence' and 'competencies' in British education and training by Ashworth & Saxton (Ashworth & Saxton, 1990;Ashworth, 1992).…”

“…The knowledge required for this level of understanding is not confined to 'knowing how'. Rather, it is an 'interpretative resource' (Ashworth, 1992), enabling people to develop a richer account of the situation, to relate it to other situations, and to identify a fuller range of alternative possibilities.…”

¿Cómo definen los profesionales de enfermería hospitalarios sus competencias asistenciales?

“…Estos atributos incluyen los conocimientos, las habilidades y las actitudes que permiten al profesional tomar las decisiones más adecuadas en cada caso y actuar en consecuencia. El término competencia también significa ámbito de responsabilidad disciplinar o área profesional en el que la ley confiere el derecho a tomar decisiones autónomas [1][2][3] .…”

Competency-Based Education And Shared Academic Freedom For Transformational Education

“…The interface of knowledge and understanding with practical professional skills provides a model for adapting competencies in a variety of contexts (Ashworth, 1992). The author noted that this higher-level thinking is difficult to assess and requires that competency-based assessment include attention to reliability and validity.…”