Competency Based Education and Training

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Competency based education and training 10 CBET. Although it would be an exaggeration to claim that it has been universally adopted in the USA, there is considerable evidence that the movement has had pervasive effects in many parts of the diverse system of that nation. It is widely agreed that competency based education has its roots in teacher education (Burke et al., 1975; Elam, 1971; Houston, 1980). Later developments extended applications of the idea to elementary schools, to minimum competency standards for high school graduation and to vocational education. There has also been some interest in the professions—particularly in the health related field. Examples of such applications will be discussed later in the chapter but much of the conceptual/theoretical background arises out of early work done in teacher education. CBET and teacher education The 1960s were tumultuous times in education in the USA. Extensive demands for curriculum reform, large investment of federal funds in curriculum development and a concurrent dissatisfaction with teacher training were features of the climate when CBET emerged. Calls for greater relevance in the training of teachers (Conant, 1963; Koerner, 1963) and for a more visible accountability to the taxpayer were prominent. The genesis of CBET, as a distinct response to societal changes, was fuelled by the US Office of Education in 1968 when it gave ten grants to colleges and universities to develop model training programmes for the preparation of elementary school teachers. These models had certain characteristics including ‘the precise specification of competences or behaviours to be learned, the modularisation of instruction, evaluation and feedback, personalisation, and field experience’ (Swanchek and Campbell, 1981). The models concentrated on pupil achievement and, as Swanchek and Campbell note: ‘for many it easily and simplistically followed that there must be a connection between teacher competence and pupil learning’. Moreover, it followed from this that only competent teachers must be allowed to enter the profession and that teacher preparation and certification should be centred on producing and verifying competence. Politicians and State Departments then pressed for certification policies which were intended to effect school improvement through the reform of teacher education. There were also many within the teacher training system who supported reform and were keen to establish a clear cut movement for change. To assist the educational community to evaluate the potential of competency/performance based teacher education, the American Association of Colleges of Teacher Education published a ‘state-of-the-art’ paper. This served to clarify and establish the characteristics of PBTE (Elam, 1971). Thus, by the early 1970s it seems that competency based teacher education had become almost a self-sustaining movement, apparently carrying a great deal of face validity as far as some administrators, politicians and state certification agencies were concerned (Lindsey, 1976). Teacher over-supply made the quest for quality more urgent and permitted a greater stringency in applying certification procedures. CBET was seen by some State departments as the means of creating and enforcing the standards so long talked about, but, until then, not politically acceptable or enforceable in a period of teacher shortage and institutional unrest (Hertzberg, 1976). Hasty mandating of CBET as a required approach to teacher training and certification created a strong reaction from many higher education institutions. There were those with
Competence based education and training 11 philosophical objections, (Smith, 1975; Broudy, 1981) and others who were more concerned with the pace rather than the direction of change (Swanchek and Campbell, 1981; Spady, 1977). Apart from the threats to institutional autonomy and academic freedoms there were other, practical, issues to be faced, since the mandating of CBET as a sole system for the education and training of teachers has profound implications for administration, resources and teaching methods. The rhetoric of CBET outpaced implementation in the early 1970s; it was an untried system, albeit with a rational appeal, but still unproven. There was little or no research evidence to show superiority over other forms of teacher preparation. A number of reviews of the existing research on the relationships between teacher behaviour and pupil performance showed little evidence of positive, causative links (Huff, 1976; Heath and Neilson, 1974). The lack of a sound research base was, justifiably, seen as a serious drawback; though the same charge could have been made and upheld in regard to more conventional kinds of teacher training. Reactions against hasty mandating and over-zealous promotion of CBET tended to slow down the pace of change. Legal suits (e.g., in the State of Texas) showed it to be unconstitutional to mandate a single form of teacher education. States were therefore constrained to take a more consultative stance and to work with, and through, the universities and colleges to develop systems acceptable to administrators, politicians and teacher educators. The reaction of HE institutions to the challenges posed by CBET was, of course, varied. But, with substantial federal and state funding available for research and development (and earmarked for CBET) many university and college departments embraced the concept and set about the redesign of programmes. The US Office of Education continued to support the promotion of CBET through a National Consortium of Competency Based Education Centres (Burke et al., 1975). The consortium did valuable work in coordinating activities across the nine major centres engaged in USOE funded development work and assisted the dissemination of the concept. Burke et al., note that ‘One of the continuing problems faced by institutions attempting to re-do their teacher education programmes in the direction of more competency based activities is the general lack of definition and criteria for just what constitutes a competency based teacher education programme’ (p. i). The National Consortium of CBE Centres therefore set out to develop a set of ‘Criteria for Describing and Assessing Competency Based Programmes’. These criteria still look surprisingly fresh in regard to current trends in the UK. They are potentially applicable across the fields of education and training so are reproduced in Figure 2.1 in a short format (the extended format includes an evaluation instrument based on the criteria). Figure 2.1 Criteria for Describing and Assessing Competency Based Programmes (Source—Burke et al., 1975) Competency Specifications 1 Competences are based on an analysis of the professional role(s) and/or a theoretical formulation of professional responsibilities.
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Page 5 and 6: UK The Falmer Press, Falmer House,
Page 7 and 8: List of Abbreviations ABCTG Adminis
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Page 11 and 12: Chapter 1 Introduction John Burke A
Page 13 and 14: Introduction 3 The role of the NCVQ
Page 15 and 16: Introduction 5 Alison Wolf addresse
Page 17 and 18: Introduction 7 importance of implem
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Page 27 and 28: LEADERSHIP CLUSTER * USE OF SOCIALI
Page 33 and 34: ©Bob Mansfield, 1989 Chapter 3 Com
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Page 45 and 46: Can competence and knowledge mix? 3
Page 57 and 58: ©Lindsay Mitchell, 1989 Chapter 5
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The emerging model of vocational ed
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and training and in particular the
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It includes those qualities of pers
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The employment department/training
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Curriculum implications 85 Thirdly,
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Curriculum implications 87 since th
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Curriculum implications 89 competen
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©Wirral Metropolitan College, 1989
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An achievement-led college 93 4 Per
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An achievement-led college 95 revie
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Chapter 10 Attitudinal change in FE
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Attitudinal change in FE in respons
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It has been a lot of hard work. I
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Towards the implementation of compe
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Initial teacher training and the NV
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have found the most pertinent. Her
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Emerging issues 165 Firstly, the NC
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Emerging issues 167 Technical chara
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Emerging issues 169 strategy for im
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Emerging issues 171 the balance of
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Emerging issues 173 establish the f
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Notes on contributors 175 those asp
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Notes on contributors 177 examining
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Index 179 NTI and 55-6 occupational
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motivation 190 and VET 96 learning
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elevant knowledge and 192 specifica
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Competency Based Education and Training

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