Competency Based Education and Training

©Bob Mansfield, 1989
Chapter 3
Competence and standards
Bob Mansfield
Introduction
UK Vocational Education and Training is based on a model of development which
reverses previous approaches. Rather than design curricula to meet assumed needs,
representative occupational bodies identify ‘occupational standards’ which are clear and
precise statements which describe what effective performance means in distinct
occupational areas. The standards are then used to develop ‘new’ vocational
qualifications and the assessment which underpins them; plus learning programmes
which deliver the achievements identified in the standards.
This chapter argues that occupational standards are based, implicitly, on a concept of
competence, which may be either narrow or broad in focus. The consequence of ‘narrow’
or task based standards will be a standards framework which will not meet the needs of
the modern economy—we need, instead, a broad concept of competence to drive
standards and associated assessment and learning systems.
Competence and standards
The concepts of competence and standards are the keystones of Vocational Education and
Training (VET). If we are clear about what we mean by competence, we can derive
associated standards which describe what competence means in specific occupations and
work roles. Standards, thus developed, are incorporated into vocational qualifications,
and inform the programmes of learning which deliver the standards. Assessment
processes are used to match the performance of individuals to the standards.
This whole process is the basis of VET policy—to drive the system from the starting
point of competence and standards. This process replaces what is imagined to be the
former situation—where learning and assessment drives the system, based on curricula
which are descriptions of what people ought to know or be able to do.
This chapter makes three points:
• Views of competence vary—for some it is a broad concept which is to do with
occupational roles. For others it is narrowly focused on the routine aspects of work
activity, and veers towards the ‘inputs’ of knowledge, skills and understanding’ which
are attributes of individuals. A crucial issue is which view of competence is consistent
with the strategic aims of the economy?