Reference Framework for Planning Learning and Evaluation Activities

From Learning to Competency
1
Vocational training students enroll in a competency-based program and participate in a coherent
training process involving learning which, for the most part, is new to them. What do competencybased
programs, coherent training processes and new learning mean to them How is learning
constructed and what is the students’ role in it
Learning is a personal process of assimilation based on cognitive, affective and psychomotor
resources. It is influenced by socioeconomic and cultural environments and by social interactions.
Renald Legendre defines it as:
A dynamic, internal process of acquisition or change, which causes a person, motivated by a
desire and a will to develop, to construct new, coherent and durable representations of
reality based on his or her perception of materials, the stimulations in his or her environment,
the interaction between information internal and external to the topic and personal
awareness. 4
When the targeted learning is a competency, what is a personal approach based on resources Where
does the competency fit in with learning and with the student How is it developed The following
pages contain answers to these questions.
1.1 Resources to support learning
To learn new things, students rely on what they are, on what they already know and do. They invest in
their own learning, using their aptitudes and abilities. They are able to add to their store of knowledge,
skills, strategies, attitudes and so on, and to do so they must mobilize their internal resources.
Learning is the result of a series of operations or decisions that are called into play depending on the
situation at hand and the adaptation required. Learners call upon a range of personal resources to
solve problems or to perform tasks methodically. Cognitive, metacognitive, affective, perceptive, social
and psychomotor knowledge, skills, perceptions and attitudes are effectively mobilized in accordance
with the need to learn.
Competencies are acquired using internal resources. Learning is integrated into existing resources in
order to develop the ability to act, allowing the learner to apply knowledge and know-how
(i.e. knowledge, skills, attitudes, strategies, perceptions and so on) in order to take action. This ability
4. Renald Legendre, Dictionnaire actuel de l’éducation, 2nd ed. (Montréal: Guérin, 1993), p. 67 [free translation].
From Learning to Competency 5