Reference Framework for Planning Learning and Evaluation Activities

Essential knowledge and know-how
Knowledge and know-how must be taken into account during the exploration, basic learning, practice
and transfer phases, as well as during evaluation. In support for learning, verifying knowledge and
know-how makes it possible to determine the value of what students have integrated. By incorporating
the knowledge and know-how into their prior learning, students can effectively mobilize them and
transfer them to action. The knowledge and know-how enable students to achieve the desired results,
explain or describe a process, or complete a task. The emphasis on knowledge, skills, attitudes and so
on is often associated with practice: it highlights the importance of useful and applied knowledge and
know-how and establishes relationships between them and occupational tasks. It is important to
remember, however, that knowledge and know-how do not reflect the competency, but that on which it
is based: unless the competency is applied in a task, the knowledge and know-how will be not be
enough for the student to achieve the expected performance level, master the occupational exercise or
make progress.
The evaluation of knowledge and know-how is not enough to judge whether a competency has been
acquired; neither is the sole evaluation of the action. Practices that are not based on solid knowledge
and know-how are just repetitive actions. For example, a musician who is studying musical notation but
who hardly ever plays an instrument will have difficulty finding a job in an orchestra. On the other hand,
knowing three chords on the guitar is not enough to become a professional musician.
At the operational level, the evaluation of knowledge and know-how to support learning and for
certification purposes can be done just as well orally 27 as in writing. But how can the teacher be sure
that the essential knowledge and know-how has been properly integrated and transferred In both
types of evaluation, students are placed in situations in which they must apply the competency by
mobilizing the essential knowledge and know-how, recreating the practice of the trade or occupation in
a setting that resembles the workplace as closely as possible. The teacher should vary the
achievement contexts in order to ensure that the students have acquired the ability to act.
Product
When learning and evaluation focus on the production of an object or the achievement of results, the
situation should resemble an actual occupational situation as closely as possible. The most commonly
used instrument to determine learning, divide a task into subtasks or support evaluation is a checklist
of the items to be taken into consideration. A checklist enables teachers to take into account the
expected results for the different operations.
27. If the evaluation is done orally, however, the teacher must make notes.
44 Planning Activities to Help Students Acquire Competencies