Competence

1. Nordic Conference on sustainable adult education and learning in organisational settingsAssessment and transformation of competencesBjarne WahlgrenAarhus University2019-05-13

2. Competence • “The proven ability to use knowledge, skills and personal, social and/or methodological abilities, in work or study situations and in professional and personal development.” (European Commission, 2008)

3. Competence “Professional competence is seen as a generic, integrated and internalized capability to deliver sustainable effective (worthy) performance (including problem solving, realizing innovation, and create transformation) in a certain professional domain, job, role, organizational context, and task situation” (Mulder, 2014/17)

4. Competence: the ability to accomplish required tasks and roles to a standard in a context • The ability to perform • To a standard • In a context First statement: Competence includes acting

5. An example of competence: university level Competence in evaluation: “The student must have capabilities to plan, implement, and accomplish evaluation in the educational system - unassisted and in cooperation with others” (from the study program at Aarhus University)

6. An example: vocational education Twoout of 26 competences for obtaining qualifications as a chef (cook): • Compose and elaborate recipes,prepare different kinds of meals based on the seasons ingredients – with a beginningcreativity • The student must be flexible and be able to cooperate with colleges, customers and other persons involved, independentof the ethnic background of those (From the study plan to Chef drafted by The Danish Ministry of Education)

7. Competence includes general (generic) competences • E.g. flexibility, creativity • E.g. personal and social competences • E.g. tolerance Second statement: competence is complex

8. Requirements for a qualified assessment • What is expected to be done? (The content) • What is good performance? (The level) • In which context does the performance take place?

9. An example: assessment of social competence • The content: communicate, cooperate, act with social understanding, work independently • The level: beginner, trained, experienced • The context: a specific situation in a kindergarden, a garage, or a care home

10. Assessment of social competence: three levels • Beginner: The young person is able to provide food for the children and is able to handle simple conflicts, e.g.: ‘please remove your feet from the table’! • Trained: The young person is seated among children, providing food for the children while reacting to various situations at the table, such as table manners, whether the children drink and eat sufficiently. • Experienced: the young person is responsible and can accomplish the tasks that are included in a meal, i.e. providing food for the children, attending to the children’s table manners, taking care that the children drink and eat sufficiently and solving conflicts, among all children within the group. (Aarkrog & Wahlgren, 2017)

11. Social-pedagogic competence How good do you think you are at: • Giving feedback? • Guide a student you don’t like? • Talk with the student about personal problems? • Spot a student with problems? • Handle conflicts between the students? • Create social relations among the students? • Read the social interaction in the classroom? (Wahlgren, Mariager-Anderson, Sørensen, 2016)

12. Why assessment? • Assessors have tacit knowledge • However, this knowledge is not the same • An actual example: a driving test • The difference between inspectors (the assessors) was great • 25% to 75 % who passed the test • Discussing quality improves the quality

13. Competence based education • The learning situation must include practice • The learning situation must integrate knowledge and acting • The teaching must qualify the students to transfer scholastic knowledge to practical situations • The learning situation must include reflections on the transformation process (meta-learning)

14. Assessment of competence and sustainability? • A sustainable training can be used and improved while it is used. The learner must be able to act competently – in a long lasting perspective. The learner must be competent. • It requires that the educational system is able to assess competence. Do the students really develop competence? • The students must learn to be able to transfer knowledge and skills to practice in a meta-learning perspective.

15. References • Aarkrog, V. & Wahlgren, B. (2015). Assessment of Prior Learning in Adult Vocational Education and Training. International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, 2(1), 39-38. • Wahlgren, B. & Aarkrog, V. (2015). Validity in Assessment of Prior Learning. US-China Education Review A, 5(10), 672-681. • Wahlgren, B., Mariager-Anderson, K. & Sørensen, S. H. (2016). Expanding the traditional role of the adult education teacher – The development of relational competences and actions. Teaching and Teacher Education, 60, 303-311. • Aarkrog, V. & Wahlgren, B. (2017). Developing Schemas for Assessing Social Competence among Unskilled Young People. International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, 4(1), 47-68.