Competency Based Education And Training

John Burke

• Publisher: Routledge
• Year: 2005
• eBook ISBN: 9781135387884
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

A selection of papers from the first symposium devoted to competency based learning held in March 1989. The book provides an historical backdrop for anyone coming new to the study of Competency-Based Education and Training CBET.

Chapter 1: Introduction

John Burke

A ‘quiet revolution' is occurring in Vocational Education and Training. ‘Quiet' because the depth and breadth of change has hardly been noticed outside Further Education, effectively eclipsed by the magnitude of change taking place in schools. That change continues to excite public and media interest. Whilst I do not want to minimize the far reaching consequences and the importance of change occurring in the schools sector, urgent public attention needs to be directed to the vast panoply of change which is occurring or about to occur in what until now has frequently been referred to as the ‘Cinderella' of the system, Further Education. And a similar spotlight needs to be focused on the Industrial Training.

Change in further education

The notion of a quiet revolution is premised on change from many quarters. The major factors influencing change in Further Education may be enumerated:

1. Demography—a reduction of 25 per cent in the numbers of pupils reaching school leaving age between 1986 and 1995
2. Legislation—the Education Reform Act (ERA) and the Local Government Act (1988)
3. DES Policy—enshrined in Managing Colleges Efficiently
4. New Pay and Conditions—a clearer definition of duties and arrangements for averaging class contact hours
5. Occupational shift—a trend shown by projections for occupations from blue-collar to white-collar work with attendant implications for the range of courses being planned
6. The Single European Market—the recognition of transnational qualifications and the possible sudden demands for English and foreign language training
7. National Vocational Qualifications (NVQs)—the introduction of a coherent system of national vocational qualifications based on the assessment of competency.

Although placed last on this list, the introduction of NVQs is likely to have the most profound and far reaching consequences (cf. Farley, 1988). The revolutionary aspect will have added impact because of the context of change arising from the other factors listed above. In essence, an NVQ is conceived as a statement of competence, clearly relevant to work, that is intended to facilitate entry into or progression in employment, Further Education or training. It is to be issued by a recognized body to an individual. The statement of competence should incorporate specific standards—the ability to perform a range of work related activities—and—the skills, knowledge and understanding which underpin performance in employment.

Change in industrial training

This quiet revolution goes far beyond FE. It embraces Industrial Training and is set to transform it. NVQs are qualifications relevant to employment. They will be awarded for competent performance in work activities and will be assessed where possible in the work place.

In December 1988, the Government issued a White Paper, Employment for the 1990s. It stated roundly:

By any measure there is a need for radical reform of our training system. What is now needed is a new framework training and enterprise.

The White Paper enunciated six principles which should guide its approach:

— first, training and vocational education, including management training and counselling for small firms, must be designed to contribute to business success and economic growth;

— second, employers and individuals need to accept a greater share of responsibility for training, and its costs, while Government have a role in setting a framework and in funding the training of unemployed people;

— third, there must be recognised standards of competence, relevant to employment, drawn up by industry-led organisations covering every sector and every occupational group, and validated nationally;

— fourth, the training must provide young people and adults with the opportunity to secure qualifications based on these recognised standards;

— fifth, responsibility for delivery of training and enterprise must, as far as possible, be devolved to local areas where people work and are trained. It is there that we need to bring together private and public investment to meet the skill needs of business and individuals;

— sixth, enterprises, individuals and local communities must be able to shape arrangements, programmes and opportunities to their changing needs and circumstances.

The Government's aim, it is said, was to provide, in a new partnership with employers, the establishment of such a training system. The intention was to ‘facilitate access to relevant training and vocational education throughout working life for every member of the workforce, at every level from entry to top management'.

The role of the NCVQ

Some two years earlier following the publication of the White Paper Working Together— Education and Training, The National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) had been set up with the following remit:

1 to secure standards of occupational competence and ensure that vocational qualifications are based on this;

2 to design and implement a new national framework for vocational qualifications;

3 to approve bodies making accredited awards;

4 to obtain comprehensive coverage of all occupational sectors;

5 to secure arrangements for quality assurance;

6 to set up effective liaison with bodies awarding vocational qualifications;

7 to establish a national data-base for vocational qualifications;

8 to undertake, or arrange to be undertaken, research and development to discharge these functions;

9 to promote vocational education, training and qualifications.

A timetable for achieving these aims was set up with the requirement that the system should be in place by 1991.

The new approach to vocational education and training fostered by the NCVQ and supported by the Training Agency (TA) is the subject of this book.

Research in competency based education and training

With the imminent widescale introduction of National Vocational Qualifications and in view of the mounting interest of Professional Bodies, one might have surmised that Competency Based Learning (CBL) would have assumed a prominent and important focus for research and debate in British universities. This is not the case. A large number of research and development projects externally funded by the NCVQ and TA have been and are currently under way in different universities and polytechnics but there is little evidence to suggest that HE has generally engaged itself in this sphere of research. Whilst there are isolated examples of CBL research undertaken by academics in some universities, this work appears to have had very limited impact on outside publics.

Virtually all lecturers in universities are expected to undertake research as part of their normal work contract. Choice of research is normally governed by personal expertise or interest, although in some communities a specialized area may develop on a collaborative basis to reflect the particular strength or expertise within a department. In view of the commitment that some education departments have to curriculum development in FE, the technicalities of assessment, the issues of access and progression and, indeed, vocational education, it does seem odd that so little appears to have been published other than externally funded project research.

The explanation for this apparent lack of interest may lie in the way most academics approach a new subject. They read the literature and attend conferences. Until very recently they have had little opportunity to do either.

In the first edition of Competence and Assessment Gilbert Jessup wrote of ‘a new discipline' centered on the assessment of competence. Although there is a long tradition of research in CBL in America, the underlying conceptual base has been considerably modified and developed in the British research which has informed the development of NVQs. This work has circulated in manuscript form among the small network of consultants and researchers commissioned by the NCVQ and TA but largely, has remained unpublished. When, therefore, the University of Sussex approached the NCVQ to help fund a conference aimed at the HE research community, Gilbert Jessup endorsed the project and further suggested that the papers and proceedings should be published by an independent academic publisher.

As a result of this initiative two-thirds of British universities and a number of polytechnics sent delegates to a three-day symposium on Competency Based Learning held in Worthing in mid-March 1989. A wide range of papers were presented dealing chiefly with substantive issues in assessment and their application to the NVQ programme, the new structure of vocational education and training and the implementation of NVQs in FE.

The book

Historical background

The first paper in this volume provides an historical backdrop. In my view it is essential for anyone coming new to the study of Competency Based Education and Training (CBET) to locate the context in which these ideas first arose and to see how they have developed. Although CBET is a relatively new focus for research and development in the UK, it has a long history and literature in the USA. Eric Tuxworth locates its origins and reviews its development by carefully relating the American experience to current developments sponsored by the NCVQ and the TA.

Technical issues

The next three papers examine technical issues bound up in the concept of competence. Bob Mansfield points out that the model of development underlying the British approach to Vocational Education and Training reverses previous approaches. The efforts of Industry Lead Bodies (ILBs) are directed towards the formulation of ‘clear and precise statements'; these are the ‘Occupational Standards' which describe what effective performance means. This stands in contrast to earlier approaches which concentrated on the design of curricula to meet assumed needs. He examines the differing consequences of basing standards on a concept of competence which may be either broad or narrow. He concludes that what is required is a broad concept of competence to drive standards and associated assessment and learning systems.

Alison Wolf addresses herself to the vexed question of identifying and assessing knowledge in a competency-based system. She argues that there is no necessary bifarcation between competence and education. Competency based learning is perfectly compatible with the learning of higher level skills, the acquisition of generalizable knowledge and understanding and the development of broad based courses. Her contribution is particularly useful in view of the decision taken recently to extend the NVQ framework above level four. Detailed negotiations are proceeding on a purely voluntary basis with many professional bodies, but there still appears to be wide-spread apprehension that the forms of assessment devised for lower levels within the framework would be inappropriate at higher levels. As they stand, they would. Alison suggests there is scope for developing performance criteria which take account of the deeper and more sophisticated knowledge component embedded in higher level assessment.

Lindsay Mitchell examines the way in which occupational standards are defined and assessed; she, too, examines the role of knowledge in standards. She notes that although the model is still very much in a developmental stage, assessment processes devised for NVQs fundamentally call into question much previous practice. She identifies two key purposes of assessment in the NVQ model: to recognize achievement which has already taken place, and to infer an individual's future performance in the areas of competence certified. ‘These fundamental purposes of assessment signal up the aims of the new system. Assessment in vocational qualifications is not for selection of the best for whatever purpose, or for determining in any direct way who has the potential for development in a particular direction. Vocational qualifications may inform these aspects but they are not their main purpose and should not be allowed to influence the developments to the detriment of the key purposes'.

The response of the NCVQ the TA and the FEU

Having traced the historical development of CBET and analysed some of the issues which arise out of the concept, we move on to consider the way in which three main agencies, The National Council for Vocational Qualifications, the Training Agency and the Further Education Unit (FEU) are contributing and responding to the development of a coherent national framework.

Gilbert Jessup presents a model of vocational education and training which is now emerging clearly from the research and detailed negotiation which is taking place between the many diverse, interested parties with a stake in the enterprise: education, training, examining bodies, both sides of industry, the professions and government. He indicates the main features of the model with specific reference to the qualification framework: The National Record of Vocational Achievement (NROVA) which will provide the structure in which vocational education and training will operate. He makes the very cogent point that the new form of competence based qualifications ‘lead rather than follow education and training'. By spelling out what candidates are required to be able to do for the award of an NVQ and stating the criteria by which performance will be assessed, the process of assessment is demystified, probably for the first time in the experience of most candidates and most potential employers. ‘In doing so, the statement of competence also sets clear goals for education and training programmes. The specification of competence plus performance criteria provide the operational realization of the new kinds of standards'. At the end of his chapter, Gilbert Jessup outlines a number of challenging research and development issues which might be addressed by the research community.

Graham Debling provides a timely overview of the role of the TA with a detailed examination of the Standards Programme. The concepts of standards and competence are analysed. He explains the role of the ILB, and the development of standards is discussed. He stresses that ‘the standards relate to the needs of employment and that employers [should] have a sense of ownership of such standards such that they recognize them and take responsibility for the modernization and utilization'. In the second half of his chapter he addresses a wide range of issues including the risk of defining standards in a narrow way, the place of knowledge and understanding in assessment, the implications for assessment practice, future developments and progression.

Geoff Stanton examines the curriculum implications which arise out of the new approach to Vocational Education and Training (VET) in the UK. He reiterates Jessup's point that statements of competence in the new model of VET are independent of any course or programme of learning. Indeed, ‘it is increasingly common for a learner to require their learning in more than one location and under the auspices of more than one agency'. He goes on, ‘there is a sense in which [the programme] is only really owned by the individual learner. In this model assessment has become part of the learning process. This has crucial implications for college staff in Further Education. There is a shift in role from teaching to tutoring functions. Their expertise in needs analysis, devising individual programmes, and evaluation has become more crucial than their ability to present material to a class'. This theme is developed drawing on the FEU model of curriculum development and a comparison of the old model of VET with the competence based model.

Implications for FE

The next section goes on to examine the implications for FE in situ.

The first chapter, by Jenny Shackleton, describes and analyses an agenda for organizational change which is actually underway at Wirral Metropolitan College where she is Principal. She presents a rationale for a new approach—achievement led institutional development—emphasizing that personal achievement is the core of the college mission statement. She goes on: ‘For achievement and institutional development the curriculum has to be redefined in terms which can be directly recognized by the learner and engaged with directly by him or her without mediation or interpretation'. In the present context of competency based education and training, the achievement led institutional development facilitates delivery of NVQs by distinguishing assessment and certification from courses and teaching but has certain implications for delivery. She lists a number of prioritized tasks which should facilitate the implementation of NVQs.

My own chapter focuses on the attitudinal and organizational changes encountered in an ethnographic study of FE colleges involved with the Accreditation of Prior Learning project and the early implementation of NVQs. I stress the importance of obtaining reliable feedback of what is actually going on and the nature of problems and opportunities as perceived by participants involved in planned change. The history of curriculum change in the schools throughout the 1960s should forewarn us about the importance of implementation strategy, as many initiatives floundered because there was not an adequate understanding of the problems and concerns of those who were attempting to manage it ‘on the ground'. While some difficulties are identified, I am optimistic about ‘the extraordinary release of enthusiasm and directed effort which occurred when [APL coordinators] were given responsibility and a stake in developing the responsiveness of the college'.

Ian Haffenden and Alan Brown are likewise concerned with implementation issues. In a project sponsored by the FEU, they studied 36 FE colleges in England and Wales so as to investigate key aspects in the implementation of competence based curricula in four vocational areas in FE. They focus on a number of issues including: perceptions about the nature of competence, implications of NVQs for curriculum development, staff development and institutional development and assessment.

Competency and teaching

There is growing interest among different professions about the possible application of NVQs to higher level qualifications. Michael Eraut draws on the distinctive approach to teacher training developed at the University of Sussex to compare and contrast approaches to vocational training which are competency based. He notes that a large proportion of the course is carried out as on-the-job training, that competence is assessed by direct observation of job performance and that this assessment constitutes the largest and most essential part of the teaching qualification. Other common features are the heavy involvement of employers, the rigorous process of external approval and evaluation and the use of assessment criteria, although these do not amount to competence statements in the NVQ ...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• List of Abbreviations
• Foreword
• Chapter 1: Introduction
• Chapter 2: Competence based education and training: background and origins
• Chapter 3: Competence and standards
• Chapter 4: Can competence and knowledge mix?
• Chapter 5: The definition of standards and their assessment
• Chapter 6: The emerging model of vocational education and training
• Chapter 7: The Employment Department/Training Agency Standards Programme and NVQs: mplications for education
• Chapter 8: Curriculum implications
• Chapter 9: An achievement-led college
• Chapter 10: Attitudinal change in FE in response to the introduction of NVQ's
• Chapter 11: Towards the implementation of competence based curricula in colleges of FE
• Chapter 12: Initial teacher training and the NVQ model
• Chapter 13: Emerging issues: The response of higher education to competency based approaches