There is global recognition of the need to teach and assess complex competencies, which are often referred to as twenty-first century or work-ready knowledge and skills. While several assessment frameworks have been co-developed by researchers and teachers to assess competencies in schools, little is known about how these frameworks are shaped,…

In the last 40 years, a series of models and frameworks associated with competency, capability and identity have been advanced in the published literature. These models and frameworks have arisen at a time of fundamental shifts in both the type and nature of work in developed countries, for example shifts associated with changes to labour markets…

Purpose: Curricula is developing from a pure knowledge-based outcome to a more skill-based outcome, with the objective of creating and advancing competencies that meet employer expectations. While the new Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) demand organisations to change practices and adapt to sustainable goals, there is a lack of understanding…

Among the many critiques of competency-based approaches to education and training (CBT) is a strain which draws on Foucault's analysis of "disciplinary" power and knowledge. Foucault offered an interpretation of modern institutions, such as prisons, armies and schools, which revealed subtle mechanisms of surveillance and systems of…

This article addresses the growing need to profile the required competencies of entry-level business graduates and to evaluate the extent to which they are generic across international boundaries and discipline areas. Two hundred and ninety-one Australian and UK business academics examined the relative importance of a broad set of graduate…

In this paper, the author reflects, both as an academic researcher and as a senior practitioner, on the experience of competency-based training (CBT) in the Australian vocational education and training system. She seeks to draw conclusions about the Australian experience using a typology drawn from the academic literature which focuses on the…

Professional associations have a strong influence on what is covered in the curricula of universities, especially that of professional degrees. They also provide members with professional development throughout their careers. Professional associations have the potential to facilitate development of sustainability competency in the workforce in…

Transformative learning theory is a dominant approach to understanding adult learning. The theory addresses the way our perspectives on the world, others and ourselves can be challenged and transformed in our ongoing efforts to make sense of the world. It is a conception of learning that does not focus on the measurable acquisition of knowledge…

This article reports on the implementation of a professional development program in emerging technologies for librarians at the University of Western Australia. Set up in 2008 to address a lack of pedagogically grounded training in this area, it has now graduated three cohorts. A qualitative analysis of participants' online contributions and…

In 1983, a competency-based vocational education (CBVE) program began in Croydon Park College of TAFE, South Australia. This was six years before the Australian State Ministers of Vocational Education and Training decreed competency-based training (CBT) to be the national training imperative. Two reports were produced in 1985 and 1987, based on…

This document is a revised version of the National Consumer and Financial Literacy Framework (the Framework) originally developed in 2005. It articulates a rationale for consumer and financial education in Australian schools; describes essential consumer and financial capabilities that will support lifelong learning; and provides guidance on how…

This literature review, commissioned by the National Quality Council, provides a historical account of the development of competency-based training in Australia and summarises the issues arising from the range of reviews conducted on elements of the national training system. It also explores the variety of ways in which competence is conceived…

This paper develops a social realist critique of competency-based training (CBT) by drawing on the philosophy of critical realism and the sociology of Basil Bernstein as complementary modes of analysis. CBT is the mandated model of curriculum in the vocational education and training (VET) sector in Australia. It results in an impoverished…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to show that most small business owner-managers are technically competent in their area of business activity however they do not always have equal managerial competence. For example, deficiency in human resource management competence may lead to difficulties in attracting, retaining or leading staff. These…

Competency-based training is not a singular model; it embeds radically different conceptions of competence, depending on whether delivery and assessment of training incorporate industry standards. Models that maintain a tension between the outcomes and processes of education and training, rather than a focus solely on outcomes, are most…