This report describes the adult basic education profession in Australia across state boundaries and across a wide range of contexts. Chapter 1 discusses competencies and professions and why competency-based teacher education has been unsuccessful. Chapter 2 discusses the context of Adult Basic Education Competencies. Chapter 3 describes the research methodology that led to development of the competency descriptors: three functional analysis workshops with practitioners, group and individual critical incidents interviews, observations of and interviews with 29 teachers, examination of documents, and review of information from other projects. Chapter 4 outlines the competency descriptions. Competencies are divided into seven units, each consisting of two to four elements with related performance criteria and cues (examples). The units are as follows: adult learning and teaching approaches and practices; selection and placement of students; managing learning situations; monitoring learning; evaluation of programs; community communication and consultation; and professional development and training. Chapter 5 describes how each element was validated using data in the critical incidents, observations, and interviews. Appendixes contain competency standards information, and critical incident interview and observation/interview questions and data. (Contains 51 references.) (YLB)