Although competency-based education in nursing is a reality, it must not be allowed to dominate the curriculum. It is a positivist, reductionist approach that limits the function of education to outcome-oriented technical procedures. (SK)

The Australian approach to postcompulsory education involves professional and academic bodies in defining competencies for higher-level qualifications, resulting in a competency-based qualifications system. (JOW)

Describes the status of career counseling in the Australian educational system and discusses developments that led to the implementation of the competency-based approach to career educators' education. (JOW)

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…

This article discusses advantages and disadvantages of competency-based education and training (CBET), with emphasis on its application to vocational and higher education in Australia. Argues that, although CBET model is suitable for most vocational programs, the very nature of higher education prohibits its use at colleges and universities. (MDM)

In the view of a continuing education unit in a rural health education center in Australia, competency-based training emphasizes what a person can actually do as a result of training. Professional continuing education courses are being developed using accredited guidelines from the national Vocational Education Training Assessment Board. (SK)

Competing pressures on Australian educational managers include pressure to implement competency-based training, to manage using the industrial model, and to husband resources, conflicting with traditional educational goals, government policies, and demands for accountability. (SK)

Suggests several areas in Australian adult education and training where a competency-based educational model would have application. Areas include the professional development of staff in educational institutions and industrial training establishments, training of educational administrators, vocational training of college students, and the…

Skills acquisition is complex and cyclic rather than linear and modular as in competency-based training methods. It depends not only on mental attributes that infuse meaning but also on personality dimensions, learning styles, and self-concerns. This raises ethical questions about policies emphasizing competency-based methods. (SK)

In Australia, an extensive system of competency-based training (CBT) has been established. Business, education, and unions contend that CBT is more equitable in matching training with task needs, broadening the range of abilities, and enabling portability. But little evidence shows that it reduces divisions between vocational education and general…

Outlines the processes undertaken at Kuring-gai College of Advanced Education to identify an appropriate basis for a course to educate information professionals to work in a range of positions inside and outside the library setting. The philosophies, assumptions, and beliefs of the course design team are presented. (Author/CLB)

Since the 1960s, the world has undergone transformations in trade, industry, and technology. Some assert that the postmodern society needs organizational structures that allow for diversity, instability, unpredictability, and mobility. However, this paper argues that the headlong rush toward such organizational forms may well encourage the…

Critics of vocational education do not recognize its potential to develop outcomes similar to general education. Vocational curriculum should be based on a holistic integrated model of competence, stressing problem solving and workplace learning, that might serve as the model for general curriculum. (SK)

In the context of Australian education, the increasing emphasis on outcomes assessment, especially measurable performance, is discussed and some of the concepts involved in this performance orientation are examined. The shift in emphasis from inputs to outcomes, difficulty in operationalizing desirable outcomes, issues specific to compulsory and…

Events in the development of competency standards for the teaching profession in Australia are documented, including publishing articles and reports, conducting conferences, commissioning sets of standards, validating support for the competency framework, and promoting of standards by government and professional organizations. Competency-based…