A model of competence and competency

The presentation of a comprehensive definition of competency can be further clarified in a model that will be presented below (see also Fig 3.1). Point of departure for the model is the question: "What drives a satisfactory or excellent performance?" The model describes what 'goes on in the head' (i.e. processing at cognitive level) when a task is realised. From this model competency is deduced as the ability to process in an intentional way. The model can be transcribed from a psychological point of view to the level of 'learning' (acquisition and development) of competencies. Elements of the transcribed model are professional profile, graduate profile, core competencies and their constituting domain-specific and generic competencies.

An important question is which mental prerequisites an individual does need to meet a particular demand, or: what are the internal mental structures the activation of which is assumed to yield certain results? (Rychen & Salganik, 2002). Kegan (1999) states: 'A great benefit to a concept like 'competence' is that it directs our attention beneath the observable behavioural surface of 'skills' to inquire into the mental capacity that creates the behaviour. (p.67).

A professional performs in his/her work a large number of tasks that can be grouped into 'key occupational tasks' (Hager, 1993). An example: for an Adult Educator a key occupational task could be 'Designing an education programme for

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a certain group of adults in a specific setting/context'. The realisation (performance) of the tasks implies 'intentional actions', activities that are consciously planned, monitored and regulated and that involve certain attributes (knowledge, skills, attitudes) and personal characteristics of the professional. Knowledge, skills and attitudes are utilised in an integrated way, although they may be used in varying degrees, depending on the (occupational) task or a task component. For example, one would expect in counselling a crime victim more emphasis on attitudes than in building a bookshelf.

In order to perform (key) tasks the professional should be able to 'select' and use the appropriate knowledge, skills and attitudes, that is, process them and come to deliberate actions, aimed at realising the task. In cognitive terms the 'attributes' that are activated for the realisation of a task could also be seen as cognitive schemata, mental plans that are abstract and that serve as guides for action, as structures for interpreting information, as organised frameworks for solving problems, etc. (Reber, 1996; Scholl, 2000). Satchwell (1996) mentions a "…control structure, that …enables individuals to solve problems using their procedural and declarative knowledge." This 'control structure' is elsewhere labelled 'meta-cognition' (Adkins, 1997; Ashcraft, 1994; Marzano et al., 1988). Thus, the mental processing of a task or a problem, characterised by 'intentional action', requires certain cognitive monitoring and regulation activities. An example is 'situational understanding' (professionals take account of the varying contexts in which they are operating and are able to transfer, that is, select and apply the necessary attributes in new contexts). "One basic prerequisite for the acquisition of meta-competencies is the ability to introspect about one's own cognitive processes and products, available from the third year of life and increasing with age" (Weinert 2001, p.54).

Thus, in order to perform a task at an acceptable (or superior) level, the professional needs to have at his disposal a 'toolbox' with certain attributes, knowledge, skills and attitudes. He further needs to know how and when to use these 'tools', making use of meta-cognition (such as situational understanding). The availability of attributes at a sufficient level, the capability to utilise them adequately, and the regulation by meta-cognition, provide the conditions for an intentional action (or series of actions) to take place, resulting in the acceptable performance of a task.

The above can be summarised in a model that is presented in Figure 3.1. The model shows the relationships and connections between the various cognitive processing aspects of a task performance. In this model the task related context (where and how the task is 'situated') is perceived and processed by situational understanding.

The personal context involves (amongst others) emotional, physical factors that directly influence the professional as a person. For example, an individual might just have recovered from an illness and is still feeling tired, or he2 _{might be worried} by family troubles, etc. The personal characteristics determine to what extent these positive or negative factors will influence the processing of the task. Reflection on the outcomes provides feedback to the practitioner, leading, if necessary, to additional intentional actions.

Figure 3.1. A model of the cognitive aspects of task performance

The model shows analogies to cognitive models of memory systems, for example Anderson's model (Anderson, 1983) in which information from the outside world is encoded and then processed in the working memory. This working memory stores or retrieves encoded information in and from the declarative memory and, through matching with a 'production rule' in the production memory executes a production

2 _{In order to avoid unnecessary confusion 'he' is used in cases where the subject could be male}

or female. TASK Task related Context personal characteristics: - motivation - self-confidence - creativity - ambition - etc. knowledge skills attitudes PROCESSING Personal Context PERFORMANCE OF TASK meta-cognition e.g. situational understanding OUTCOMES reflection

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rule after which a 'performance' results. The production memory can also 'learn' new production rules by observing the application of old ones (Benjafield, 1996).

Competency and competence can be deduced from the model and be defined as follows:

ƒ Competency is the capability to choose and use (apply) an integrated combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes with the intention to realise a task in a certain context, while personal characteristics such as motivation, self-confidence, willpower are part of that context.

ƒ Competence is the capacity to realise 'up to standard' the key occupational tasks (see below) that characterise a profession. A competent professional shows a satisfactory (or superior) performance. Key occupational tasks are the tasks that are characteristic for a profession. A profession could be described by 20 - 30 key occupational tasks (Hager & Gonczi, 1996).

Competence is thus a construct that can be inferred from performance (Hager, 1993). It refers to the capacity to "do the job". Expertise implies competence, but being competent does not necessarily imply being an expert. Research on novice versus expert performance (e.g., Chi, Glaser & Farr, 1988) suggests that the nature of expertise is largely due to the possession of schemas that guide perception and problem solving. In the model presented above the possession of schemas could be thought as a characteristic of competence, while expertise would then mean the possession of more and richer schemas.

Competency is what makes somebody competent. The definition of competency puts emphasis on the possession of certain cognitive 'tools' (knowledge, skills, abilities and attitudes) and the ability to apply these tools at the right time on the right spot. Thus, competency implies being knowledgeable and skilful, and having the 'know-how'. Kirschner et al. (1997) state that a person can be skilful but not necessarily competent, but, on the other hand, that being competent always implies being skilful.

A comparable model of competence can be found in the publications of Cheetham and Chivers (1996, 1998). They developed a model of competence with four 'core components', that can be thought of as groups of competencies:

1. Knowledge/cognitive competence: "…the possession of appropriate work- related knowledge and the ability to put this to effective use".

2. Functional competence: "…the ability to perform a range of work-based tasks effectively to produce specific outcomes."

3. Personal or behavioural competence: "…the ability to adopt appropriate, observable behaviours in work-related situations."

4. Values/ethical competence: "…the possession of appropriate personal and professional values and the ability to make sound judgements based upon these in work-related situations" (Cheetham & Chivers, 1996, p.24).

Each component contributes to the 'outcomes' (labelled ' professional competence'), that are observed and perceived by the practitioner himself and by others who may provide feedback and sharpen the perception of the self. The context is conceptualised as the context of work: "the particular situation in which a practitioner is required to operate", and the work environment: "the physical, cultural and social conditions which surround an individual at work" (Cheetham & Chivers, 1998, p. 273). Meta-cognitive competence also occurs in he model with 'reflection' mentioned separately as a kind of 'super meta-competency', while 'personality' and 'motivation' are mention as factors that influence professional competence.

The model of Cheetham and Chivers supports the model that has been developed for this study. In the latter model, that conceptualises ' what goes on in the head' in order to come to the realisation of a task, competency is implicit in the interaction between context, personality, attributes and meta-cognition.

The broad, general, concept of competence can be related to competencies through the concept of 'core competencies' as is shown in Fig 3.2, below.

Core competency (plural: Core competencies) is defined as: the set of appropriate competencies needed to realise a key occupational task at a satisfactory or superior level.

Stated in another way: Core competencies are directly linked to key occupational tasks and are integrated clusters of domain-specific and generic competencies. It should be noted that in the literature the term 'core competencies' is also used in the sense of strategic business capabilities that provide a company with a marketplace advantage (cf. Prahalad & Hamel, 1990). In the UK the term 'core skills' is referring to generic competencies (in this case communication, numeracy, IT, problem solving, and working with others).

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Figure 3.2. The relation between competence, core competencies and constituting (domain-specific and generic) competencies

Competencies are categorised in this model in two groups following the classification of Everwijn (1996). Competencies can be domain-specific, relating to clusters of knowledge, skills and attitudes within one specific content domain related to the profession. Another group of competencies is called 'generic', because they are needed in all content domains and can be utilised in new professional situations (transfer). The name 'life skills' is sometimes used for the latter group and indicates that these competencies are, because of their transferability, the basic set of capabilities for the life of today, within and outside the profession. Matters related to generic competencies will be discussed further in section 3.6.

In the development of a competence-based curriculum a sequence is followed (sometimes called the 'Royal track' [Brandsma, 1993]) involving the formulation of a professional profile with key occupational tasks, followed by graduate profile with (selected) core competencies that relate directly to the professional profile. In the curriculum profile the final attainment levels of the graduate are defined in competence standards for both domain-specific and generic competencies.