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Focus on Curriculum
UNPACKING COMPETENCY BASED CURRICULUM ( CBC )
DR JULIUS OTUNDO
Traditional educational approaches have been more concerned with the transmission of knowledge and skills than with the introduction of values and attitudes , or , in other words , with the holistic upbringing of learners “ competent for life ”. However , already by the end of the 20th century it became clear that education should have a more relevant role in fostering achievement of individuals ’ aims and also social and economic welfare . All these created the breeding ground for the emergence of the concept of “ competence ”. However , for the time being , there is not a unique , distinct definition of “ competence ”, which makes it scarcely operative and hinders application in educational planning . In this context , competence is being used non-uniformly , and often as a mere declaration of intent , and this is creating ambiguity regarding the design of competence based learning .
The onset of the 21st century , coincident with the turn of the millennium , meant a turning point in several areas : education , environment , and economic development among others . Education , thus , appears as central to personal and community development ; its mission is to enable learners , without exception , to develop their talents The Reggio to the Emilia full and to realize their creative
Approach
potential , including responsibility for their own lives and achievement of each individual ’ s personal aims , but also involvement in one ’ s social roles at work and in the community .
McClelland defined the term competency as , “ a sum of knowledge , skills , and aptitudes , which contributes to the capacity of a person to effectively perform the duties and responsibilities of the occupied job ; in other words , to be competent ”. In this concept , we could look at competencies in three perspectives :
Behavioural approach : Competence as a set of abilities that ensure productivity in the labour market . In this approach , with roots in the United States , competences are understood as a demonstration of behavior ; i . e ., the traits that allow him / her to perform professionally .
Functional or generic approach : Competence as the knowledge , skills , and aptitudes that make people able to solve a task under set conditions . It seeks to identify abilities and features that explain variation in performance in specific contexts .
Constructivist-holistic approach : Competence as the knowledge about how to mobilize the elements of the competence in order to solve a task satisfactorily ; to want , to have personal motivation ; and to be able to do , thanks to a context and conditions that make the solution of the task possible .
Why is CBC important for a 21st Century graduate ?
The jobs of the 21st century require critical thinking and problem solving skills . The concept of Competency Based Education is to have a convergence to the 21st century world view demands for a worker , entrepreneur and / or business person . It is predicted that the jobs of the future will definitely be very different from the jobs that exist today . The world is changing extremely very fast . Untimely emergence of COVID-19 clearly indicated to us how unprepared we are that led the closure of learning due to lack of technology and digital literacy in our learning institutions .
Taxonomy of competences
Designing learning based on competences also requires defining the type of competences we are working with , namely :
Basic competences : related to basic education ( compulsory school period ); they refer to the set of minimum requirements that a contemporary citizen should acquire at the end of compulsory schooling . They include curricular competences ( relative to different domains of knowledge , or subjects ) and transversal competences ( broad , integrative skills required for the holistic development of learners ;
Technical- professional competences : linked to vocational training ( post-compulsory secondary education ), including qualification- specific competences ( analogous to the curricular competences ) and the transversal ones ( which are subject to training and development all the way through schooling ). Key competences : owned and
EdSource Quarterly | Oct-Dec l 2021