The

word competent is derived from Latin and means having essential qualities and abilities to function in specific ways.

The ability to apply knowledge and interpersonal, decision-making, and psychomotor skills to nursing practice roles. -The National Council of State Boards of Nursing (2005)

Competency is the combination of the knowledge and skills necessary for carrying out professional tasks -Garcia- Barbero (1998)

Competencies are essential skills that adults need to be successful members of families, the community, and the workplace. CASAS

 DEFINITIONS

OF COMPETENCY BASED EDUCATION

Competency Based Education refers to an educational movement that advocates defining educational goals in terms of precise measurable descriptions of knowledge, skills, and behaviors students should possess at the end of a course of study. Richards and Rodgers

Competency Based Education is outcome based instruction and is adaptive to the changing needs of students, teachers, and the community. Competencies describe the students ability to apply basic and other skills in situations that are commonly encountered in everyday life. Thus CBE is based on a set of outcomes that are derived from an analysis of tasks typically required of students in life role situations. Schenck

Competency Based Education is a functional approach to education. It was defined by the U.S. Office of Education as a performance-based process leading to demonstrated mastery of basic and life skills necessary for the individual to function proficiently in society. (U.S. Office of Education, 1978)

Competencies consist of a description of the essential skills, knowledge,attitudes, and behaviors required for effective performance of a real-world task or activity. These activities may be related to any domain of life, though have typically been linked to the field of work and to social survival in a new environment. Mrowicki

1. Educational institutions and providers need evidence that anyone who completes a degree or course has achieved a required level of competency.

2. Accrediting, regulatory, and professional groups want assurance that completion of an educational endeavor indicates competency.

3. There is greater accountability for the costs and time it takes to complete educational endeavours and determine if they achieve the expected outcomes.

4. Employers hire new workers who do not have basic competencies required for entrylevel positions.

5. Employers invest in extensive training programs to address the initial needs of new employees and the continuing training needs of all employees, especially those in complex, changing work environments.

6. Regulatory, legal, external standards, and quality measures require demonstration of competence.

7. Workers need to continue their own personal and professional development to advance their careers and make positive contributions to organizations.

Level 1: Behavior competencies

Level 2: Added competencies

Level 3: Integrated competencies

Level 4: Holistic competencies

Behavior

operational work performance demands of the workplace

Added

behavior and additional knowledge needed to improve work. Knowledge, skills, and understanding are integrated into internal and external work conditions. new work and transfer knowledge and skills to new situations

Integrated

Holistic

1. Consumers, regulatory, educational, and practice groups establish partnerships.

2. Collaboration and innovation in education and practice settings support the development and maintenance of competent workforce (Coonan, 2008).

3. Educational systems respond to changes in complex work environments (Coonan, 2008). Learners have an active role in determining their educational needs. The primary focus is on identifying and measuring specific learning outcomes for initial and continued competence.

6. Required competencies include all the domains required for practice in a discipline.

7. Assessments are given at each level with the learners demonstrating competence at each level.

8. Assessments are done at different points in time, using a variety of approaches.Fitness for practice or competency in an area is congruent with the completion of an educational program.

HEALTH NEEDS OF THE SOCIETY

COMPETENCIES OUTCOME

CURICULUM

ASSESSMENT

EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES

CURICULUM

ASSESSMENT

It serves to reduce passive dependence on lectures

It enhances student performance through active participation in learning through problem-solving

It encourages critical assessment of competing theory and evidence

It improves interdisciplinary understanding

It can improve literature searches and the writing-up of clinical cases

It can help establish closer links with private practice settings and public institutions for educational purposes.

Applicability at the course, program, institutional, and system levels.

Developing assessments derived from specific competencies.

Support for the development of learning experiences and assignments that help students become proficient in the competencies essential to different disciplines and settings (U.S. Department of Education, 2006).

Prepares the curriculum to take on a more holistic appearance and coherence be more than a string of beads.

Improves the system of feedback to students. Gets the learner more engaged and acting responsible. Provide data for decision : about students , about programme effectiveness.

(1) They fail to directly address the health needs of the community.

(2) Competencies are inadequately defined or to broad to be useful

(3) A lack of accommodation in the curriculum for the flexibility in learning rates

(4) The lack of assessment methods to determine when competency has been achieved.

(5) Introducing knowledge and skills as distinct entities to be measured objectively presents students with an environment that loses considerable authenticity, resulting in poor transfer of learning.

(6) The art of rehabilitation and levels of interpersonal communication are skills very difficult, if not impossible, to observe and measure as competencies

Sophomore level competency

Junior Level Competency

Senior Level competency

Programme outcome

Sophomore level competency: Participates in selected problem solving exercises that promote critical examination of the professional nurse role . Junior Level Competency: Validates care decisions with appropriate persons to determine the degree to which decisions are consistent with client system information and environmental clues.

Senior Level competency Evaluates the decisions through logical organisation , validation of information, and critical examination of assumptions underlying the processing of information and analyzes the conclusion drawn from the information. Programme outcome A critical thinker who demonstrates intellectual curiosity, rational inquiry, problem solving skills and creativity in framing problems

Critical thinker Culturally competent Knowledge to coordinate community resources Politically aware

Ethically and legally grounded Effective communicator Competent provider of health care Modeller of the professional role Responsible manager of the human, fiscal and material resources.

Focus on isolated knowledge bits: students dont see and arent motivated. Student Engagement: lecture attendance, participation, hyper-focus exam. Faculty focused on teaching ; less emphasis on discerning impact of their efforts on learning. Employers unhappy with fresh graduate want more practice-ready graduates.

RECURING EDUCATIONAL REFORM MODEL

Outcomes based education (OBE) is a process that involves the restructuring of curriculum, assessment and reporting practices in education to reflect the achievement of high order learning and mastery rather than the accumulation of course credits (Tucker, 2004).

Outcome-based education (OBE) is a recurring education reform model. It is a student-centered learning philosophy that focuses on empirically measuring student performance, which are called outcomes..

OBE is defined as a comprehensive approach to organizing and operating an education system that is focused in and defined by the successful demonstrations of learning sought from each student (Spady, 1994).

An Education Department of Western Australia document describes OBE as an educational process which is based on trying to achieve certain specified outcomes in terms of individual student learning.

CLARITY OF FOCUS

DESIGN DOWN

HIGH EXPECTATION

EXPANDED OPPORTUNITIES

Content Based Learning System

Passive students Assessment process exam & grade driven

Outcomes Based Learning System

Active learners

Continuous assessment

Rote learning

Critical thinking, reasoning, reflection & action

Content based/broken into subjects

Integration knowledge, learning relevant/ connected real life situations

Textbook/worksheet focused & teacher centred

Learner centred & educator/ facilitator use group/ teamwork

See syllabus as rigid & non negotiable

Learning programmes seen as guides that allow educators to be innovative & creative in designing programmes/ activities

Teachers/trainers responsible for learning - motivated by personality of Learners take responsibility for their learning, learners motivated by teacher constant feedback/ affirmation of worth Emphasis what teacher hopes to achieve Emphasis outcomes what learner becomes & understands

Content placed in rigid time frames

Flexible time frames - learners work at own pace

Stay in single learning institution until complete

Learners can gather credits different institutions until achieve Qualification

Previous knowledge & experience in learning field ignored Each time Recognition of prior learning: after pre-assessment, learners credited attends outcomes demonstrated or transfer credits elsewhere

Ensure all learners are successful in that they are equipped with the knowledge, skills and qualities (values and attitudes) required after they exit the educational system

Achieve and maximize selected outcomes for all students by structuring and operating education facilities to be success oriented.

Killen (2000) says to be useful in an OBE system, assessment criteria should conform to the following principles:

valid

reliable reflect the knowledge and skills fair

comprehensive and explicit assessment should demonstrate individuality

TASK

ATTITUDE

PROFESSIONALISM

RELEVANCE CONTROVERSY ACCEPTABILITY

CLARITY

PROVISION OF FRAMEWORK
ACCOUNTABILITY

SELF DIRECTED LEARNING

FLEXIBILITY
GUIDE FOR ASSESSMENT

CURICULUM PLANNING

CURICULUM EVALUATION
CONTINUUM OF EDUCATION

Inclusion of and Emphasis on Attitudes and Values Was Inappropriate

Inhibition of Learning by Discovery

Imposition of Constraints

Opposition to standardized testing Criticism of inappropriate outcomes Lack of evidence that OBE works Extra burden on instructors and educational institutions Dislike of something that is not OBE

11. Facilitates Curriculum EvaluationThe outcomes provide benchmarks against which the curriculum can be judged. 12. Continuum of EducationThe outcomes provide pathways along which individuals can progress in basic or undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education.

RelevanceOutcome-based education promotes

fitness for practice and education for capability. The three-circle model ensures that areas that have been underrepresented in the traditional curriculum, such as appropriate attitudes and professionalism, are given the emphasis that is required. 2. ControversyThe process of identification of the outcomes within an institution promotes discussion of fundamental questions, such as what type of health professional are we aiming to train and what are the core issues. 3. AcceptabilityThe notion of the three-circle model of outcome-based education seems acceptable to most health professions tea1chers and has an intuitive appeal.