Abstract
This chapter will explore the nature, purposes, practices and appropriateness of competence-based education for teachers’ professional development within international contemporary policy contexts. Competence-based education is regarded as an efficient and effective means for educational organisations and teachers, to better meet the changing demands of the labour market. However, whilst competence itself is an essential characteristic of teachers, it is only a baseline from which to progress to higher levels of practice. Those seeking continuing improvement are unlikely to be satisfied with a judgement of competence alone. The chapter will characterise the ground which teachers and schools occupy as composed of ‘sites of struggle’. It will examine the challenges of policy changes and the parallel rise of forms of competence-based education for teachers’ professionalism and professional development. It will take the position that the overuse of functional competences is likely to narrow the agenda and that because teaching is a complex blend of the cognitive and emotional, skills, knowledge, attributes and values, they should not dominate. Narrowly defined competences are only one part of the necessary toolkit which teachers need in order to teach to their best. Moreover, where competency-based systems of professional development exist, they must provide opportunities for teachers themselves to engage in deeper learning which includes but goes beyond the use of strong data systems and knowledge of external requirements related only to externally defined sets of standards. Teaching is more than the sum of competences; however, these may be defined. Professional development opportunities and activities should reflect this.
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Day, C. (2017). Competence-based Education and Teacher Professional Development. In: Mulder, M. (eds) Competence-based Vocational and Professional Education. Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects, vol 23. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-41713-4_8
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