This chapter includes the evidence of a shift in education towards an endorsement of the value of the acquisition of generalisable skills by students in their formal years of education. The skills of interest are often referred to as twenty-first century skills. The central question raised in this chapter concerns how education systems need to…

The Austrian school subject Geography and Economics is taught throughout lower secondary level (grades 5 to 8). Following three subject-related didactic paradigm shifts since 1962, it has developed into an integrated, socially-oriented subject in the social sciences tradition, and focuses on the person acting spatially and economically in social…

Since the beginning of U.S. public school systems, educators and policy makers have debated what kinds of knowledge and skills that all schoolchildren should acquire. And those debates touch every aspect of a curriculum, its assessment, and its instructional materials. David A. Gamson, Sarah Anne Eckert, and Jeremy Anderson trace the history of…

One of the most pressing concerns identified in current European educational discourse is about the transitions of students from school to higher education and from educational institutions to the labour market. Government anxieties over the precariousness of the future has led to increasing regulation and measurement of "skills" and…

Last year the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) celebrated its 100th birthday. Founded in 1915 as the Association of American Colleges (AAC) by a group of presidents from mostly religiously affiliated liberal arts colleges, its high-minded intent was to promote "higher education in all its forms" and "to…

States across the nation are turning their aspirations for college and career readiness for all students into action. They are moving beyond policy and practice centered on a floor--aiming for students to attain minimal proficiency on basic academic standards--to a new focus on ensuring that all students develop the capacity to demonstrate mastery…

At present, India's education system turns out millions of young people who are ready to think, but not enough people with entrepreneurial or employment skills. As India faces increasing limits on its resources, both economic and natural, the competency and capability of human resources play a pivotal role in developing and sustaining the economy.…

This article describes an initiative to provide IS management a capstone course that builds on the zone of proximal development concept, oriented towards developing prioritization and critical reasoning skills, and to promote self-learning. Request for proposal business cases appear to offer effective mechanisms for retaining context, while…

Much attention has been given to the idea that librarians working in K-12 schools who graduate from school library programs are not simply book-shelvers, quietkeepers, and break-givers to other teachers. Rather, they are important members of the school community's instructional team and are certified educators qualified to deliver instruction…

Competency education, an educator-led reform, is taking root in schools and districts across the country. In some states, state leadership has cleared the path with policies to advance competency education. This paper seeks to map out the terrain of the district implementation strategies being used to convert traditional systems into personalized,…

The document presents unit plans which offer lists of experiences and competencies to be learned in the construction, planning, and building of fences. The lessons are comprised of seven areas: (1) planning the location and arrangement of fences, (2) fencing and fence building equipment, (3) types of fences, (4) constructing fences, (5) end and…

A competency-based skill development and assessment procedure is used in an interpersonal communication course (SpCom 100) at Golden West College in California. SpCom 100, which offers 18 to 24 sections each semester, includes eight units: the interpersonal process, conversation, self-concept and disclosure, perception, verbal language, nonverbal…

This article defines competency-based education for consultant trainees and describes some of the more common approaches used in identifying, organizing, classifying, and evaluating competencies that training programs seek to develop in consultants-in-training. The differences in the delivery systems for CBE and more traditional training models…

Specific skills to be mastered by social work students are identified and a competency based framework for teaching them is delineated. Embodied in this approach is a task centered method of instruction and a "micro" or transactional approach to assessing and advancing students' skill levels. (Author/MLW)

Argues that educational focus is stronger and clearer with educational competencies rather than with educational objectives. (SL)