Examines three questions concerning a competency-based core curriculum in vocational agriculture: (1) What is it? (2) How does a competency-based core curriculum differ from other curricular approaches? (3) Should a competency-based curriculum be developed in a local district? (LRA)

Competence has varied meanings in everyday, academic, and vocational contexts. The normative positions of competency-based training and cognitive psychology have gone through various cycles. Reconciliation of differences depends on acknowledgment of the normative nature of competence and recognition of the context for advocacy of a particular…

Human patient simulators are computerized mannequins that present patient scenarios in which nursing students learn to assess critical health incidents. Their use involves faculty time and commitment, maintenance and upgrading investment, and careful scenario preparation. (Contains 20 references.) (SK)

Outlines an approach to curriculum development that stresses a competency-driven framework including competency identification, curriculum development, and performance measurement, as well as a component-based approach to educational development and training asset management. Set in a professional services firm, the framework could serve as a…

The Australian approach to postcompulsory education involves professional and academic bodies in defining competencies for higher-level qualifications, resulting in a competency-based qualifications system. (JOW)

Discusses the implementation of competency-based education and the Developing a Curriculum process (DACUM) in Canada. Provides definitions of the processes and their impact on school administrators, faculty and staff, and students. (JOW)

Competency standards can hinder vocational education by being confused with curriculum documents, by being used too early in the teaching process, and by being used to assess superficial aspects of occupations. Standards can help when competence is conceptualized in an integrated approach that is used to guide curriculum development, teaching, and…

Discusses benchmarking--finding and implementing the best practices--in business and industry and describes a model that can be used in vocational-technical education. Suggests that benchmarking is a tool that can be used by vocational-technical educators as they strive for excellence. (JOW)

Competency modeling is an attempt to describe work and jobs in a broader, more comprehensive way. Some organizations are restructuring their performance-management systems (interviewing, selecting, developing, rewarding, recognizing) around competence models. (SK)

The current state-dominated standards movement originated in the 1983 "Nation at Risk" report. Five different types of standards are usually considered when developing a standards-based school reform system: district, content, student performance, school delivery, and system delivery. Arguments for standards outweigh those against.…

Review of the theoretical foundations and current practices of competency-based training and reflective practice suggests that they function at different levels of teaching and learning but can be complementary. Competence in professional practice is interdependent with the capacity to go beyond competent performance to reflection in action.…

Interviews with over 200 people in 8 British and 2 Australian organizations identified 8 features of a healthy learning environment that contributes to organizational capability. Differences emerged between organization-driven and learner-driven learning activities. (Conains 74 references.) (SK)

Interviews with a small sample of adult students revealed that even highly literate and articulate learners had difficulty understanding the assessment language used in National Vocational Qualifications. This finding highlights the alienation learners can feel when adult education discourse uses jargon instead of learner-relevant language. (SK)

Classrooms across the country are discovering the power of service-learning--the ideal way to help students develop social and academic skills while giving back to their community. Now for the first time, there's a practical how-to guide on using serving-learning to promote inclusion and differentiate instruction for students with and without…