The Basics of CompetencyBased Training

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27 February 01 March 2011

The Basics of Competency-Based Training

The Basics of Competency-Based Training (CBT)

Competency (Latin: competere, to be suitable) is ability to perform tasks and duties according to the jobs expected standards 1. A competent worker is able to mobilize the necessary knowledge, skills, and attitudes (KSA) in order to achieve intended results according to quality standards 2. It demands the creation of conditions for trainees to articulate enabling them to act in an innovating and responsible manner. From the definition above, a competency has three (3) components: knowledge, mental skills (cognitive); skills, manual or physical skills (psychomotor); and attitudes, growth in feelings or emotional areas (affective), Figure 1.

Figure 1. Components of a Competency.

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Australian National Training Authority SENAI, Methodologia de Elaboracao de Perfis Profisionalis, Brazil, 2002. ......... | Swisscontact South Asia Regional Office 78K Park Road, Baridhara, Dhaka Bangladesh Tel. No. +88 02 9552663

The Basics of Competency-Based Training

According to International Labor Organization (ILO), a competency encompasses four aspects of work performance 3: (1) task skills, perform individual workplace tasks; (2) task management skills, manage a number of different tasks within a job; (2) contingency management skills, respond to irregularities and breakdowns in routine; and (4) job/role environment skills, deal with the responsibilities and expectations of the work environment. A fifth one, transfer skills, deal with the transfer of competencies into any given situation. The link between the elements of competency and dimensions of work performance is illustrated in Figure 2.

Figure 2. The Dimensions of Work Performance

1.2.

Training

Training is the process which deals primarily with acquiring KSAs to meet present or future work performance. Training programs are classified in many ways: type, duration, objective and specialization. It may be obtained from the formal (technical colleges), non-formal (vocational training institutions) and informal systems. Its duration may vary, ranging from short-term (hours, days, weeks) to long-term (six months and above). Training may also be classified according to objective (basic training, upgrade training, job transfer training and retraining) or according to specialization (technical, agricultural, nursing, fisheries, health, commercial and business, home economics, etc.)
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Guidelines for Development of Regional Model Competency Standards (RMCS)

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The Basics of Competency-Based Training

Competency-based training programs are carried out through both four modalities 4: school-based, center-based, community-based, and enterprise-based. 1.1. 1.2. 1.3. School-based refers to the direct delivery or provision of vocational or technical programs by post-secondary technical schools or institutes. Center-Based refers to training provisions undertaken by training centers in selected occupational sectors. Community-Based refers is addressed to the poor and marginalized groups, those who can not access formal training provisions. It is designed to catalyze the creation of livelihood enterprises that shall be implemented by the trainees immediately after the training i.e. metal enterprise assistance through self-help association for productivity Enterprise-Based are programs implemented within companies or firms. They may be: 1.4.1. Apprentice programs, training and employment involving a contact between an apprentice and an employer on an approved apprenticeable occupation. Only companies with apprenticeable occupation can hire apprentice. 1.4.2. Dual Training System is an instructional mode of delivery for technology-based education and training in which learning takes place alternately in two venues: the school or training center and the company.

1.4.

1.3.

Competency-Based Training

Taking these two etymologies, CBT means a learning intervention intended to build competencies. It is actually learning by doing. CBT is a structured approach to training that is directed toward specific outcomes. Such outcomes are clearly stated so that learners know exactly what they have to be able to do, trainers know what training or learning is to be provided and organizations know the skill levels required of their people. It emphasizes how a trainee performs rather than what information the participant has learned. Competency based training (CBT) is synonymously used with outcomes-based learning, systems approach to training, performance-based training, skill-based training, competency-based instruction, competency-based education, etc.

TESDA classifies programs into four modalities ......... | Swisscontact South Asia Regional Office 78K Park Road, Baridhara, Dhaka Bangladesh Tel. No. +88 02 9552663

The Basics of Competency-Based Training

2. Competency-Based versus Traditional Training CBT was introduced to address the necessity of a reformed TVET system one that should deviate from the much-criticized traditional system. Figure 3 overleaf presents the differences between traditional and competency-based training systems.

Figure 3. Traditional versus Competency-Based Training

3. Historical Background

The following theoretical and historical developments led to the evolution of CBT: 3.1.
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Task Analysis. In 1868, Victor della Vos 5 developed methods for task analysis based on Pavlovs theory of classical conditioning. According to him,

Director of St. Petersburg Imperial Technical College for Government Engineers, Moscow Russia, and the chief architect of Russias System of Manual Training

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The Basics of Competency-Based Training

the way to scientific tool instruction was to analyze the tools, the processes, the crafts, trades, materials into their elements and to arrange them in methodical courses of instruction. Inspired by Della Vos methods exhibited during the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, John D. Runkle 6 recommended the organization of instruction shops for engineering and other industrial fields. Calvin Woodward 7, also influenced by the Russian methods of tools instruction, established a manual training school. His school offered instruction in branches of education geared for practical life.

Figure 4. Historical and Theoretical Background of CBT as a System 3.1.1. Scientific Analysis of Human Action. In the 1920s, John Franklin Bobbit 8 addressed the concept of analyzing human experience prior to job analysis. He used an activity analysis method to divide human beings life a under ten activities: (1) language; (2) health; (3) national; (4) social; (5) mental health; (6) leisure; (7) religious; (8) relatives; (9) occupational; (10) non-occupational practical. And the explanation of these activities is the connotation of educational object. He felt that the curriculum was a way to prepare students for their future roles in the new industrial society. He influenced the curriculum by showing how teaching classical subjects should be replaced by teaching subjects that correspond to social needs

6 President of Massachusetts Institute of Technology 7 Regarded as the Father of Manual Training, and the founder of St. Louis Manual Training School 8American educationist and a member of the committee to writer the Philippine elementary school curriculum ......... | Swisscontact South Asia Regional Office 78K Park Road, Baridhara, Dhaka Bangladesh Tel. No. +88 02 9552663

The Basics of Competency-Based Training

3.1.2. The Sputnik Crisis The launch of Sputnik I and II in 1957 - October 4 and November 3 respectively shocked the US which at that time failed in their two attempts to launch a space satellite. The US decided to retool and rework their education system, providing among others new efforts in vocational education to meet critical manpower shortages in the defense industry. This led to the introduction of competency-based training based on the view that standardized training outcomes can be achieved by all learners if a thorough analysis of the behaviors demonstrated by any competent performer is undertaken and then transposed into a set of standardized learning sequences. 3.1.3. The Spread of CBT Movement. The CBT is being influenced by two schools of thought: behavioral psychology and systems theory. In the 1960s, the emphasis were on the expression of competencies in behavioral terms and on the observable behaviors of the learner. However, not all cases of learning can be easily captured by conditioning. Ten years later, cognitive learning theory was introduced with the view that human beings can learn efficiently by observation, taking instruction, and imitating the behavior of others. Thus, five related developments fed into the design of CBT: Blooms mastery learning; criterion-referenced testing; competency testing; competence in education; and programmed learning. In the US, CBT spread from teacher education to other programs, such as dentistry and nursing. Then it has spread to Europe and Australia due to government pressure, employer pressure and changing organizational structures. It was promoted considerably in the United Kingdom as part of government reform of vocational qualifications using formally recognized industry-led bodies to develop competency standards. 4. Benefits of CBT 4.1. To the Students/Trainees/Employees, CBT can: 4.2. Provide a clear direction for acquiring competencies Provide a systematic and flexible method of acquiring competencies Provide opportunity to master specific competencies at their own pace Ensure an accurate documentation of all acquired competencies Provide a mechanism to recognize competencies acquired through experience and other alternative means Ensure a self-paced, individual-based open-entry/exit training system

To the Teachers/Trainers, CBT can: Use time effectively as a facilitator or learning rather merely provider of information Simplify assessment process Adjust training time depending on individual abilities

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The Basics of Competency-Based Training

4.3.

To the Employers, CBT can: Increase a pool of competent workers based on their needs Reduce cost of employee recruiting, training and development Help develop trusting and collaborative industry-institution relationship Adjust the training time without sacrificing the quality of the trainees

4.4.

To the Institution, CBT can: Provide consistent instruction and reduce variations in teaching, potential shortcuts and improper methods Ensure efficient and effective utilization of learning resources Help improve relations with and get support from the industry

......... | Swisscontact South Asia Regional Office 78K Park Road, Baridhara, Dhaka Bangladesh Tel. No. +88 02 9552663