Competency Based

Training

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 1

 What is competency based training?

CBT focusses on what a person can DO in the workplace as a result of completing a programme of
training.
Competency based training, also known as competency based learning, is the recognised training
method for vocational training.

When you complete a CBT course, you will have the skills and knowledge you need to complete
specific workplace activities at an industry standard of performance, in a range of work
environments and situations.

Competency based training is ideally not “time based”.

In CBT, as soon as you show you have the required competency, you can move on to the next one.
This means you can complete the training at your own pace.
It also allows you to complete your study much more quickly than in a time-based learning
system.

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 2

 Why Is Competency Based Learning
So Effective And Valuable?
Consultation with industry to design qualifications is one of the major advantages of competency
based learning in vocational education. This means the skills you learn in your training are sure to
be desirable in the industry in which you plan to work.

Focused Learning Outcomes

• The learning materials in CBT are designed to ensure you learn the exact outcomes (ie skills
and knowledge) required to complete each unit.
“No grades and nobody fails”

Hands-On & Book-Based Training

• Training can take place on or off the job using a wide range of learning and assessment
methods.
• Many competencies are learnt and assessed in a hands-on way; you will actually do the skill
or action being assessed, often in a simulated or real workplace.

• You may also work on projects, case studies, gather and create documents, complete written
activities, research or write answers to questions.

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 3

 How Does Competency Based
Training Relate To Industry?

Competency based vocational training is designed with consultation with industry. As a result,
qualifications are designed so that you can do a specific job and have become legally required or
highly desirable for many roles.

Required To Get Specific Jobs

Some competency based training is linked to rules, regulations and laws.
For example,
• Certificate IV is the minimum standard to train and assess students in the vocational training
system.
• Likewise, the Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care is the minimum standard to
work as a childcare professional in long day care centres or operate a family day care service.

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 4

 Dimensions of Competency

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 5

 What are the dimensions of
competence?

The dimensions of competence are a list of workplace-related factors that trainers and assessors must take into
account when building a picture of competence, developing and delivering training plans, and assessing
competence.

• Task skills
Involve the ability to perform individual tasks as per workplace expectations

• Task management skills

Involve the ability to manage a number of different tasks, operations, activities within the job role or work
environment and meet deadlines

• Contingency management skills

Involve the ability to respond to irregularities and breakdowns in routine

• Job/role environment skills

Involves the ability to deal with responsibilities and expectations of the workplace, including working with
others and meeting personal responsibilities to maintain a healthy, safe and productive workplace.

Many people also consider the importance of transfer skills, defined as the ability to perform the task
consistently in the workplace, given the variety of situations in which the task may need to be performed.

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 6

 What is competence?

• In traditional assessment a student who gets 80% on a summative test may have
80% mastery of all learning outcomes but have no mastery what-so-ever of 20% of
learning outcomes.

• To be competent, the learner must be able to demonstrate skills and knowledge

against the whole range standards.

• The consistent application of knowledge and skill to standard of performance

required in the workplace. It embodies the ability to transfer and apply skills and
knowledge to new situations and environments.

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 7

 To be competent..

Where a student is assessed as satisfactorily performing all the required assessment

tasks to the required standard for a specific competency and having the combination
of knowledge, formal and informal skills, training, experience and behavioural
attributes required to perform a task or role.

Skills ↔ knowledge ↔ attitudes

Candidates must demonstrate the skills, knowledge and attitudes required to perform
the work task or activity being assessed

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 8

 Skills ↔ knowledge ↔ attitudes

Skills - An ability and capacity acquired through deliberate, systematic, and sustained
effort to smoothly and adaptively carryout complex activities or job functions involving
ideas (cognitive skills), things (technical skills), and/or people (interpersonal skills).

Knowledge - is a familiarity, awareness, or understanding of someone or something,

such as facts, information, descriptions, or skills, which is acquired through experience
or education by perceiving, discovering, or learning.
Knowledge can refer to a theoretical or practical understanding of a subject

Attitude - is a positive; negative or mixed evaluation of an object that is expressed at

some level of intensity. It is an expression of favourable or unfavourable evaluation of
a person, place, thing or event.
These are fundamental determinants of our perceptions of, and actions toward all
aspects of our social environment.

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 9

 Skills ↔ knowledge ↔ attitudes

Driving a car

Examples of skills, knowledge and attitudes needed to drive a car include:

Skills • Efficient driving techniques (reverse parking)

• Able to adjust your side mirrors & driving at round-a-bouts & T junction

• Know the best way to merge in traffic

• Keep your hands on wheel at the proper position

Knowledge • Driving gears, turning signal & handling procedures

• Read a tire pressure gauge
• Checking water, oil gauge and brake oil

Attitudes • Confidence in driving a car (auto or manual)

• Commitment to drive safely and abiding by the road safety rules

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 10
 Skills ↔ knowledge ↔ attitudes

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 11

 Skills ↔ knowledge ↔ attitudes

So how do we teach skills, knowledge and attitudes?

We can teach knowledge and skills—
Teaching attitudes isn’t quite so easy! We can’t teach (or ‘preach’)
attitudes, but we can teach skills and knowledge such that learners will
build confidence and commitment to perform consistently at work, as
they develop skills and knowledge.

Emphasise:
We train skills and knowledge
We build the right ‘attitudes’ through HOW we train the skills and
knowledge

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 12

 Benefits of CBT

• Improves relevance to the workplace – employers can employ

people who are already competent.

• Improves consistency of training outcomes across training

organisations using the same standards.

• Keeps learners engaged in the learning.

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 13

 Characteristics of CBT

• Progress is not necessarily based on time

• The learner either can or can not (yet) do the thing that they
are learning about.

• Learners are not expected to perform tasks better than

others, or in competition to others.

• Based on the concept that learners can learn transferable

skills.

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 14

 Characteristics of CBT

1. CBT focuses on what a person can do, not how they learned how to do it
In a CBT system, a person earns a statement of attainment or qualification when
they demonstrate their ability to perform task/s to a competent standard.

2. Criteria-referenced assessment
Competency-based assessment aims to be an objective process in which candidates
are evaluated according to the criteria outlined in the relevant competency standards.
Therefore, everyone is trained and assessed against a consistent standard that is
nationally-recognised.

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 15

 Characteristics of CBT

3. Recognition assessment

Also known as recognition of prior learning (RPL) or recognition of current competence (RCC)
Recognition assessment is an important characteristic of CBT. It is an assessment process
whereby people are assessed and given formal recognition for competence they already have,
regardless of how it was learned. Recognition assessment means that people may be assessed
without having to be trained first.

4. Flexible and personalised delivery

CBT is client-focussed, meaning that training and assessment approaches must be appropriate
and relevant for the client.

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 16

 Competency Based Assessment

Scenario

“ I train all my staff how to make coffee.

To test their ability, I give them a sheet of written questions to answer. Is

this enough evidence under a competency-based system to prove they
have the required skills and knowledge? ”

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 17

 Competency Based Assessment

“ Right, so I could just forget about the questions and get them to
demonstrate their skills to me? ”

No. Although demonstrating skills is an acceptable form of assessment, it would

not be sufficient evidence to prove the learners' competency.

To satisfy the requirements of the TVET system, assessors need the learner to
demonstrate their competency in more than one way.

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 18

 Competency Based Assessment

Assessment is the process of:

collecting making a
evidence judgement

…about whether competency has been achieved

….to confirm that the individual can perform to the standard

required in the workplace,
5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 19
 Assessment Activity

1. Watch the demonstration on making a stress ball.

2. Follow the assessment instructions for making a
stress ball in groups of 3.
3. Each person to make a stress ball and then use peer
assessment to assess competency in making a
stress ball.
4. Moderate your assessment decisions with another
group using the rubric

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 20

 Stress Balls

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 21

 Standards

• Competency is about being able to perform the skills

to a certain standard.
• Performance standards should be set by industry.
• What standards do you use?

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 22

 Active Learning Strategies

• For competency based training to succeed, teachers

must be using Active Learning Strategies.
• Active learning is about using activities to do the
teaching.

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 23

 Action based learning

5/07/2018 Competency-Based Training_Raj.K 24