{"id":139946,"date":"2022-02-16T18:05:28","date_gmt":"2022-02-16T17:05:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/medios.uchceu.es\/actualidad-ceu\/?p=139946"},"modified":"2022-02-16T18:10:57","modified_gmt":"2022-02-16T17:10:57","slug":"competency-based-learning-bolognas-impossible-dream","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/medios.uchceu.es\/actualidad-ceu\/en\/competency-based-learning-bolognas-impossible-dream\/","title":{"rendered":"Competency-based learning: Bologna\u2019s impossible dream?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A lot of water has flowed under the bridge since the Bologna declaration at the end of the 1990s. It was the project began to establish the European Higher Education Area \u2013 the aim being to make higher education across the continent more inclusive, accessible, attractive and competitive. The process was a lively one, peppered with communiqu\u00e9s and conferences in different member states about issues such as mobility and qualification frameworks. Yet one of its most enduring challenges for academics has been competency-based learning. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rosa Garc\u00eda Bellido is the Vice-Dean for Primary and Early Years Education at the CEU Cardenal Herrera University. For her, \u201cthe idea behind this kind of learning is that it will provide us with the kind of adaptable skilled professionals that the dynamic knowledge economy needs to move forward, when today information is available at the touch of a button with today\u2019s technology. That\u2019s why universities have move away from being mere transmitters of knowledge to a new model, which is about showing students how to use the knowledge they have, or, to put it another way, to enable them to acquire the skills and competencies that today\u2019s society needs.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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‘If you\u2019ve got a teacher who knows the theory but can\u2019t handle a real class, then something has gone wrong’ <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why do we need competencies? <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSkills, or competencies, are the key to enable professionals to do their jobs. In response to this pedagogical challenge, some say that universities are not vocational training colleges, but, in fact, aren\u2019t we in the business of educating tomorrow\u2019s professionals? I would say that we are,\u201d says Garc\u00eda Bellido. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThinking about a specific area, if you\u2019ve got a primary teacher who knows the theory but can\u2019t handle a real class, then something has gone wrong. Some might say that students already do placements in schools, but we have to remember that in these placements the students work alongside a teacher who can help them to learn some, but not all, of the skills and competencies that a teacher needs. This is something that the teachers who act as tutors of trainee teacher tell us: that, at university, the students don\u2019t learn how, for example, to deal with parent meetings, or they don\u2019t have strategies to deal with different kinds of student needs, or that they don\u2019t get the chance to experience team teaching or to learn how to deal with conflict with colleagues. In short, there\u2019s more to it than just acquiring knowledge \u2013 students have to know how to use the knowledge they have. That\u2019s where competency-based learning comes in.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tomorrow\u2019s professionals <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 \u201cThe kind of employees that companies are looking for are those who are flexible and adaptable, who have learnt how to learn \u2013 which is a competency. They need people who can think critically, who can reflect on problems, and who are open to new ways of doing things, in addition to the competencies which are specific to each profession.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe ability to keep on learning is the most essential of them all \u2013 students must learn how to learn, because new professions are emerging all the time and we have to adapt to these changes as they come. If you know how to access, acquire, and, especially, manage knowledge, then the adaptation process will be that much easier,\u201d says Garc\u00eda Bellido. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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‘ The first thing to do is for the lecturer to move out of the spotlight and let the students take centre stage’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Universities: must do better?  <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe competency-based learning promoted by the Bologna process should not be perceived as an impossible dream, as something unattainable. On the contrary, this process is a great opportunity for universities to break out of a model that has become obsolete.\u201d  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSome universities have really taken competency-based learning seriously, because they realize that this is what the situation is and they see that there is a change in student behaviour, encouraging the lecturers to explore new ways of teaching.  But then many universities are finding it difficult to move out of the comfort zone and they\u2019re reluctant to change their approach to learning,\u201d says Garc\u00eda Bellido. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe fact is that change can be scary, especially when you\u2019ve been teaching the same way for many years. We all have a tendency to stick what we know, but we have to face up to the fact that it isn\u2019t working any more and that our students are switching off.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nevertheless, Garc\u00eda doesn\u2019t think that competency-based learning means that lectures are obsolete. \u201cOf course they are necessary, but a practical component is just as important, so that students can see why they need to learn that knowledge \u2013 how they can apply it in a professional setting is the key,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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