Competence-Based Assessment

by Alison Wolf

Competence-based assessment is the cornerstone of the UK Government's reforms of vocational training and of non-academic full-time education post-16. Australia has adopted similar policies, and there is considerable interest in the notion of 'competence' in both Europe and North America. Alison Wolf describes the main characteristics of the competence-based approach as it has emerged in the UK, and traces its origins in American experimental programmes of the 1970s. The arguments for the approach are discussed in detail. Many of these arguments derive from the demonstrable limitations of more conventional assessment, especially in predicting work performance. She then analyzes the theoretical assumptions which competence-based assessment shares with the criterion-referenced movement as a whole, distinguishing clearly between those claims which can be sustained and those which cannot. She also synthesizes the growing body of evidence on implementation. Many lessons have now been learned about whether and how one can establish a workable, robust and reliable competence-based system.; It has become evident both that the preconditions for success are often missing, and that, if they are ignored, competence-based 'reforms' may have largely negative consequences. The final chapter reviews the prospects for competence-based awards, and offers some conclusions on what is essential to a competence-based approach.

176 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Alison is a British author, academic and journalist, who also lived and worked for 10 years in the US, and manages to return there frequently. Her day job is in central central London, at King's College London, where she runs a public management Masters programme; but she also presents programmes for BBC Radio (Radio 4)and writes widely for national newspapers and magazines. Her most recent book, The XX Factor, was 'born of a sudden realization. People kept talking about 'women' as though we all had vast amounts in common. But this is completely wrong. The arrival on the planet of 70 million graduate, professional women has changed our societies from top to bottom, in ways we are only just starting to understand. Today's professional women are historically unique, and the book is about them. Since I'm one of them, it is also about my and my generation's lives. But it also about the differences between these 70 million and other women, and the widening gulf that spells the end of sisterhood.'