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Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 76 (2013) 754 – 758

5th International Conference EDU-WORLD 2012 - Education Facing Contemporary World

Issues

Competency-Based Education – Implications on Teachers’

Training
Nadia Laura Serdenciuc*
Teacher Training Department, Stefan cel Mare University,Universitatii Street,no.13,Suceava, 720229, Romania

Abstract

The present study calls attention on a series of tendencies in the contemporary theorizing of competency-based education,
raising awareness on the necessity of an integrative approach of learning experiences and on the specificity of the curricular
design centered on beneficiaries, having the intention to delineate some coordinates that must be taken into account in the
process of the initial and continuous teacher training programs development. The issues presented in the study are in
accordance with the current concerns in the Romanian education system for reorganization of the professional qualification
route for becoming a teacher.

© 2012
2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the University of Pitesti, Romania

Keywords: teacher training ; competency-based education; intervention; competency-based curriculum design

1. Paper Rationale

Human development faces nowadays the challenges of knowledge society and requires a broadened
educational approach sustained by the extension of the learning contexts. Therefore the educational purposes
must reflect a responsive approach to the learning needs of the potential beneficiaries. Dealing with a new
perspective of knowledge management in a global economy, education systems must evolve focusing on
rethinking the teaching–learning process in order to prepare better individuals for meeting the changing social
and economic demands.

* Corresponding author. Tel.: +40743171748.

E-mail address: [email protected]

1877-0428 © 2013 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd. Open access under CC BY-NC-ND license.
Selection and/or peer-review under responsibility of the University of Pitesti, Romania
doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2013.04.200
 Nadia Laura Serdenciuc / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 76 (2013) 754 – 758 755

Changes in education may be due to a globally thinking but there must be a specific approach for each
national education system regarding curriculum design and the specific involvement of the educational actors in
the process of implementing innovation.
Beginning from 1990, Romanian education system passed through a series of changes, at different levels of
its functioning, in order to enhance the quality of instruction. Teacher training process plays an important role in
the whole context on education reform and that is why today we are facing a growing interest from the part of the
national policy makers regarding the improvement of teacher training programs.
The purpose of this study is to raise awareness on teacher training programs development in Romanian
education system in accordance with the perspective of knowledge capitalizing, shifting emphasis from knowing
to doing, through integrative learning experiences building.

2. Teacher training issues and competency- based education meanings in the recent literature

The literature of the recent years is helping us to recognize that the teacher training has to be a priority for the
reform of education (A. Hargreaves, 1994, 2003,D. Gatlin, 2009, I. Gatt, 2009, D. Loewenberg- Ball, F. M.
Forzani, 2009, L. Darling-Hammond, 2010, G. Sykes et al., 2010, , T. Kleickmann et al., 2012). The traditional
way of schooling, content-centered, required good specialists in the field of every school subject matter, therefore
teacher training focused on teachers’ content knowledge and pedagogical content knowledge (T. Kleickmann et
al., 2012). In the context of a knowledge –based economy the teaching force has to be prepared to adopt a
„complex, evolutionary and responsive approach” regarding educational reforms (D. Gatlin, 2009). The
expanded access to learning opportunities, for the potential beneficiaries, beyond the traditional way of delivered
school instruction, sustains an educational approach focused on competencies, as a result of the integrative
learning experiences, bounding skills, abilities and knowledge in combinations used for efficient task performing
(Jones et al., 2002). The subject’s interaction with the complexity of real- world situations, in terms of an
efficient task performance, sustains the necessity of transferable, context-free structures mentioned in literature
as: key competencies, core skills, foundation skills, essential skills (S. Kerka, 1998).
In the 1970s, an educational movement in the United States focused on Competency Based Education –(CBE).
K. S. Weddel (2006), delineates its specific traits, as presented in many theoretical studies: an approach to
education, emphasizing on the outcomes of learning, related to the changing need of beneficiaries, in a complex
structure of knowledge, skills, attitudes and behaviors, that sustain learner’s effective performance in relation to a
task, or a problem-solving situation in the real world.
Literature mentions different kind of approaches for CBE: the behaviorist framework and the integrated
approach (that accepts different levels of competence: novice, experienced, specialist, competence is used in
variable contexts, and it is interpreted not as trained behavior but as a reflective context generating a
developmental process) compatible with the cognitive view of learning. (S. Kerka,1998). Competency- based
education is viewed in opposition to content-drive programs. (J. Hill, P. Houghton, 2001). Another perspective
on the design of competency- based pathways goes so far as to replace the time-based system with a modular
mastery learning perspective (C. Sturgis, S. Patrick, 2010) focused not on minimal but on excellence standards.
Competency- based education initiatives focuses on metacognitive self-awareness in an experiential learning
perspective that sustains the transfer of learning outside the classroom (J. Hill, P. Houghton, 2001). A knowledge
–based pedagogy is replaced by a skill- based pedagogy (McEvoy et al. 2005), without being reduced to skills,
bounding knowledge, attitudes and behavior with the management of emotions in association with experiential
learning and with the metacognitive process. (J.Hill, P.Houghton, 2001).

3. Teacher training in the Romanian education system – specific traits and spaces for intervention

The initial teacher training (which grants the right to teach in middle schools, high-schools, colleges and
higher education institution) is provided, in Romania, by Teacher Training Departments, specialized structures
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functioning within universities. An analysis of this type of training, presented in a report prepared for Eurydice
on the structures of education and the training system in Romania (EURYDICE, CEDEFOP, ETF, 2009/10),
suggests that besides many positive consequences of theoretical and practical training during the years of study in
university there are some malfunctions regarding „a marginal position of psychological, pedagogical and
methodological subjects in the general academic program compared to specialist subjects.”(p.45). Having in
intention to improve the process of developing teachers’ competencies, the new Romanian law on education
(National Education Law no. 1/2011) stipulates a new pathway for the initial teacher training: a two-years master
program followed by a year of practical in-service training in an educational institution. This regulation will be
applied starting with those who complete their under-graduation studies in the 2013-2014 academic year, as we
find out from the Order of Minister 5745/2012.
So the issue of structuring the curriculum for the new form of the initial teacher training, conceived as a
master program, is on its way to a full development, is calling both the attention of education policy makers and
the implication of higher education institutions, as actors that will proceed to the implementation of what should
be an improved psycho-pedagogical program, in accordance with the needs of the education system functioning
in a knowledge based society.
Another Order of Minister - 3841/2012 outlines the legal framework for the initial teacher training through a
master program specifying the conditions for its organization. Worthy of note for our analysis is the set of
competencies to be developed during the master studies: 1. Ability to transfer procedures form the scientific
specialist domain, acquired during the undergraduate studies, to a relevant methodology for the corresponding
school subject matter; 2. Ability to identify problems faced by students in the teaching-learning-assessment
process and to design possible solutions; 3. Ability to develop research projects in the class/school for the
improvement of teaching process and for metacognitive competencies development; 4. Ability to communicate
research/teaching experiences to different partners within educational community; 5. Ability to engage in
activities for the promotion of teaching practices and experiences having a social and an ethical impact, in a
mono and a transdisciplinary perspective. From the first two categories of competencies stated in the educational
policy document we can easily conclude that the content knowledge and the pedagogical content knowledge (T.
Kleickmann et al., 2012) are unfortunately on the top priorities and this perspective places, by default, the
beneficiary of education in the position of an object for instruction and not as an active subject (the mismatches
between the educational offer, represented by the teaching-learning-assessment activities, and the needs of
beneficiaries, are viewed as „problems” that must be solved). Although the curricular documents mention
competencies as purposes of the subject matters teaching, the teacher training programs are still designed in a
traditional way of content- based instruction. The last three categories from the above mentioned set of
competencies put in relation teachers with the whole educational community, but there are still some ambiguous
references to the „metacognitive competencies development” and to the „mono and transdisciplinary perspective”
related to the promotion of the teaching practices.

4. Competency- based education perspective as an option for the improvement of teacher training
programs

The revitalization of teacher education (D. Gatlin, 2009) must have in attention the extension of the teachers’
responsibilities focused on the connections built between the curriculum and the student, during the instructional
delivery (H.J. Stronge et al., 2011), to a learning environment providing that sustains the competencies
development. This type of approach fundamentally changes the teacher responsibilities: facilitator, coach of
learning, oriented on proficiency. (C. Sturgis, S. Patrick, 2010). The initial teacher training programs oriented on
competency-based education must be also accompanied by an upgrade of the teaching force (B. Ward,1985)
through continuous professional development programs .
We consider that taking in account: the educational reality approach in terms of efficiency generated by the
need to balance the educational offer with the demands of the potential beneficiaries, the extension of formative
 Nadia Laura Serdenciuc / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 76 (2013) 754 – 758 757

intentions on many more categories of beneficiaries (according to the view of learning society), the emphasis on
the behavioral dimensions of the acquisition capitalizing and the use of performance standards (having the
intention to raise the quality of education), we must consider competency- based education as a curricular design
principle, sustained by an official recognition in the policy documents. Teacher training process must consider
competency-based education both as a developmental context of professional skills and as an integrative
principle of strategies oriented on the elaboration, planning, implementation and evaluation of learning
experiences offered to potential beneficiaries.
We propose a comparative view of the two opposite concepts: content-based education and competency based
education, associated to a few specific traits in teacher’s profile, on a basis of a literature analysis .
Content- based education (viewed as traditional education): focuses on the subject knowledge acquisition (J.
Hill, P. Houghton, 2001); emphasizes on cognitive skills and abilities (T. Lobanova, Yu. Shunin, 2008);
„knowledge precedes application” (M. S. Lilly, 1979); the opportunities to apply „the body of knowledge” are
focused on the „practice of skills” and not on the „demonstration of the attained skills” (this perspective do not
ensures the possibility to practice independently the acquired skills); reflects the perspective of „doing
something” and the measurement of knowledge is usually done through written and oral tests (M. S. Lilly,
1979).
Competency-based education (CBE): focuses on developing key competencies necessary for the successful
participation in social life: „skills in processing information, solving problems, critical thinking, possessing
native and foreign languages, systemic thinking, life-long learning competence” (T. Lobanova, Yu. Shunin,
2008); values experiential learning (J. Hill, P. Houghton, 2001), „integrated and problem-based curricula” (D.
Loewenberg Ball, F.M. Forzani, 2009), cognitive and metacognitive learning (J. Hill, P. Houghton, 2001), non-
cognitive aspects of learning: practical skills, attitudes, motivation, values play an important role (T. Lobanova,
Yu. Shunin, 2008), management of negative emotions (J. Hill, P. Houghton, 2001), settings of the knowledge
application must be both supervised and independently organized (M. S. Lilly, 1979), the specificity of activity
in contextual situation generates development of competencies (T. Lobanova, Yu. Shunin, 2008), perspective of
„being able to do something”(M. S. Lilly, 1979), the measurement of knowledge requires its systematic
application (M. S. Lilly, 1979), the attainment of competencies can be assessed also by observation and role-
playing in simulated situations (J.P. Mahon, 1980).
A possible teacher’s profile viewed in CBE perspective: ability to design learning experiences taking in
account the compatibility between the student needs and the educational offer, related to efficient task performing
in real situations; having a critical approach to reality (E. Yogev, N. Michaeli, 2011);helping students to transfer
outcomes of learning outside the classroom (J. Hill, P. Houghton, 2001); using the technology in alternative ways
and having an extended cultural competence (D. Loewenberg Ball, F.M. Forzani, 2009); opened to change
(E.Yogev, N.Michaeli, 2011); stimulating active forms of learning (J. Hill, P.Houghton, 2001); sustaining the
collaborative work of students (D. Loewenberg Ball, F.M. Forzani, 2009);involved as a partner in the process of
emotion regulation; able to perform action research (K.S.Volk,2009); effective classroom management skills (J.
Stronge et al., 2011); designer of effective learning opportunities; having effective communication skills; using
the maximum potential of learning opportunities; thinking in alternatives; acting in a proactive way; building a
learning community; shifting emphasis from knowing to doing inside or outside the classroom; learning
facilitator; having a skill-oriented approach to learning; fair and respectful in relationship with students (J.
Stronge et al., 2011); considering assessment as an integrated part of the learning process.
Therefore we suggest some directions of action in the process of teachers training programs improvement,
related to the meanings of the competency-based education: rethinking teaching competencies from the
perspective of desired learning outcomes in compatibility with the demands of knowledge society reflected in
CBE; building training programs in a perspective of the integrated learning experiences, linking theory and
practice in a genuine way, inside and outside the classroom; developing a curriculum based on the cognitive
view of learning; bounding the theoretical psycho-pedagogical and scientific specialized training with the in-
service training process, for a coherent pathway of professional development in the teaching career; broadening
the approach on theoretical and practical training in a transdiciplinary view.
758 Nadia Laura Serdenciuc / Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences 76 (2013) 754 – 758

Conclusions

Teaching profession must be built on a proactive behavior, on the basis of an increased sensitivity to the
training needs determined by the mutations in the socio-economic sphere associated to the mission of maximizing
the human resource potential, in the context of openness to lifelong learning. The transdisciplinary vision on
training is linked to the need of building integrative learning experiences that allows the transfer of learning
outcomes to specific and nonspecific contexts, raising the individual chances for the social integration and for
the professional success. The issues presented in the study open the opportunity to reflect on teacher training
issues from the perspective of competency –based education as a possible response to the current concerns in the
Romanian education system for the reorganization of the professional qualification route for becoming a teacher.

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