1. COMPETENCY- BASED EDUCATION
CURRICULUM.
Competency-based education (CBE)
CBE is an institutional process that moves
education from focusing on what academics
believe graduates need to know (teacher-
focused) to what students need to know and be
able to do in varying and complex situations
(student and/or workplace focused).
Competency based education: focuses on
outcomes of learning.

2. CBE addresses what the learners are expected
to do rather than on what they are expected to
learn about. CBE emerged in the united states in
the 1970s and refers to an educational
movement that advocates defining educational
goals in terms of precise measurable
descriptions of knowledge, skills, and behaviors
students should possess at the end of a course
of study.

3. Competency Based Education is outcome based
instruction and is adaptive to the changing needs of
students, teachers, and the community.
Competencies describe the student’s ability to apply
basic and other skills in situations that are commonly
encountered in everyday life. Thus CBE is based on a
set of outcomes that are derived from an analysis of
tasks typically required of students in life role situations.

4. Competencies consist of a description of the
essential skills, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors
required for effective performance of a real-world
task or activity. These activities may be related to
any domain of life, though have typically been linked
to the field of work and to social survival in a new
environment.
Competencies are essential skills that adults need
to be successful members of families, the
community, and the workplace.
„

5. CBE is focused on outcomes (competencies) that are
linked to workforce needs, as defined by employers and
the profession. CBE’s outcomes are increasingly
complex in nature, rather than deriving from the
addition of multiple low-level objectives. CBE often
necessitates more complex assessment, involving
portfolios, experiential learning assessment in field
experience, demonstration in varying contexts.
Competencies reinforce one another from basic to
advanced as learning progresses.

6. Competencies within different contexts may require different
bundles of skills, knowledge and attitudes. The challenge is to
determine which competencies can be bundled together to
provide the optimal grouping for performing tasks. Another
challenge is designing learning experiences that support
students as they practice using and applying these
competencies in different contexts.
Continual refinement of defined competencies is necessary so
that enhanced performance in a variety of contexts can be
assessed. In essence, CBE is a process, not a product.

7. CBE is more than an effort to describe or list educational
and behavioral objectives. The early emphasis on
behavioral learning objectives was on reliable observation
and judgment. To this end, writers of behavioral
objectives were encouraged to state outcomes in
operational terms, which can be observed using
consistent observational processes allowing for no
interpretation In an attempt to achieve this reliability, a
behavioral verb from a list of behavioral verbs
(state, list, name, recognize, describe, calculate, describe
, explain, synthesize, analyze) was required to begin the
objective.

8. Competency Based Education (CBE)
Competency Based Education (CBE)
Assses Participant
Needs.
Evaluate
Competency Select
Attainment Competencies
Target
instruction

9. COMPETENCY BASED EDUCATION
PROGRAMS
1-Specific, measurable competency statements
2. Content based on learner goals (outcomes/competencies)
3. Learner continues in program until demonstrating mastery
4. Use a variety of instructional techniques and group activities
5. Focus on what the learner needs to learn, which is the application
of basic skills in a life skills context
6. Use texts, media, and real life materials geared to targeted
competencies
7. Provide learners with immediate feedback on assessment
performance
8. Pace instruction to learner needs.
9. Have learner demonstrate mastery of specified competency
Statements.

10. Competency-based education primer.
Competency-based education is an outcomes-based
approach to education where the emphasis is on what
comes out of postsecondary education—what graduates
know and can do—rather than what goes into the
curriculum. With a competency-based approach, you do
begin preparing a course syllabus by identifying content
and readings. Instead, you begin by identifying
competencies and then select the content, readings, and
assignments to support student attainment of those
competencies.

11. With a competency-based approach, students advance
when they have demonstrated mastery of a
competency, which is defined as “a combination of
skills, abilities and knowledge needed to perform a task
in a specific context.” Mastery is the sole determinant of
progress, which means that delivery options multiply
and expand since any instructional method or
instructional provider that can move a student toward
mastery is theoretically acceptable.
In competency-based education, assessment is
embedded in every step of the learning process in
order to provide students with guidance and support
toward mastery. This heightened level of assessment is
designed to build competencies in real time.

13. Conclusion
It is possible that competency-based education could
serve as a game changer in postsecondary
education, delivering high-quality education experiences
that lead to demonstrated learning and mastery at an
affordable price. Over the past decade we’ve learned
much about established organizations but there remains
a great deal to learn about the mix of
technology, curriculum, and processes that could turn
competency-based education into a true game changer
in postsecondary education.