COMPETENCY BASED TRAINING IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN
Recent developments. Some experiences. January, 2003

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The Technical Institute for Training and Productivity (INTECAP) in Guatemala (www.intecap.org.gt) has incorporated the labour competency focus into its institutional management. This is how the NORTE model came about (in Spanish NORTE stands for Technical Standardization of Competencies).

In conceptualizing the model, INTECAP has defined labour competency as: The group of activities, dexterities, skills, knowledge and attitudes required to carry out with quality certain production functions in a labour context. The capacities and functions are defined by industry, and have to be measured by the labour performance of the worker. INTECAP recognizes three types of competencies: Basic: Those of a training nature which a person needs in order to perform any production activity, such as the ability to read, interpret texts, apply numerical systems, know how to express himself, and know how to listen. These competencies are acquired gradually in the course of a lifetime, and also through formal education. Generic: The knowledge and abilities which are associated with the development of different occupational fields and sub-fields and branches of production activity. That is to say, they are the competencies which define a concrete profile for different activities in the world of work (sectors and economic branches), for example, analyzing and evaluating information, working in a team, contributing to the maintenance of safety and hygiene in the workplace, planning activity, etc. These competencies can be acquired autodidactically, through educational and training programs, or in the workplace. Specific: These are competencies associated with the technical knowledge and skills which are necessary for executing a production function. Generally, they have to do with a specific language and with the use of particular instruments and tools, for example welding with oxyacetylene equipment, preparing the hot rolling mill for laminating, or evaluating the performance of a candidate. They may be acquired and developed through the training process, in the workplace, or autodidactically.

The model is being applied in the design of plans and didactic materials, in competency evaluation and certification, and in consultancy processes in human resources management.

Since 1998, INTECAP has been adapting a model of evaluation, certification and training for labour competencies to its institutional structures and activities. It is mainly based on technical norms which show the quality requirements for a human resource for a production function, and this it covers the current training needs of the country's industrial sectors. So as to obtain a general methodological framework from different points of view and in diverse areas of application, experiences have been compiled from countries such as Mexico, Colombia, Brazil and Venezuela, as well as European countries like Italy and England.

Because of the importance and the many applications of labour competencies, INTECAP has assumed the responsibility for developing not only the model of training management by labour competency, which is its core area of operation, but also the model of human resources management by labour competency.

The model is called NORTE, and is made up of five components:

1. Standardization
2. Design of vocational training
3. Evaluation
4. Development of training events
5. Certification

In 2002, INTECAP intensified its participation in the development of the competency focus, and this is how it produced a number of publications which are cited below:

· Basic and generic competencies
· Management of human resources by labour competency
· Cases of the management of human resources by labour competency

All these publications center on the development and application of the competency focus, and, as can be seen, the focus has been widened to include human resources management, which is a sign that INTECAP has been working jointly with companies.

The National Service of Occupational Training in Industry (SENATI) in Peru (www.senati.edu.pe) has defined vocational training as all systematic activity for the development of vocational competency. Competency is conceived of as the conduct of efficient action which is the result of technical, social, methodological, ethical and evaluative competencies.

Technical competency is limited to the application of technological knowledge that is specific to the occupation in question. Social competency is centered on communication, team work, human relations and the exercise of citizenship. Methodological competency has to do with the capacity to reason, mastery of the symbolic language, the resolution of problems, and the capacity for permanent learning. Lastly, ethical competency refers to professional responsibility and the exercise of fundamental human values.

The Inter-American Centre for Knowledge Development in Vocational Training (ILO/Cinterfor)
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