<<indice

6. CONCLUDING REMARKS

Unlike what people might think, what is novel about labour competency is not its theoretical support (which dates from the 1970s), nor is it the focus on results rather than on the educational credential. Training institutions award vocational aptitude certificates that are widely recognized by companies, and implicitly carry the seal of quality of the training received.

The analysis of work is the first new aspect to focus on results rather than on tasks and operations. But one of the crucial aspects of the application of this focus is its effect on management systems in training institutions, and its impact on the analysis and certification of competencies as an element of equity and the recognition of knowledge acquired at work.

Training institutions which have adopted the competency focus in the generation of their programs have quickly realized how this has become an excellent alternative for the orientation of their institutional modernization programs, and for generating real technical unity when it comes to needs identification, the structuring of responses, and the execution and evaluation of training.

Experiences like the SENAI in Brazil and INTECAP in Guatemala show the need for and the advantages of fitting the training system into a clear institutional framework which works in favor of the modernization of management and of technical and operative unity.

Furthermore, if certification is taken not as a credential awarded at the end of an educational cycle but as evidence that the possessor is competent, this ensures that his knowledge, skills and understanding are relevant to a job. A worker's competencies, such as the capacity to analyze, to solve unforeseen problems and commitment to the objectives of the job, are now being recognized along with his knowledge and skills.

The analysis of competencies has been a breath of fresh air for the pedagogy of training, and in fact it has varied the way training programs are made. With the competency focus, training institutions are drawing closer to companies and workers when it comes to preparing their programs. This makes the new offers of training highly relevant.

It has also allowed the well-known subject of the recognition of knowledge to be introduced. It is true that in the 1970s and 1980s some institutions improved mechanisms for evaluating and "validating" certificates, but now the perspective is one of recognition, the idea that work allows acquired knowledge, which is undoubtedly a vehicle for labour competency, to be developed and transferred.

Some big challenges remain, like the continuous optimization of the offer of training by competencies and its relation to the new information and communication technologies, and institutional capacity to offer open, modular and flexible training.

The actors in the field of training have found new methodologies to make radical innovations in the ways in which training takes place and in its ultimate objective of developing the capacity to apply knowledge, attitudes and comprehension in work situations to get results. This works in favor of better programs which should facilitate access to more participants. To this end, the administration of education is fundamental. The capacity to manage human and physical resources in new training schemes which lend viability to the enormous renewing potential of the competency model will be one of the crucial areas in the training panorama in the years to come.

 

 

 

The Inter-American Centre for Knowledge Development in Vocational Training (ILO/Cinterfor)
Avda. Uruguay 1238 - Montevideo - Uruguay - Tel: (5982) 908 6023 - 902 0557 - 908 0545 - Fax: (5982) 902 1305
webmaster@cinterfor.org.uy

Copyright © 1996-2008 International Labour Organisation (ILO) - Disclaimer