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This contribution shows an example of how an assessment innovation can serve as a flywheel for changing teaching and learning. This article first explains the development of an authentic, competence-based performance assessment in pre-vocational secondary education (pre-VET). Using these assessments in pre-VET, that is preparatory to VET, is important for motivating students for a future in VET. Second, in an action research 34 teacher teams of 11 pre-VET institutions implement the new assessment, supported by researchers and teacher coaches, to illuminate how it motivates students, prepares them for VET, and influences teaching and learning. Data from 76 teachers, 68 students, 24 teacher coaches and 3 researchers showed how implementing these assessments raised questions about changing educational content and pedagogy to fit a competence-based approach. Increasing teachers' expectations of students, changing student-teacher interaction patterns, and developing teachers' practical understanding of competencies and how they can be observed and discussed in assessments are some of the intriguing challenges that require further support for proper implementation of competence-based assessments and developing an aligned competence-based teaching and learning process.

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This contribution reviews how four European countries - England, Germany, France and the Netherlands - use the concept of competence in the process of developing vocational education and training [VET]. Competence in England is set in the context of the National Vocational Qualifications; in Germany within action competence and the approach to learning areas; in France within the Emploi Type Etudie dans sa Dynamique (ETED, translated by Cereq as Typical Employment Studied in Its Dynamics) and the bilan de competences; and, in the Netherlands, the concept is strongly linked to the development of a competence-based qualification structure for senior secondary vocational education. The nature of this review is rather descriptive as it aims to present a comparison of the meaning and use of the concept of competence within these respective countries. It can be concluded that despite a certain amount of diversity, especially at the instrumental level, there is enough conceptual convergence within the four above-mentioned countries to posit some common principles of competence and competence-based VET. In a subsequent contribution, Mulder et al. (this issue [indexed at TD/TNC 89.74]) will present a more critical analysis of the literature on the competence concept and its use. To avoid unnecessary overlap, the list of references for this article will be included in that second critical literature review.

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This paper investigates the realisation of competence-based education (CBE) in vocational education in Indonesia. It examines the extent to which CBE design principles of the Comprehensive Competence-Based Education Framework developed in a Western context exist in Indonesian policy documents and school practices. This study reviews educational policy documents and collects cross-sectional survey data from 41 school principals, 453 teachers, and 2219 students from 41 agricultural vocational schools in five provinces of Java, Indonesia. Results showed that the ten CCBE principles listed in the framework exist to large extent in Indonesian policy documents. School principals, teachers, and students noticed the realisation of CCBE principles in the study programme to differing degrees, except for the principle of flexibility that was largely absent. The level of CBE implementation varied, from the level of starting competence-based to that of largely competence-based education. The findings contribute to the discussion of CCBE design principles and lesson learned of CBE implementation in a non-western perspective.

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This handbook considers the changing worlds of work to which vocational education and training (VET) must respond, as well as insisting that VET should not be narrowly seen to cater only for the formal economy. Issues of economies of care, the challenge of sustainability, planning, and finance are considered, as are the rise of private provision and the role of training in enterprises of varying sizes. The handbook also considers the evolving nature of vocational learning and how this intersects with curriculum and instruction, with a particular emphasis on the major debates about competence that have characterized the field for a quarter century. Since learning cannot be considered in isolation from teaching or the education of teachers and instructors, this is another strand of the handbook that flows into discussions on the measurement of both instruction and learning. While the learning-teaching relationship is of key importance, recent years have seen growing interest in questions of wider learner support and the handbook also contains a section on this issue. The handbook contains almost 100 chapters from an international group of authors, addressing issues from the perspective of small-scale and detailed empirical work through to national and comparative surveys. The handbook is also future-focused in identifying promising new directions in research and development.

Edited excerpt from publication.

The contents of volume one are as follows: Part one, 'The changing world of work', edited by Margarita Pavlova and Salim Akoojee, contains the following chapters: Skills forecasts in a rapidly changing world: through a glass darkly / Rob Wilson (pages 3-21); TVET teaching in the time of digitization / Mike Douse and Philip Uys (pages 23-38); Skill India: new skills development initiatives in India / Anita Sharma and Kenneth King (pages 39-61); Information and communication technologies (ICT) in VET in Russia: new developments / Tatiana Dobrydina, Nadezhda Usvyat, and Tatiana Shipilova (pages 63-77); The international quality competition and its implications for vocational education and training / Felix Rauner (pages 79-101); Informal economies, work-based learning, and sustainable national skills development in Africa / Salim Akoojee (pages 103-120); Innovation skills in apprentice training / Ludger Deitmer (pages 121-137); Challenges to agency in workplaces and implications for VET: mechatronics artisans in the automotive sector in South Africa / Angelique Wildschut and Glenda Kruss (pages 139-157); Migrants in the labor market: implications for TVET / Joyceline Alla-Mensah, Haya Fakoush, Simon McGrath, and Volker Wedekind (pages 159-175); The Fourth Industrial Revolution: trends and impacts on the world of work / Sang Yun Kim (pages 177-194); Greening of the economy through partnerships: issues and impacts on skills development / Margarita Pavlova (pages 195-218). Part two, 'Skills for sustainable human development', edited by Lesley Powell, contains: Transformative learning in English further education / Vicky Duckworth and Rob Smith (pages 221-236); Analyzing PIAAC through the capability approach / Aurora Lopez-Fogues and Rosario Scandurra (pages 237-257); Skills development and TVET policies in South Africa: the human capabilities approach / Siphelo Ngcwangu (pages 259-272); Vocational education and training beyond human capital: a capability approach / Jean-Michel Bonvin (pages 273-289); Enabling vocational lecturer capacities toward sustainable human development: toward radical revisioning / Kathija Yassim, Neville Rudman, and Lucky Maluleke (pages 291-308); Making a life: doing, radical humanism, and agency / David Balwanz (pages 309-322); VET contribution to human development within a context of marginalization: the case of Palestine / Randa Hilal (pages 323-350); Gaining more than just vocational skills: evaluating women learners' aspirations through the capability approach / Rebecca Suart (pages 351-367); Capability or employability: orientating VET toward 'real work' / Lesley Powell and Simon McGrath (pages 369-392); A capability approach to entrepreneurship education: fostering recognition and community care to address inequalities for marginalized youth / Joan DeJaeghere (pages 393-411); A political-economy orientation in TVET's project-based learning methodologies for sustainable development / Emilia Szekely (pages 413-429.

Part three, 'Planning and reforming skills systems', edited by Robert Palmer, contains the following chapters: Financing technical and vocational skills development reform / Robert Palmer (pages 433-454); TVET reform and qualifications frameworks: what is known about what they can and can't do? / Stephanie Allais (pages 455-472); TVET financing and employer's ownership in skills training for an emerging workforce / Santosh Mehrotra and Ashutosh Pratap Singh (pages 473-489); Governance of labor market and skills intelligence as driver of VET reform / Konstantinos Pouliakas and Antonio Ranieri (pages 491-511); Role of ICT in enhancing scale, quality, and reach of TVET in India / Ajay Balakrishnan, Srividya Sheshadri, Akshay Nagarajan, R. Unnikrishnan, Sreeram Kongeseri, and Rao R. Bhavani (pages 513-531); National policy framework development for workplace-based learning in South Africa / Ronel Blom (pages 533-549); Integrating work-based learning into formal VET: towards a global diffusion of apprenticeship training and the dual model? / Markus Maurer (pages 551-567); Careers guidance and job placement services: the missing link between education and employment / Muriel H. Dunbar (pages 569-584); Financing skills for work in post-2015: mobilizing the private sector / Ana Rosa Gonzalez-Martinez and Ben Gardiner (pages 585-602); Enhancing permeability between vocational and tertiary education through corporate learning / Thomas Schroeder and Peter Dehnbostel (pages 603-625); Vocational student organizations and student success / Chris Zirkle and Jeremy Jeffery (pages 627-643); Skill mismatch research: skill dimensions in vocational education and training / Seung Il Na (pages 645-673). Part four, 'Private training markets', edited by Michael Gessler, Larissa Holle, and Susanne Peters, contains: Concepts of apprenticeship: strengths, weaknesses, and pitfalls / Michael Gessler (pages 677-709); Executive learning and development / Marco Sampietro (pages 711-728); Informal workplace learning: turning the workplace into a learning site / Heta Rintala, Petri Nokelainen, and Laura Pylvas (pages 729-742); Antecedents of team learning distilled from both qualitative and quantitative research / Renate Wesselink (pages 743-764); Human resources management and human resources development / Jurgen Radel (pages 765-787); Governing adult education policy development in Europe: a critical appraisal of the renewed agenda for adult learning / Marcella Milana and Gosia Klatt (pages 789-812); The changing role of the corporate trainer: the shift from 'training' to 'talent development' / William J. Rothwell, Jae Young Lee, and Patricia Macko (pages 813-827); Public education institutions as providers of private training programs: degree apprenticeships in the United Kingdom / John P. Wilson (pages 829-845); Motivation and engagement of learners in organizations / Christof Nagele and Barbara E. Stalder (pages 847-861); Technical and vocational education and training in small- and medium-sized enterprises: a critical overview / Harry Matlay and Rob F. Poell (pages 863-875); Inclusion of unemployed people at social risk and private training markets in Ireland, Portugal, and Spain / Jesus A. Aleman Falcon and Maria A. Calcines Pinero (pages 877-900); The Brazilian vocational education and training 'nonsystem': the alliance between public funding and private management / Elenice M. Leite (pages 901-922); E-learning at the workplace / Graham Attwell (pages 923-947).

The contents of volume two are as follows: Part five, 'Vocational learning', edited by Karen Evans and Natasha Kersh, contains the following chapters: Vocational learning: fresh perspectives / Karen Evans (pages 951-962); Shaping occupational biography and working conditions: a pedagogical principle in different VET systems / Gerald Heidegger and Wiebke Petersen (pages 963-982); Students' vocational learning: enabling conditions for putting knowledge to work / Maria Gustavsson and Daniel Persson Thunqvist (pages 983-1000); Older workers' vocational learning: taking activities and personal senses into account / Maria-Cristina Migliore (pages 1001-1018); Creativity development and vocational learning / Antje Barabasch (pages 1019-1035); Working and learning from a Bernsteinian perspective / Sai Loo (pages 1037-1052); Developments in research on vocational learning: a perspective from China / Yujing Li and Dayong Yuan (pages 1053-1070); Facilitating lifelong learning through vocational education and training: promoting inclusion and opportunities for young people in the UK / Natasha Kersh and Nathalie Huegler (pages 1071-1087); Past and present developments in vocational learning in Eastern Europe: the case of Hungary / Andrea Laczik and Eva Farkas (pages 1089-1105); Cultural diversity and vocational education and training / Marianne Teras (pages 1107-1119); Knowledge, practice, and workplace learning / Jim Hordern (pages 1121-1134); Generalizing from qualitative research: a reconceptualization based on vocational learning examples / John Guenther and Ian H. Falk (pages 1135-1152). Part six, 'Competence and excellence', edited by R. Kirby Barrick, contains: Competence and excellence in vocational education and training / R. Kirby Barrick (pages 1155-1166); Foundations of competence-based vocational education and training / Martin Mulder (pages 1167-1192); Attributes of vocational excellence / Murari Suvedi and Ramjee Ghimire (pages 1193-1204); Recognizing and developing vocational excellence through skills competitions / Susan James Relly and Ewart Keep (pages 1205-1217); Competency proficiency scaling / Vidmantas Tutlys, Jonathan Winterton, and Giuseppe Tacconi (pages 1219-1238); Skills competitions for promoting vocational excellence / Petri Nokelainen, Laura Pylvas, and Heta Rintala (pages 1239-1250); Educating for vocational excellence / Ruhi Tyson (pages 1251-1266); Twenty-first century skills / Catherine A. DiBenedetto (pages 1267-1281); Intercultural competence: toward global understanding / Laura Pylvas and Petri Nokelainen (pages 1283-1295).

Part seven, 'Measuring learning and instructional performance', edited by Esther Winther, contains the following chapters: A conceptual framework for authentic competence assessment in VET: a logic design model / Viola Deutscher and Esther Winther (pages 1299-1312); Assessing learning outcomes in vocational education / Hamish Coates (pages 1313-1328); Performance-based tests: using role plays to assess communication skills / Edith Braun, Ulrike Schwabe, and Daniel Klein (pages 1329-1338); Competence-based tests: measurement challenges of competence development in vocational education and training / Christian Michaelis and Susan Seeber (pages 1339-1358); Self-assessment for learning in vocational education and training / Ernesto Panadero, Daniel Garcia, and Juan Fraile (pages 1359-1370); Assessment through simulated conversations: applications in medical and teacher education / Johannes Bauer, Martin Gartmeier, and Anne B. Wiesbeck (pages 1371-1387); Self-assessment and self-reflection to measure and improve self-regulated learning in the workplace / Mariette H. van Loon (pages 1389-1408); Electronic portfolios enhanced with learning analytics at the workplace / Marieke van der Schaaf (pages 1409-1428); Spelling assessment, learning, and instruction in VET / Tessa Daffern (pages 1429-1444); Professional competence assessment diagnostics as an instrument for quality assurance in TVET / Zhiqun Zhao and Yingyi Zhou (pages 1445-1467). Part eight, 'Supporting learners', edited by Joy Papier, contains: Realizing standards of practice in VET / Maggie Gregson and Brian Todd (pages 1471-1492); Supporting vocational and technical learning in post-16 education in England / Jaswinder K. Dhillon (pages 1493-1506); Competence diagnostics and competency development in vocational education and training / Felix Rauner (pages 1507-1534); Supporting TVET learners' success with peer-facilitated learning and active citizenship / Nick Zepke (pages 1535-1547); Vocational diversification and influences of social class and gender in educational decision-making: the case of University Technical Colleges in England / Ann-Marie Bathmaker (pages 1549-1564); Development of occupational competence in technical and vocational education and training (TVET) college students: role of assessment feedback / Patricia Jacobs (pages 1565-1579); Student support structures for transitioning from vocational to university education: a South African case study / Seamus Needham (pages 1581-1592); Systematizing student support services in TVET colleges: progressing from policy / Joy Papier and Tim McBride (pages 1593-1607).

Part nine, 'VET teacher/trainer education', edited by Volker Wedekind, contains the following chapters: Vocational teachers' knowledge, experiences, and pedagogy / Sai Loo (pages 1611-1625); The importance of VET teacher professionalism: an Australian case study / Erica Smith (pages 1627-1648); Professional development of vocational teachers in Zimbabwe: the past, present, and future / Chenjerai Muwaniki and Volker Wedekind (pages 1649-1665); Teachers' resilience in vocational education and training (VET) / Viviana Sappa, Elena Boldrini, and Antje Barabasch (pages 1667-1684); Vocational teacher preparation: the United States / Chris Zirkle (pages 1685-1700); TVET teachers in the changing world: the case of Russia / Anna Muraveva and Olga Oleynikova (pages 1701-1715); Vocational teachers and in-company trainers in Mexico: under-trained and under pressure / Kristina Wiemann (pages 1717-1731); Teacher training education for VET teachers in India / Matthias Pilz and Uma Gengaiah (pages 1733-1746); Vocational school teacher education in Switzerland: roles, responsibilities, and training / Anna Keller and Antje Barabasch (pages 1747-1767); Pedagogical issues in vocational teachers' learning: the importance of teacher development / Janet Hamilton Broad (pages 1769-1786); VET practitioner education in Australia: issues and approaches / Hugh Guthrie and Roger Harris (pages 1787-1805) [available in VOCEDplus at TD/TNC 136.118]. Show less

This contribution follows the descriptive review [indexed at TD/TNC 89.73] of Weigel, Mulder and Collins regarding the use of the competence concept in the development of vocational education and training in England, France, Germany and the Netherlands. The purpose of this contribution is to review the critical analyses brought forward by various authors in this field. This analysis also remarks on the most important theories and critiques on the use of the competence concept in the above-mentioned states, The systems of vocational education within the four states covered in this study are: the National Vocational Qualifications in England, the approach to learning areas in Germany, the ETED [Emploi Type Etudie dans sa Dynamique, translated by Cereq as Typical Employment Studied in Its Dynamics] and the bilan de competences in France, and the implementation of competence-based vocational education in the Netherlands, and these are the respective focal points for the critical assessments of the competence concept presented here. These critiques encompass such aspects as the lack of a coherent definition of the concept of competence, the lack of a one-to-one relationship between competence and performance, the misled notion that employing the concept of competence decreases the value of knowledge, the difficulties of designing competence-based educational principles at the curriculum and instruction levels, the underestimation of the organizational consequences of competence-based education, and the many problems in the field of competence assessment.

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