Competency based assessment – what is it?
Competency-based assessment is an approach to establishing occupationally-relevant standards of competence. The emphasis is on demonstrated competence in the attributes important to an occupation or profession, rather than measuring knowledge in isolation from skills, or on measuring the time that has been spent in formal professional or academic education (Masters and McCurry, 1990).
The linking of competence to employment was an initiative of the Commonwealth government in the late 1980′s resulting in the development of the Australian Standards Framework. In the vocational sector, the introduction of competency based training aimed to match training outcomes via a flexible and efficient workforce, whereas in the professions, competencies were linked only to the recognition of prior learning of non-Australian trained professionals. Generally most professions have now embraced competency standards and assessment into tertiary education (Phillips et al, 2000a).