Competence

There is a growing movement to define competency within the field of marriage and family therapy (MFT), particularly with respect to the training of practitioners and the evaluation of clinical practice. Efforts to define competency, however, transcend the practice of MFT and much can be learned from the experiences of other disciplines. Professions such as education, law, and medicine have made strides toward addressing the complex issue of competency standards in their respective fields. This article describes some ways in which the issue of competency has been approached in other professions, as well as some common dilemmas posed by adopting a competency-based orientation, to shed light on the process of defining competency in MFT. Moreover, this article identifies some of the more useful conceptualizations, modes of pedagogy, and evaluative practices found in other professions.

"The professional development and the improvement of the quality of adult learning staff have been recognised as a priority at European level. However, at European and national levels there is not always a clear view of the competences needed to fulfill the professional tasks in adult learning, partly due to the diversity of the field. In several European countries, competence profiles and standards for adult learning staff (referred to hereafter as adult learning professionals) have been developed and implemented, although their scope of application differs considerably between institutional and regional levels. Therefore, the European Commission decided to finance a study on key competences for adult learning staff. The aim of this study is to come up with a set of key competences which can functions as a reference for Europe and which can be used by Member States on a voluntary basis.
The study has been carried out by Research voor Beleid in partnership with the University of Glasgow, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, and the University of Leiden. During the last year the research team has studied a large number of documents on the duties, tasks, responsibilities, roles, competences and work environments of adult learning professionals, described them in a narrative, organised an expert meeting for modeling the key competences and discussed the outcomes of this modeling exercise with a broad group of stakeholders all over Europe. Overall the research team’s opinion is that this study has triggered an intensive and stimulating professional debate, and we are confident that the set of key competences could play an important role in structuring future debates and developing policies for improving the quality of adult learning.
This report contains the outcomes of this study:
- Chapter 1 presents as an executive summary the set for key competences of adult learning professionals.
- Chapters 2 to 6 contain the report on the study on key competences of adult learning professionals.
- Chapter 7 and 8 provides information about the sources and literature used in this study.
- In the last chapter a short description is given of the educational programmes and job descriptions used to ground the set of key competences in empirical reality. These educational programmes and job descriptions have been taken up as case-studies in the report."

Deployment of appropriate skills and competencies is crucial and germane to the development and continuous relevance of any profession. In the built environment, the science for selecting the required skills and competencies expected of quantity surveyors and understanding the inherent dependencies between them remains a research issue. The purpose of this study was to determine the skill requirements and competencies expected of quantity surveyors. A structured questionnaire was administered among quantity surveyors, architects, engineers, builders and clients in Nigeria. The respondents were asked to give rating, on a 5 point Likert scale, on usual skills and competencies required of quantity surveyors. A secondary objective of the study was to examine the important skills and competencies and categorized them into core skill, basic skill, core competence, optional competence and special competence. The results of the study indicate the important skills as computer literacy, build...

One of the major roles in promoting accounting convergence is played by big accounting firms (Big 4). The objective of this paper is in this context to analyze and question the role of big auditing firms in developing and implementing IFRSs worldwide, in order to better understand the convergence process. This is a research note intended to contribute to the debate on the role of auditors in general and in the context of IFRSs application in particular, to raise some questions and to identify future research directions, and to invite to reconsider the hidden aspects (both positive and negative) of apparently simple issues. We identify some questions to be addressed in the future regarding the competence of Big 4 in IFRSs, the relationship with their clients issued from this well-known competency and the associated issues of independence.

The authors turn to the urgent task of vocational training in higher education: the formation of legal competency, ensuring that students acquire a non-legal direction in the preparation of basic knowledge and skills on general and special issues of their future professional activity, reflected in the legislation of the country. The aim of the study is to consider the organizational and pedagogical conditions under which the formation of the legal competence of students of non-legal areas of training in higher education will be effective. The authors, indicating the sources that contain studies on the formation of legal competence of students, provide various interpretations of the concept of legal competence. The effectiveness of the formation of the legal competence of students in non-legal areas of higher education depends, according to the authors,  on the interconnectedness and interdependence of the components: motivational-value, cognitive, communicative-creative, personal-activity, reflective-evaluative.

Action research is an approach to enquiry that forges linkages between research and teaching, with each potentially informing the other in a responsive and creative cycle. This paper provides an overview of a pedagogic action research project which was undertaken in order to respond directly to learning needs expressed by a group of second year students on a Masters programme in Learning and Teaching. An espoused aim of the MA programme is to facilitate the enhancement of the students' competency in reflective practice. This paper outlines the process that took place when learners openly communicated some difficulties they had in this regard, in particular when faced with the challenge of writing their reflections in a manner that consistently demonstrated a capacity to be critical. It adumbrates the two specific actions that were taken within the context of the living theories approach to action research - the use of Socratic questioning and the development of a new approach to...

ABSTRACT India has emerged as a global hub for IT industry with the segment having undergone rapid transformation and a phase of accelerated growth. Despite the recent downturn, the IT sector in India has managed to secure a double digit growth rate. With intense global competition, the companies are operating in an environment encompassed by technological innovation and change. Empowering and retaining employees are major challenge for an IT company because when opportunities and challenges are numerous, flow of employees between one company and another becomes commonplace. Therefore, attrition continues to plague the industry making it one of the foremost concerns of the sector today. Studies have shown that empowering employees not only makes a significant difference in their performance and outlook towards work but is also a means of creating greater effectiveness. Although, there have been studies analysing the impact of various factors (including empowerment) on turnover intention, studies of such nature are few in the Indian context. This study, therefore, aims to explore the influence of psychological empowerment on turnover intent of software professionals in IT product and services companies in India.

This article examines the jurisdiction of arbitral tribunals to rule on their own jurisdiction. It reviews arbitral jurisdiction in the United Kingdom by considering the principle of competence-competence as provided for in its arbitration law. The term competencecompetence – also referred to as competence sur la competence or kompetenz-kompetenz – confers a right on arbitrators to decide their own jurisdictional authority to hear a dispute and is essential to the practice of international commercial arbitration. 1 Although this principle is ∗ Ozlem Susler is a lecturer at La Trobe University, Australia where she has recently submitted her doctoral dissertation on the jurisdiction of arbitration tribunals. She has been involved with the Willem C Vis East International Commercial Arbitration Moot as a coach and judge for a number of years. 1 The principle of competence-competence is defined as the arbitrators’ power to determine their own jurisdiction, to hear and determine the dispu...

This paper sets out to examine the facts behind the trade of long distance transportation of cattle. In particular it looks at the various welfare implications during handling and transport with examples from research work on cattle. The role of the science is explained and the methodology for assessing the welfare of animals is then presented. Finally, public concerns and legal position are presented as they play an important role to promote farm animal welfare principles during transportation.

... RCT speaks to the inherent power experienced in relationships (Walker, 2002). ... (2002). Education standards. Retrieved Decem-ber 8, 2006, from https://www.arttherapy.org/pdf/ staepedstandards.pdf American Dance Therapy Association. (2005). ...

This article explores relationship lending in the small business context: it discusses the roles of entrepreneurial competence and voluntarily disclosed information as determinants of credit access. More specifically, it proposes that the loan manager’s evaluation of the information voluntarily disclosed by the entrepreneur is an important complement to publicly available financial data and soft information collected through observation and third parties in framing the loan manager’s perception of entrepreneur competence. Further, the article argues that banks charge lower interest rates if the loan manager perceives the entrepreneur to be competent. Econometric analysis based on 433 bank–firm relationships supports these hypothesised relationships. The results imply that entrepreneurs need to communicate their competence effectively to loan managers, and that banks should utilise these personal evaluations as inputs to lending decisions.

In a recent edition of Perspectives on Politics, Larry Bartels examines the high levels of support for tax cuts signed into law by President Bush in 2001. In so doing, he characterizes the opinions of “ordinary people” as lacking “a moral basis” and as being based on “simple-minded and sometimes misguided considerations of self interest.” He concludes that “the strong

In this study, the effects of personal factors relevant for academic achievement and beliefs about mathematics on performance in modelling tasks are illuminated and empirically validated. Relations between performance in certain steps of the modelling process and reading competence, mathematical competence, general knowledge, word comprehension, fluid intelligence (reasoning ability) and beliefs about mathematics are particularized. Empirical validity of the postulated relations was tested by a structural equation approach with a sample of 959 students (grade six). Model fit and parameter estimates support the postulated relations between these personal factors and performance in mathematical modelling. Thereby, the construct of mathematical modelling was illuminated and conclusions for fostering mathematical modelling could be drawn by accounting for those personal factors affecting academic achievement that are related to mathematical modelling.

In this paper, I consider whether a theoretically defined concept of underclass can be helpful in social scientific discourse. I analyze, review and categorize the concept of a underclass and I made some suggestions for a use of the concept application in the study of social, psychological and moral consequences of poverty. It begins with a discussion of the continuing and pervasive appeal of structural explanations as the root cause of poverty. Then are also examined cultural theories, which by contrast find explanation for poverty in various elements of culture (ex. cultural traits of poor are thought to be different from those of the rest society). A third, a synthetic review of the urban underclass concept is explored. The article also describes the concept of a „culture of poverty” (taking into account the context of the subculture) and „lower class value stretch” as influential concepts in analyses of contemporary poverty and in explanations of the behavior of the poor.

Sensory over-responsivity (SOR) towards tactile and auditory input can impact children’s participation in academic and social activities; however the prevalence of SOR behaviors and their relation to social-emotional problems and competence has not been rigorously studied. This study investigated SOR in a representative sample of elementary school-aged children (n=925, 50 % boys, ages 7–11 years) who were followed from infancy. Sixteen percent of parents reported that at least four tactile or auditory sensations bothered their children. Being bothered by certain sensations was common while others were relatively rare. Parents of children with versus without elevated SOR in school-age reported higher frequencies of early and co-occurring internalizing, externalizing, and dysregulation problems, and lower levels of concurrent adaptive social behaviors. Early identification of elevated SOR and assessment of concurrent social-emotional status are important to minimize their impact on so...

The steady increase in science-related requirements in operational areas of skilled and managing workforce is influencing worldwide the discourse on shaping professionalization. This article focuses on the compatibility of professional and scientific competence-oriented learning outcomes of qualification programmes within and across the education and training sectors. It is assumed that there is not, per se, a conceptual dichotomy in designing education and training programmes and credentials in a competence-oriented manner to address complex professional and scientific requirements in education and training in a compatible way. The article tries to shift the discussion from a systemic and institutional focus to a conceptual-and requirement-oriented perspective on qualification design. Using Ger-many as an example, it discusses the conceptual intersections of Vocational Education and Training and academic Higher Education on competence, and comparatively analyzes competence-oriented instruments for the classification and the transparency of learning outcomes and their application in the education practice of dual study programmes with vocational reference qualifications. On this basis, the article elucidates identified characteristics of comprehensive professional-scientific competences and relevant requirement areas in education and training. In addition, further prerequisites for an integrated competence acquisition in education programmes are discussed as well. It is assumed that these characteristics can also be regarded as important prerequisites for the connectivity of qualifications and permeable pathways within and between education systems.