> Competency-based training: Evidence of a failed policy in training
> reform.
>
> The political decision to implement competency-based training widely
> throughout vocational education systems in Australia, before rigorous
> evaluation through adequate pilot programs, was made because it was
> viewed as essential for increasing skill levels and work productivity.
> Recent data indicate that Australia's relative international
> competitiveness actually declined during 1994-97, suggesting an urgent
> need to reassess underpinning policies. Despite the marked reluctance
> of the Australian National Training Authority to commission studies
> specifically assessing the effectiveness of competency-based training,
> several independent studies have been carried out. These and other
> commissioned studies indicate some major problems with
> competency-based training which has not achieved stated objectives of
> increasing skill levels. Research also indicates that competency-based
> training has not been adopted widely by business and industry. The
> appropriateness of using public agencies to implement innovations
> which are untested, and may not be supported by the wider community
> intended to benefit from their introduction, is queried.
> Introduction
> The first impact of the technological and economic revolutions became
> apparent in Australia by the late eighties and brought recognition
> that more effective work and management practices, increased skill
> levels and better forms of training were required to counter increased
> international competitiveness and the effects of the globalisation of
> trade (Cullen, 1997; Industry Task Force, 1995). This led the
> Australian federal Labor government and the ministers responsible for
> vocational education and training in the states and territories to
> embrace competency-based training in 1990 as part of the Training
> Reform Agenda.
> Competency-based training was viewed as the foundation for reform in
> vocational and postcompulsory education (Beevers, 1993; Smith &
> Keating, 1997), and the means of increasing skill levels and
> productivity. Beevers (1993) considers that the particular form of
> competency-based training adopted was seen `as a universal truth and
> cure-all for problematic issues such as economic deterioration and
> workplace restructuring' in addition to providing `equitable access to
> vocational education and employment as well as the means of
> constructing the clever country' (p. 89). There were concerted efforts
> to ensure that newer competency-based training approaches (Hager &
> Gonczi, 1993) were implemented widely throughout technical and further
> education (TAFE) systems in Australia, in workplace training and in
> high schools where trade subjects are being taught. Competency-based
> training still remains a major plank in federal Coalition government
> policy with competency-based standards and assessment as essential
> elements in training packages, although the concept of a Training
> Reform Agenda has been supplanted (Hawke & Cornford, 1998).
> The controversy generated in academic and vocational education circles
> by the proposal to introduce competency-based training was
> considerable since it was seen by many as a simplistic solution based
> on a flawed ideology (see below). Despite claims by Smith (1997), that
> the debate has died down since `CBT (competency-based training)
> implementation has been inexorable ... and those "opposed" to CBT have
> lost the battle and perhaps lost interest' (p. 69), the debate over
> the effectiveness of competency-based training in raising the quality
> of skilling in Australia continues unabated (e.g. Foyster, 1997a,
> 1997b; Ryan, 1997a, 1997b). If anything, the debate has intensified as
> the focus has shifted from being largely academic to consideration of
> what has actually occurred in vocational areas where competency-based
> training has been introduced. The issues have become more serious
> since ineffective training will have substantial ramifications in the
> form of skill shortages and further reduction in international
> competitiveness (see Cullen, 1997).
> Almost a decade after the commencement of efforts for wider
> implementation of competency-based training, there is now a greater
> opportunity for gaining some perspective of what has resulted from its
> introduction. Competency-based training was introduced on the basis of
> apparent advantage, as perceived by a number of influential groups
> (see below), in the absence of any substantial empirical evidence as
> to its effectiveness in attaining desired goals. More recent studies,
> involving practical implementation, enable assessments about the
> effectiveness of competency-based training, and `whether the demands
> of policy makers are actually workable on the ground' (Collins, 1993,
> p. 12). It would appear important to submit to intense scrutiny again
> what was regarded as one of the underpinning policy initiatives to
> increase international competitiveness since the comparative ratings
> indicate that Australia's relative performance has actually declined
> between 1994-97 (Cullen, 1997).
> Although it has been argued that it is very difficult to measure
> competency-based training effectiveness because of differing views
> about what it involves (Smith & Keating, 1997, p. 111), it is argued
> here that improved skill performance in teaching-learning contexts
> operating under competency-based training and adoption of
> competency-based training by industry are the key elements. Both these
> elements relate directly to improved productivity and work
> performance. It is considered by the researcher that ultimately the
> success or failure of competency-based training rests upon pragmatic
> considerations, particularly whether it has been comprehensively
> implemented and whether it meets stakeholder needs.
> The diverse attempts to define competency-based training, lack of
> agreement on definition and the problems that this causes for
> implementation are problematic background issues. Although important,
> these specific issues are not explored further in this article, as
> they have already been well analysed previously (e.g. see Smith &
> Keating, 1997, pp. 101-108). This lack of agreed definition however is
> central to one of the main arguments advanced in this article, since
> it may be seen as symptomatic of the ideological and political nature
> of a paradigm implemented before there was any clear conception of
> what it involved (Raggatt, 1997). Whether such a system, lacking in
> conceptual clarity, can work in practice was recognised as a key
> question relatively early (Collins, 1993; Jackson, 1993). This article
> examines whether competency-based training is working in practice and
> producing superior skill performance. In the next section, the
> ideological nature of the competency-based training policy framework
> and the nature of related research commissioned by government agencies
> are briefly explored. Subsequent sections consider the development of
> competency-based training policies from a historical perspective, what
> has happened as a result of policy initiatives, empirical evidence
> that has emerged which indicates degrees of effectiveness achieved in
> the light of espoused objectives, and the current state of debate over
> the effectiveness of competency-based training policy.
> Politics, ideology and competency-based training
> Although Hager (1994, p. 3) argued that personal politics did not seem
> to indicate the position of individuals in the early debates on the
> introduction of competency-based training, the introduction of this
> over other possible approaches to upskilling has since come to be seen
> widely as political and ideological (Raggatt, 1997; Ryan, 1997a,
> 1997b; Stevenson, 1995). The decision was political in that there was
> agreement among a number of key groups with vested interests and
> little or no consultation with practitioners who had to implement it
> (Hawke & Cornford, 1998). Even the House of Representatives Standing
> Committee for Long Term Strategies (1995) accepted that the decision
> to adopt and implement competency-based training involved political
> leaders, business leaders and the trade union movement with little
> consultation with teachers and vocational education experts. Omission
> of teachers and vocational education experts from the consultation
> process was a serious miscalculation, since it is the teachers who
> implement such initiatives and are best able to make pragmatic
> judgements about the practical issues that are involved. Many concepts
> which may appear attractive political propositions are unworkable in
> practice (Cornford, 1997). Furthermore, as McBeath (1995) has pointed
> out, the history of curriculum innovation and change indicates that no
> new curricula have been successfully introduced without the support of
> teachers.
> Further evidence of the political, ideological nature of the decision
> to implement competency-based training can be identified through the
> absence of research funded by the Australian National Training
> Authority, and associated bodies clustered around the Department of
> Employment, Education and Training (now the Department of Employment,
> Education, Training and Youth Affairs - DETYA), to assess the
> effectiveness of competency-based training. A major theme of the
> inaugural Australian Vocational Education and Training Association
> Conference in February 1998 was the problem of obtaining substantial
> independent finance for vocational education and training research
> since the Australian National Training Authority constituted the sole
> major source with projects advertised closely linked to the Australian
> National Training Authority agendas (Maglen, 1998). A distinction is
> drawn here between whether skill levels increase as a result of
> competency-based training as opposed to research into the extent to
> which it has been introduced into TAFE settings (Smith, Hill, Smith,
> Perry, Roberts, & Bush, 1995) or the ways implementation has altered
> teachers' work (Smith, Lowrie, Hill, Bush, & Lobegeier, 1997).
> Failure to conduct research into competency-based training
> effectiveness in raising skill levels is curious as the Training
> Reform Agenda was based on achieving effective performance in an era
> of economic rationalism. As such, lack of such research can be
> attributed to ideology or blind optimism and is linked to the failure
> by the Federal Government and the Australian National Training
> Authority to acknowledge that the paradigm being espoused was an
> entirely theoretical one. Because of the ideology (see Raggatt, 1997),
> there were no serious attempts to quantify the effectiveness of this
> new paradigm or to examine the practical implementation problems of,
> for example, newer concepts of assessment moving from normative to
> criterion referenced forms before official attempts at implementation.
> There were certainly some attempts to pilot programs based upon
> competency-based training principles, such as with Fabrication and
> Welding (Heavy) Industries in New South Wales (NSW) TAFE at Orange and
> Bankstown in 1990. The fact that, in the following year (1991), these
> were fully introduced statewide (Lidbury, 1995) indicates the
> relatively poor efforts at substantial evaluation before wider
> implementation.
> Especially curious, and deserving of further research, has been the
> failure of the Australian National Training Authority to disclose
> financial data on the investments in competency-based training in an
> era of economic rationalism purportedly driven by hard-headed realism
> and cost-benefit analyses. The costs in attempts to develop national
> curricula were considerable (Beevers, 1993), and relatively few
> national curricula and agreed national standards emerged, with this
> approach now abandoned (Hawke & Cornford, 1998). Despite the
> importance of the issue of the effectiveness of competency-based
> training, only a handful of studies to date have moved beyond
> theoretical analyses or the anecdotal in the absence of Australian
> National Training Authority project funding.
> Phases in the debate over competency-based training
> There appears to have been a number of different concerns focused upon
> in the earlier phases of the debate over competency-based training.
> Studies like that of Watson (1993) engaged in theoretical analyses
> weighing up the pros and cons and identifying possible sources of
> problems. Many other articles like that of Jackson (1993) analysed the
> ideological underpinnings and were not overly impressed by the
> directions envisioned for workers and society. General disquiet by
> writers like these appear to have led to attempts by Hager (1994) to
> attempt a strictly logical defence and justification for the
> implementation of competency-based training in an article entitled `Is
> there a cogent philosophical argument against competency standards?'.
> The form of competency-based training espoused by Hager and Gonczi,
> which has incorporated cognitive and affective elements (Gonczi,
> Hager, & Oliver, 1990; Hager & Gonczi, 1993; Heywood, Gonczi, & Hager,
> 1992), appears to be the form which has received the official Federal
> Government endorsement as judged by publications by the Australian
> Government Publishing Service (Cornford, 1997).
> In the United Kingdom, whence Australian politicians' and bureaucrats'
> enthusiasm for competency-based training originated after
> implementation by Margaret Thatcher's New Right, there is increasing
> interest in explaining the resurgence of enthusiasm for a previously
> discarded approach and how a deeply flawed set of policies was
> conceived and implemented (Raggatt, 1997). In Australia, too, there is
> growing recognition that competency-based training has been
> ineffective, although this acknowledgement has not come from official
> bodies. Foyster (1997a, p. 32) reported that, at the final meeting of
> the Australian National Training Authority Research Council conference
> in October-November, 1996 in a straw vote on competency-based
> training, the balance of votes was `clearly against CBT'. He raised a
> number of possible reasons for the problems and controversy including:
> (a) lack of understanding of how competency-based training operates;
> (b) the experiencing of inadequate implementations of competency-based
> training; (c) suitability of competency-based training for some areas
> but not others; and (d) the suitability for some subgroups in the
> community but not others. Foyster then argued that: `if it proves to
> be that the third and fourth elements are significant, then the
> one-size-fits-all strategy which has been adopted is certain to fail
> ... If, on the other hand, the third and fourth elements are
> negligible, then it will be necessary to deal with the first two
> elements ... Effective implementation of the national strategy would
> then demand appropriate quality control with respect to CBT
> implementation' (p. 32).
> Examination of the effectiveness of implementation of competency-based
> training for convenience can be divided into two distinct categories.
> The first of these comprises the issues confronting teachers and
> teachers' judgements concerning the effectiveness of competency-based
> training in developing superior skills in specific trades and
> professions. The second is the degree of implementation of
> competency-based training in the training community generally and its
> adoption by business and industry. It is considered that these are
> essential issues in evaluation of the effectiveness of
> competency-based training, and lie at the heart of the debate between
> Ryan (1997a, 1997b) and Van Berkel (1997a, 1997b), a debate largely
> conducted on the basis of anecdotal rather than empirical evidence.
> Effectiveness of competency-based training: Views of vocational
> teachers
> Despite the importance of teachers in curriculum innovation (McBeath,
> 1995), very few studies have investigated the problems that vocational
> teachers have faced with competency-based training (Smith, 1997). The
> two studies by Cornford (1996, 1997) sought the views of teachers in
> the New South Wales Department of Technical and Further Education from
> a wide range of trade and professional subjects who were teaching or
> had taught competency-based subjects. Two distinct groups were
> surveyed. The first (Cornford, 1997) involved teachers in the first
> and second years of initial formal teacher education study in the
> Bachelor of Teaching degree at University of Technology, Sydney. These
> included country and city teachers from a wide range of TAFE colleges.
> Because of present NSW TAFE recruitment policies, those surveyed
> included a large number of teachers with previous part- or full-time
> teaching experience. Average length of teaching for this group of 72
> teachers was 5.2 years with a range from 9 months to 23 years. Average
> length of industrial experience was 18.6 years with the range from 4
> to 35 years.
> Since findings are always considered more reliable and valid if
> similar findings emerge from populations with different
> characteristics, the same survey questionnaire employed in the first
> study was used with a different group of teachers. The second study
> (Cornford, 1996) involved 36 more experienced teachers in the first
> and second years of the Bachelor of Education degree at the University
> of Technology, Sydney. All of these teachers had previously completed
> a Diploma of Teaching (Technical) and had an average of 9.7 years
> teaching experience with a range from 4.5 to 20 years. This group of
> teachers had on the average 15.4 years of industrial experience with a
> range from 4 to 34 years across a wide variety of specialisations. It
> was considered that the teaching and industrial experiences of these
> two groups of more and less experienced teachers placed them in a
> better position to evaluate realistically the skill performance levels
> achieved by their students under competency-based training, and
> competency-based training implementation issues, than either academics
> or bureaucrats. Van Berkel (1997b) has challenged the judgement of
> educationists, whom he sees as having vested interests and a lack of
> knowledge or commitment to the needs of business and industry. These
> teachers can scarcely be considered unaware of either the needs of
> their students or the demands of industry.
> Many similar findings emerged from both the more and less experienced
> teaching groups (see Cornford, 1996, 1997). Perhaps the most striking
> finding was that 63.9 per cent of experienced teachers considered that
> the introduction of competency-based training had hindered or severely
> hindered students' attainment of skilled performance levels with a
> further 25 per cent considering that performance levels had not
> changed. The less experienced teachers held very similar views with
> 61.7 per cent considering that the introduction of competency-based
> training had hindered or severely hindered the attainment of skill
> performance levels by students and 20.6 per cent indicated that levels
> had not changed. Only 11.1 per cent of experienced teachers and 17.7
> per cent of less experienced teachers considered that the introduction
> of competency-based training had improved skill levels, with written
> comments indicating that communications, jewellery, and Koori
> carpentry and joinery programs were areas which had specifically
> benefited. It was considered significant that none of the respondents
> in either group of teachers indicated that skill levels had been
> greatly improved with the introduction of competency-based training.
> Results from these two studies indicate that, in Foyster's (1997a)
> terms, competency-based training is not suitable for all occupational
> or skill areas, but that some respondents considered that some
> specialised areas had benefited, although this was not verified
> empirically.
> Despite the fact that similar findings have emerged in both studies
> with subjects with different characteristics (Cornford, 1996, 1997),
> these two studies have limitations and do not provide a total picture.
> First, they reflect the views of a relatively small number of teachers
> who may be more critical on account of being engaged in teacher
> education courses. It would be desirable to use a larger sample even
> though, from anecdotal evidence, there are strong reasons to believe
> that the results do reflect the views of many NSW TAFE teachers.
> Second, they reflect the opinions of only NSW TAFE teachers.
> Discussions with those from other states who are engaged in parallel
> research, however, do suggest findings similar to these for NSW TAFE
> teachers with only a few specialty areas experiencing general success
> (see Simons, 1996). Third, these findings only apply to TAFE teachers.
> It is possible that trainers in business and industry and private
> providers may have different views, although there is very limited
> adoption of competency-based training within the private sector (see
> below). Fourth and last, they do not examine any one subject
> specialisation in any depth; that is to say a macro approach was
> adopted in both these studies.
> The use of opinions of teachers in Cornford's (1996) study to
> determine competency-based training effectiveness has been questioned
> by Smith and Keating (1997) who state: `It is necessary, of course, to
> treat such opinions with caution, and also bear in mind that skill
> performance of students could vary depending on which CBT features
> were being used in the courses' (p. 151). Short of extensive research
> to establish previous and present levels of student performance, an
> expensive, intensive and difficult research undertaking likely to
> stretch over several years (Cornford, 1997), the best way of
> determining what is occurring is to ask those directly involved,
> provided that they can make valid judgements. Although different
> categories of' people, for example politicians, bureaucrats, teachers
> and academics, may use different bases for judgement, specific focus
> upon improved learning outcomes would appear to be a logically
> necessary basis. Without this, subsequent change of behaviour
> involving increased levels of skill and work performance do not seem
> possible. What makes the judgements of these teachers particularly
> important is their length of teaching and industrial experience and
> the fact that all had had experience in teaching competency-based
> training subjects. On this basis, and upon expertise in their subject
> specialisation, they, rather than bureaucrats and politicians, would
> seem better placed to make valid judgements about whether
> competency-based training has increased skill levels of students, a
> major objective of competency-based training.
> Another basis for challenging research on the effectiveness of
> competency-based training is to claim that teachers were hostile to
> change, especially those in TAFE systems (Smith, 1997; Smith &
> Keating, 1997). This certainly cannot be levelled at the teachers in
> Cornford's (1997) study, as all were newly employed TAFE teachers,
> with the impetus for the study originating in the fact that these
> teachers were enthusiastic about trying a new approach but were
> experiencing considerable difficulties in trying to implement
> competency-based training. The issue of what features may be
> incorporated into competency-based training which may have influenced
> judgements is considered in more depth below.
> Micro analysis of competency-based training's effectiveness
> The Cornford (1996, 1997) studies' findings outlined above involved a
> macro approach of surveying across a range of professions and trades.
> A study by Roux-Salembien, McDowell, and Cornford (1996) adopted a
> micro approach by examining in depth the views of teachers on
> competency-based training in commercial cookery. Commercial cookery,
> which has a long history of performance-based assessment, might be
> considered an ideal occupational area for the introduction of
> competency-based training. However, this research was undertaken
> because there was much anecdotal evidence of dissatisfaction with
> competency-based training among commercial cookery teachers. A total
> of 82 completed questionnaires were returned from 110 NSW TAFE
> teachers, giving a return rate of 74.5 per cent. Included in the
> sample were male and female, city and country, full-time and part-time
> teachers, with 70.5 per cent of the sample having more than 5 years
> teaching experience and 53.6 per cent of the group having taught
> competency-based subjects for a year or more.
> Results generally indicated strong dissatisfaction with
> competency-based training and the way it had been implemented. Issues
> of student motivation emerged as of very considerable concern. In
> response to the statement that competency-based training was improving
> student learning outcomes, 48.7 per cent either disagreed or strongly
> disagreed and 26.2 per cent were undecided. Some 69.5 per cent of
> teachers either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement
> that students' motivation was heightened as a result of implementing
> competency-based training. With the statement that competency-based
> training allowed students to achieve their full potential, 64.5 per
> cent either disagreed or strongly disagreed, whereas 69.8 per cent
> either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the proposition that
> excellence in students' performance was being encouraged by
> implementing the competency-based assessment system. Responses to the
> statement that competency-based assessment of pass/fail causes
> students' loss of motivation clearly indicated that many thought this
> was a cause, with 74.2 per cent either agreeing or strongly agreeing.
> Foyster's (1997a) proposition that competency-based training may be
> suitable for some groups, but not others, is put to a severe test with
> the findings from the Roux-Salembien et al. (1996) study, since
> commercial cookery is an area which could be considered particularly
> compatible with competency-based training on account of the fact that
> outcomes traditionally have been a major focus in teaching and
> assessment in this specialisation. The reasons for such
> dissatisfaction appear to reside in difficulties of implementation and
> a failure to appreciate the importance of teaching history and
> aesthetic elements which are important in effective skill development
> in this specialty area (see Cornford, 1997). Additional evidence that
> competency-based training is not suitable for all groups is to be
> found in the general lack of efforts to establish competency standards
> for managers (Australian Mission on Management Skills Report, 1991;
> Industry Task Force, 1995; Smith & Keating, 1997). Field (1996) has
> challenged the appropriateness of competency-based training beyond
> lower levels of skill learning, which indicates that it is largely
> inappropriate in the learning organisation.
> Problems in implementation
> Contradictions and confusion abound in competency-based training
> implementation. This is because there is no agreement on precise
> definition of competency-based training (Raggatt, 1997; Smith &
> Keating, 1997, pp. 101-108) or what exactly needs to be implemented to
> constitute competency-based training in practice (Smith et al., 1995,
> 1997). This poses major problems for implementation. It also provides
> a logical escape for competency-based training enthusiasts who can
> always claim that implementation of alternative combinations of
> competency-based training elements would have resulted in success when
> research indicates lack of success with other combinations (e.g. see
> Smith & Keating, 1997, p. 151).
> Smith et al. (1995), examining the degree of implementation of
> competency-based training courses by TAFE and samples of private
> training providers in 1994 in different states, proceeded with a
> working definition and used classification categories involving
> clusters of increasing stringency. This involved creation of specific
> categories of competency-based training, as in their Bands SC, SCIR
> and SCIRA, through inclusion of additional elements at the more
> restricted, higher levels of categorisation, with Smith et al.'s
> findings indicating these additional elements were less frequently
> found in practical implementation. Band SC courses met the criteria of
> competency-based training with courses based on National Training
> Board standards and course documentation wholly or mostly in
> competency-based training format; Band SCIR courses met the working
> definition of Band SC and additionally involved course monitoring by
> industry and recognition of prior learning procedures; and Band SCIRA
> included all the criteria for Band SCIR plus requiring indication that
> assessment was available on demand and at least partly in the
> workplace. For the purposes of this section of this article, the
> requirements of Band SC are considered to constitute competency-based
> training in accordance with Smith et al.'s judgement.
> Smith et al. (1995) found that, on 1994 data, 29 per cent of TAFE
> courses and 39 per cent of non-TAFE courses were in Band SC. With Band
> SCIR, 7 per cent of TAFE courses were included in this category,
> whereas 20 per cent of non-TAFE courses were. Only 1 per cent of TAFE
> courses qualified as Band SCIRA, with 8 per cent of non-TAFE courses
> also meeting these criteria. This, as the researchers pointed out,
> means that the majority of courses could not be described as
> competency-based and that targets set by ministers for substantial
> implementation by the end of 1.993 had not been met. Although numbers
> of courses had become competency-based by 1998 if using a wide
> interpretation of what competency-based training involves, the exact
> percentage in TAFE and private providers is difficult to determine
> exactly. Smith (1997) claims that competency-based training has been
> widely implemented and, although this appears true, the percentage of
> courses converted to or developed anew as competency-based may not be
> great, as indicated by her earlier research (Smith et al., 1995).
> In more recent research surveying vocational teachers in different
> specialisations, Smith et al. (1997) examined the way in which the
> work of vocational teachers had changed with the :implementation of
> competency-based training. Changes are to be expected since there have
> been substantial efforts to ensure that competency-based training,
> closer links between providers and industry, modularisation and
> flexible delivery, in combination, have been introduced across
> Australia through policy, legislative and financial incentives or
> dictates (Hawke & Cornford, 1998). Although descriptions of how
> teachers are coping with the changes are of some interest, Smith et
> al. appear to have undertaken a commissioned project which is
> seriously flawed. Establishment of standards against which to judge
> practices researched would appear to be important and logically
> necessary to make valid and worthwhile research judgements, since
> different practices and procedures may be effective or ineffective,
> yet such considerations are missing from the study and did not
> constitute part of the commissioned brief. Indeed Hager (1995; Hager &
> Gonczi, 1993) has indicated that one of the major problems is the
> co-existence and competition between newer forms of competency-based
> training incorporating cognitive and affective elements and an
> inappropriate, older form of essentially behavioural competency-based
> training. Distinguishing between these different forms would appear to
> be important if Hager's arguments are accepted. Yet absent from Smith
> et al.'s (1997) study is any serious consideration of the
> effectiveness of competency-based training and what better forms of
> teaching practice are necessary to achieve effective competency-based
> training outcomes.
> Given the degrees of confusion that lack of adequate definition
> creates, quite apart from specialisation differences, and regional and
> state variations, it is not surprising that Smith et al. (1997) found
> that many teachers were not very confident that what they were
> implementing was in fact competency-based training or were appropriate
> competency-based training processes. But, in arriving at their general
> judgements, Smith et al. appear to have side-stepped the problem of
> judgement of effective and ineffective competency-based training
> processes, by assuming a wide range of practices resulted in
> beneficial outcomes in the absence of empirical evidence that this was
> so. Other studies, however, have indicated that a number of the
> processes adopted for the implementation of competency-based training
> have created major problems for teachers seeking effective learning
> outcomes under it.
> Stevenson (1997, p.viii) summarised the findings of Cornford's (1997)
> examination of teachers' experiences in implementing competency-based
> training involving modularisation, assessment and organisational
> issues as revealing the disaggregation of knowledge, inadequate
> development of skill and production of low levels of expertise.
> Similar results emerged from Cornford's (1996) research with more
> experienced teachers. A finding of particular concern from these
> studies was that teachers perceived little agreement on assessment
> standards and that many considered the standards set as too low. This
> last finding challenges a number of the assumptions underlying the
> adoption of industry-based competency standards in Australia (see
> Smith, 1997, p. 70).
> Factors undermining effective implementation
> An important assumption underpinning competency-based training is that
> competency standards can be established through analysis of work
> carried out in business and industry and that there will be agreement
> about these standards. In fact it has been an exceptionally difficult
> process to establish national competency standards in many industries
> (Beevers, 1993). Further, the fact that so many teachers in Cornford's
> studies (1996, 1997) perceived a lack of agreement in standards, with
> these teachers all having extensive industrial experience, leads to
> the conclusion that there is a major problem with the concept of
> agreed, industry-based competency standards for the following reasons.
> In reality, in industry, there are three distinct levels of standards
> in most fields of specialisation: the first is essentially the cheap
> and barely sufficient, the second involves a middle level of
> excellence, and the third the deluxe or very superior job involving
> high level craftsmanship. It depends upon the circumstances and the
> business organisation as to which standards will be preferred at any
> one time. The introduction of enterprise bargaining has further eroded
> any assumption of uniform standards. Now it has become possible for an
> enterprise agreement to establish quite unique sets of competency
> standards for workers within the individual enterprise, irrespective
> of Industrial Training Advisory Board or national standards (Ewer &
> Ablett, 1996). The variety of positions that TAFE teachers may adopt
> on this continuum of standards, when faced with less than explicit
> statements of standards including cognitive and affective elements
> (Hager & Gonczi, 1993) and/or forced to interpret them, will be
> dependent upon their past industrial experiences and their conceptions
> of their role as teachers.
> This possible variety of industrial standards stands as a problem
> quite distinct from the fact the newer version of competency-based
> training advocated by Hager and Gonczi (1993) includes holistic
> assessment, and cognitive and affective as well as performance
> elements. Such departures from the older behavioural standards result
> in statements of competency standards of greater generality, and thus
> concomitant problems with interpretation and establishing reliability
> and validity in assessment (Ewer & Ablett, 1996). Further, it is
> possible that the newer conceptualisation of competency-based training
> advanced by Hager and Gonczi (1993) was seriously and grievously
> flawed from the outset. More recently Hager (1995) has admitted that
> competency standards are concerned with summative assessment, that is
> measuring the effectiveness of overall training. Summative assessment
> and competency-based training standards thus represent the end product
> and do not reflect the complex processes of learning which lead to
> this desirable end state of training (Cornford, 1993, 1999), that is,
> issues of formative assessment (Hager, 1995). Formative assessment,
> which involves all assessment of learning prior to summative
> assessment, provides vital feedback necessary for improvement in the
> (usually) long skill learning process.
> It is also apparent that the competency-based training model advanced
> by Hager and Gonczi lacks a substantial basis provided by research and
> theory from skill learning, and cognition and development of expertise
> areas (Cornford, 1993; Stevenson, 1994, 1995). Hence, because of lack
> ora substantive base for formative assessment, it cannot provide any
> substantial guidance for those who need to develop curricula over a
> number of stages of development of learning in whatever specialist
> field. Nor can it provide guidance for teachers as they assist
> students with feedback through the development of various skills at
> varying levels of expertise (Cornford, 1997). The absence of guidance
> in curriculum development and implementation in the Hager-Gonczi model
> almost guarantees counterproductive diversity and confusion (Cornford,
> 1999). In addition, because the newer competency-based training
> paradigm, which Gonczi and Hager have introduced, lacks clear
> conceptualisation of formative skill stages and learning processes, it
> cannot effectively supplant the earlier, inappropriate, behavioural
> competency-based training paradigm (Cornford, 1997).
> Acceptance and implementation of competency-based training by business
> and industry
> Governments are at liberty to enforce new approaches, strategies and
> philosophies through the public sector which they control, by making
> policies and financial allocations contingent upon adoption. It has
> been argued that governments should use public sector utilities in
> such ways because this provides a model for private industry and a
> means of disseminating change through such means (Steedman, 1994).
> This appears to have been accepted as a valid way of effecting change
> within Australia. However, the issues surrounding governments'
> `leaning' upon public utilities, over which they have much more
> control than private business and industry, is starting to receive
> more attention (see Berliner, 1996; Stasz, 1996). The fact is that
> governments are often unable to control business and industry because
> of this sector's inclination to a more hard-headed approach and
> requirement of evidence of effectiveness or advantage before it will
> accept and implement innovations.
> The issue of whether business and industry have widely accepted and
> implemented competency-based training is of considerable importance.
> These groups are the groups which are supposed to benefit most from
> the development of superior skills through competency-based training.
> Whether they have widely embraced competency-based training can also
> be seen as a measure of its perceived effectiveness by groups which
> are less moved by ideology and more by objective assessment of costs
> and benefits. What also is of very considerable importance is the fact
> that current government policy for training and accreditation has
> centred assessment in the workplace around use of competency standards
> (Hawke & Cornford, 1998); thus the amount of training committed to
> under these circumstances may reflect in part business enthusiasm for
> competency-based training. Figures reveal that business investment in
> training has been declining over several years (Fooks, 1998) and this
> may indicate business disenchantment with competency-based training as
> reflected in FitzGerald's (1994) earlier findings.
> Results of research attempting to quantify the adoption of
> competency-based training by business and industry paint a picture of
> little real enthusiasm for it, despite claims of the benefits by those
> like Van Berkel (1997a, 1997b). Research by the Australian National
> Training Authority in 1995 indicated that only 44 per cent of
> employers with recent vocational education and training graduates had
> even heard of competency-based training (Foyster, 1997b). As Foyster
> argued, those who did not have recent vocational education and
> training graduates would not have heard of it and even of the 44 per
> cent presumably not all approved of it. Additionally Foyster estimates
> that only 10 per cent of employers regard themselves as having a good
> or very good knowledge of competency-based training, with no real
> indication of how many of these approved of it. If restricted to large
> employers, a minority source of employment in Australia, 90 per cent
> of these employers consider they have a good or better understanding
> of competency-based training. In an important report on
> competency-based training, sampling chiefly larger organisations,
> FitzGerald (1994) concluded that there was `evident widespread
> industry acceptance of, and support for, training based on
> competency'. However, from interviews and discussions with firms, `it
> was apparent that this support for the concept does not necessarily
> translate into support for the reforms as implemented' (FitzGerald,
> 1994, p. 20). FitzGerald identified several key concerns of business:
> * There is conceptual confusion about exactly what constitutes a
> competencybased system leading to a failure to consider adequately
> curriculum, delivery and assessment implications.
>
>
>
> * The process of developing competency standards has become far
> more
>
> complicated and resource intensive than initially thought.
>
>
>
> * Industry standards are being developed by bodies unrepresentative
> of key
> enterprises in those industries.
>
>
>
> * The standards development methodology is too task oriented,
> detailed and
>
> prescriptive and consequently reduces enterprise and training
> provider
>
> flexibility and promotes uniformity rather than diversity in
> delivering
>
> training. (p. 20)
> More recent research by Pickersgill (1996), using a macro approach,
> and Lidbury (1995), involving a micro approach, provides more
> substantial empirical evidence concerning lack of adoption and use of
> competency-based training by business and industry.
> Use of competency standards
> Pickersgill (1996), of the Australian Centre for Industrial Relations
> Research and Training (ACIRRT) at the University of Sydney, was
> contracted by the Competency Standards Body -- Assessors and Workplace
> Trainers to examine the use of competency standards for assessment in
> the workplace by purchasers of these materials. In this study, a
> stratified random sample was drawn from invoices held by the
> Competency Standards Body and telephone interviews were conducted
> using both closed and open questions. The sample represented
> approximately 13 per cent of that population and covered 18 industry
> areas defined by Industry Training Advisory Board coverage, including
> Building and Construction, Food Processing, Light Manufacturing,
> Tourism and Hospitality, TAFE, Skillshare, Consultants and others.
> Findings were that purchasers of the standards represented all
> Industry Training Advisory Board defined industry areas. In terms of
> proportions, the highest numbers from an industry area were Public
> Administration (17 per cent), Community Health and Services (11 per
> cent), and Finance, Banking, Insurance and Office Skills (6 per cent).
> Training providers and consultants represented a significant
> proportion of purchasers with 24 per cent being `other providers',
> that is, together with 16 per cent TAFE and 8 per cent of consultants,
> giving a total of approximately 48 per cent of total purchasers.
> Inspection of individual responses revealed strong public sector
> involvement. Further coding revealed that 37 per cent were drawn from
> the private sector, comprising 20 per cent from private firms and 17
> per cent private providers, trainers, individuals and consultants. Of
> the 64 per cent from the public sector, 25 per cent represented public
> sector training (e.g. TAFE, tertiary, schools and Skillshare), 20 per
> cent represented public sector organisations (e.g. government
> departments, government business enterprises, community sector), and
> 19 per cent represented representative bodies (Industry Training
> Advisory Boards, peak bodies, national/statewide organisations).
> (Percentages are rounded, hence some totals amount to more than 100
> per cent.) The public sector rose from 64 per cent to 70 per cent and
> the private sector fell from 37 per cent to 30 per cent, when those
> not using or intending to use the standards were excluded
> (Pickersgill, 1996, pp. 7-8).
> Organisational size was found to be important, with approximately 65
> per cent of purchasers coming from organisations with more than 50
> employees. Approximately 35 per cent of purchasers came from
> organisations with fewer than 50 employees. Respondents from
> organisations with fewer than 20 employees were individuals,
> consultants or representing co-ordinating/administrative bodies such
> as Industry Training Advisory Boards. Organisations which purchased
> standards were likely to have policies on assessment and training,
> with these as formal, written policies. On rating of the standards for
> usefulness, 62 per cent stated that the standards were `very useful',
> and 38 per cent stated that they were `somewhat useful'. This finding
> needs to be placed into perspective because many of the purchasers
> worked in public organisations and/or were actively deriving income
> from the implementation of competency-based training. Concerns were
> expressed by numbers of respondents about the difficulty of
> understanding aspects of the assessment standards and procedures.
> Pickersgill indicated that some caution is needed in interpretation of
> findings because workplace assessment is only in an early stage of
> development and because of the small sample size.
> Micro study: Adoption of competency-based training by small business
> Lidbury's (1995) study extends understanding of the penetration of
> small, private industry by competency-based training. Lidbury
> attempted to evaluate the levels of awareness of competency-based
> training by Fabrication and Welding (Heavy) industries in the Hunter
> region of NSW with 30 or fewer employees. The Metals and Engineering
> industries are widely regarded as the most aware and proactive
> industry training groups (Ewer & Ablett, 1996). Small businesses are a
> major source of employment in Australia and are very important in the
> performance of the economy (Industry Task Force, 1995). As Lidbury
> noted, companies with 30 or fewer employees contributed the largest
> proportion of apprentices taught in the Metal Fabrication and Welding
> (Heavy) Trade courses in the 6 college campuses comprising the Hunter
> Institute of Technology. Questionnaires were mailed to 30 companies
> selected at random from the 158 companies with 30 or fewer employees
> operating in this area, with geographic balance preserved, that is a
> stratified random sample. A response rate of 63 per cent was achieved.
> Companies were engaged in structural work (39 per cent), maintenance
> (36 per cent), mining (16 per cent), and heavy engineering (9 per
> cent); 95 per cent of companies had an apprentice engaged in
> competency-based training.
> It was found that, whereas 40 per cent of companies claimed to be
> aware of competency-based training, 90 per cent of respondents
> indicated that they did not understand the concept, 67 per cent were
> unaware of the assessment procedures and 78 per cent were not aware of
> their responsibilities when providing training under the
> competency-based training system. It was also found that since 1991,
> when competency-based training was introduced, management had
> increased training by 32 per cent, but in this same period there had
> been a decrease in training in trade areas by 55 per cent. The reason
> for the lack of understanding appears to lie in failure to disseminate
> relevant material to employers. Sample literature was sent out by the
> researcher and only one company stated that it had received similar
> material previously, but 63 per cent of companies indicated that they
> wanted more relevant literature.
> Although there are obvious gaps in our knowledge concerning business
> adoption of competency-based training, Pickersgill's (1996) study
> indicates that the public sector is by far the largest user of
> competency-based assessment, with relatively little adoption by
> genuinely private business organisations. Lidbury's (1995) study
> indicates that there have been major problems in dissemination to
> small business in one of the key industrial areas, Metal Trades, which
> is generally viewed as one of the most proactive areas in industrial
> relations and awards (Ewer & Ablett, 1996), and that basic, key
> concepts are not well understood. Since FitzGerald's (1994) earlier
> report highlighted, among other things, the problems in
> conceptualisation and understanding, the findings by Pickersgill and
> Lidbury should not be too surprising. Overall the conclusions to be
> drawn are that there has been little adoption of competency-based
> training by business and industry, there were few government agency
> attempts to overcome the barriers identified by FitzGerald (1994) and
> others, and attempts to use public sector bodies as models to
> encourage private sector adoption have largely failed.
> Discussion and conclusions
> Although competency-based training has been implemented widely in
> Australia, empirical evidence from the range of studies reviewed
> indicates that generally it has not been successfully or extensively
> implemented in either the public or private sectors. There are wide
> differences in degrees of implementation in TAFE in different states
> (see Smith et al., 1995), and in business and industry, empirical
> evidence indicates very limited adoption of competency-based training
> (Foyster, 1997b; Lidbury, 1995; Pickersgill, 1996). Where
> competency-based training has been implemented in TAFE, many of the
> teachers who have been surveyed in NSW clearly did not believe that it
> has improved levels of performance except in a very limited range of
> specialist areas (Cornford, 1996, 1997). The evidence of success in
> the specialist areas of communications, jewellery and Koori carpentry
> and joinery was obtained as additional written comments from
> individuals at the end of questionnaires and remains an untested
> assertion. It is possible that the novelty of the approach is
> operating to produce some changes (the Hawthorne effect) or,
> alternatively, the introduction of standards where none existed, or
> were not explicit, may be responsible for changes in performance
> (Cornford & Athanasou, 1995). Results from the Roux-Salembien et al.
> (1996) study indicate that, even where competency-based training could
> be expected to be implemented successfully and easily in commercial
> cookery, there appear to have been serious concerns about the effects
> of implementation procedures, strategies and motivation of students.
> Problems in implementation are certainly causally related to the
> findings and the lack of effectiveness of competency-based training.
> However it would be a mistake to see errors in implementation or
> faulty combinations of different strategies as largely responsible for
> the outcomes, with these outcomes being largely rectifiable by
> introduction of different combinations as has been suggested by Smith
> and Keating (1997). The conceptual confusion that surrounds
> competencybased training among teachers and business and industry
> personnel, as identified by FitzGerald (1994), Lidbury (1995) and
> Roux-Salembien et al. (1996) among others, is clearly a major
> stumbling block. The fact that there appears no general agreement on
> the nature of competency-based training or the elements which need to
> be implemented to achieve success would appear to indicate that we are
> dealing with a broad, general concept that cannot be easily or
> adequately defined enough to operationalise it. In any case, in terms
> of Foyster's (1997a) propositions of the possible need to maintain
> quality control if there is ineffective implementation, such a
> proposal for quality control is almost certainly impossible since
> there appears no agreement possible on what it is that has to be
> quality controlled!
> Hager's (1995) admissions concerning competency standards and
> summative assessment, and the failure of the paradigm advocated by him
> and Gonczi (1993) to provide a theoretical basis to support
> competency-based training curriculum and implementation in formative
> teaching and assessment, or a means of supplanting the older
> behavioural paradigm, indicate a shell of a theory rather than a
> coherent, integrated and practically implementable one. Although this
> paradigm advanced has been eclectically added to overcome criticisms
> (see Stevenson, 1995), this has produced more uncertainty since the
> competency standards incorporating cognitive and affective elements
> are so general that they constitute major problems for reliable and
> valid assessment (Ewer & Ablett, 1996). The flawed ideological and
> political nature of the decision to adopt and implement
> competency-based training, before the gathering of any substantial
> empirical evidence as to its effectiveness, becomes only too evident
> through this analysis. The unrealistic desire for a `quick fix'
> blinded decision makers to the entirely theoretical and untested
> nature of the paradigm which was adopted.
> In terms of Collins's (1993) question about the ability to fuse
> disparate elements of competency-based training together to permit
> policy makers' demands to be workable, the answer is decidedly in the
> negative. Many of what have come to be seen as key elements of
> competency-based training (Smith & Keating, 1997), such as recognition
> of prior learning, still have not been subjected to empirical scrutiny
> for effectiveness, and criterion-referenced assessment has had to
> undergo substantial transformations to involve levels or grades to
> satisfy teachers and business and industry (see Cornford, 1996). Even
> self-paced learning, which might offer some solutions to the various
> problems generated by competency-based training and modularisation
> (Cornford, 1996, 1997; Watson, 1993), is not considered suitable for
> younger age groups, which comprise a significant proportion of
> vocational and postcompulsory education, even by some enthusiastic
> about competency-based training (see Smith, 1997). Ewer and Ablett
> (1996, p. 202) have admitted that those involved in the union movement
> who were a major force in the conceptualisation and adoption of
> competency-based training `were singularly badly qualified to analyse
> CBT as a pedagogy'.
> Although further empirical research is needed to provide a more
> complete picture of the limited effectiveness of competency-based
> training, enough evidence has emerged to challenge any notions that
> there are only minor implementation problems which easily can be
> surmounted. Perhaps it is now time for those responsible for the
> continuing implementation of competency-based training to admit that
> they have implemented a fatally flawed paradigm and to set about
> serious replanning. Performance-based assessment, of which
> competencybased training is an off-shoot, is widely understood and
> offers practica], manageable approaches (Hayton & Wagner, 1998)
> divorced from the competency-based training ideology. Wide
> consultation with teachers and other experts involved in practical
> implementation with any major innovations is important: in any attempt
> to salvage Australian vocational education systems from this
> unsuccessful competency-based training implementation, it will be
> critical. It is a mistake to believe that teachers and experts in the
> field of vocational education do not wish to see improvement and thus
> need to be side-stepped as they will prove obstructive (e.g. see
> Smith, 1997).
> To achieve the goal of increased vocational skill levels in Australia,
> there is a need to take into consideration the development of
> expertise and cognitive psychology literature which generally have
> been ignored in competency-based training policy making and
> implementation (see Cornford, 1993, 1997; Stevenson, 1994, 1995). Only
> if there is effective use of human resources and integration of
> research knowledge, with some of this research knowledge resulting
> from trials of new courses and paradigms prior to wider
> implementation, will it be possible to develop substantial frameworks
> to guide teachers in the complex process of curriculum design, and to
> assist teachers to ensure that students achieve genuinely superior
> levels of learning and skilled performance (Cornford, 1999).
> If, as Beevers (1993), Raggatt (1997) and others suggest, the
> competencybased training agenda was part of a wider campaign to
> improve skill development and productivity, it has been a conspicuous
> failure in Australia in terms of increasing international
> competitiveness (Cullen, 1997). However, despite its present failure,
> there is little doubt that, some time in the future, competency-based
> training again will rise Lazarus-like: its underlying ideal is too
> tempting. Politicians, bureaucrats and others who desire the `broad
> vision' and the `meta-narrative' are not inclined to recognise that
> there must be immense effort to connect ideals with the many intricate
> steps of careful analysis and planning to convert ideals into real,
> tangible outcomes. There are a number of valuable lessons for policy
> makers which should be learned from this experience with
> competency-based training. It is reasonable to believe that extensive
> trials in pilot programs would have revealed serious shortcomings and
> gaps in translating a broad theory into specific strategies and
> structures for real-life implementation. Such a program of pilot
> testing may well have saved the Australian taxpayer from the (as yet)
> undisclosed multimillion dollars of expenditure for policies which
> have not succeeded. What also needs to be seriously questioned in
> policy formulation is the use of public agencies as bell-wethers and
> putative models for implementation by business and industry.
> Keywords
> competency based improvement programs policy implementation
> education
> ideologies policy formulation vocational education
> Acknowledgements
> This article is a revised version of a paper presented at the
> Australian Teacher Education Association Annual Conference and 7th
> National Workshop on Vocational Teacher Education, Yeppoon,
> Queensland, 5-8 July 1997.
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> Dr Ian Cornford is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education,
> Markets Campus, University of Technology, Sydney, PO Box 123,
> Broadway, New South Wales 2007.
> http://library.northernlight.com/UU20020102060383627.html?inid=eS0iOXt
> gbD0Icwdvf2oPXwBRWkUKHBFGdw5%2BEwFk&cbx=0#doc
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