Developing Competencies in Learners -    by Brenda Thomas

Recently I attended a two part after-school workshop sponsored by the Calgary Regional Consortium and Alberta Education that focused on the guiding principles of exemplary instructional practices, and how to align skills with content in order to facilitate competency-based learning.  My interest in this session stems from the emphasis on competencies in curriculum and instruction – from both the Alberta Government and also within our own department, and my own personal uncertainty about what exactly are competencies and what does it look like to have competency-based instruction?

The facilitator was Tammy Wolinsky; Tammy’s credentials include a Masters of Education with an emphasis on English Language Learners as well as At-Risk Youth. Her teaching experience has spanned gang and drug-infested neighborhoods in the United States as well as English AP instruction with Foundations for the Future Charter Academy.  Currently she works with Chinook Learning Center serving inner-city youth and is a University Consultant and Sessional Instructor with Ambrose University.  Tammy’s presentation was filled with philosophical and practical approaches that routinely emphasized the need to build learner competencies that they will be able to apply to all areas of their life – academic and otherwise.

Part 1

Our first evening was spent developing a common language and understanding. Competencies take on slightly different categorizations depending on the institution or context, so a little clarification to start is essential.  Alberta Education defines competencies as follows:  

Competencies are combinations of attitudes, skills and knowledge that students develop and apply for successful learning, living and working. Alberta's curriculum promotes development of the following competencies:  Competencies are combinations of attitudes, skills and knowledge that students develop and apply for successful learning, living and working.  Alberta's curriculum promotes development of the following competencies:  

For me it is apparent that these competencies are important aspects to an individual’s productivity and well-being, and in fact many of our learners demonstrate and practice these competencies routinely.  Again, referring to the Alberta Education website provides more analysis of the various competencies, illustrating each with a description, various indicators, and corresponding examples.  Print versions are available here:  https://education.alberta.ca/media/3272998/competency-indicators-september-30-2016.pdf

Examining competencies further, I began to recognize that traditionally competencies have focused on the knowledge domain and knowledge-related skills and attitude. Complex changes in economic, technological, and social contexts of the 21st century has necessitated the broadening of skills to include “soft skills” and “deeper learning,” which can be transferred from one context to another.  These deeper learning domains are often classified into 3 domains: cognitive, interpersonal, and intrapersonal.  Deeper learnings, also often grouped by the label “21st century thinking skills,” are essentially comprised of competencies. Preparing learners for success in the 21st century requires the classroom to intentionally teach competencies from all 3 domains.

Spending a little time recognizing and categorizing competencies was very helpful to me; it allowed me to recognize all the opportunities my students have to practice and demonstrate these competencies as I’m sure you will also when you examine them in detail.  I began to feel that this emphasis on competencies was pretty familiar and already evident in the teaching and learning process practiced in our classroom.  The first session had set the stage for me to better understand what is meant by “competencies” and I was looking forward to exploring developing as a teacher can foster learner competencies as part of my instructional practice and assessment.  

Part 2

Having established a larger awareness of what “competencies” refer to and how I could recognize them, the next session focused on how to engineer a classroom for “competency-based instruction.”  Tammy brought her own practice to the forefront to demonstrate her approach to teaching and assessing competencies in her classroom.  Her instructional practice is to blend the competencies with the content – neither one more significant than the other, but each intentionally identified and designed for within the course. By actively attending to the competency clusters, competency-based instruction is designed so that the lessons’ activities incorporate the competencies in the process, while learners interact with the course content to achieve curricular outcomes.

Implementing competency-based instructions requires that learners receive explicit instruction on the specific competency being developed– it is clearly identified and expanded upon with various descriptors and “looks like,” and “sounds like” examples.  The instruction ensures that learners understand the competency cluster and what specifically would be observed to indicate it is present. Assessment of the competency is based on observable actions that have been discussed prior to the activity; a checklist can be used to provide either formative or summative feedback.  Assessment of the curricular outcomes can be conducted independent of the competencies using traditional methods.  In short, learners practice and are assessed on competencies through the learning process are assessed on the curricular outcomes through the learning product.

Given that learners in any classroom vary greatly, teaching competencies to learners is necessary.  To intentionally teach competencies to learners, instructors work with learners to identify, analyze and practice actions and attitudes (or a sub-set of actions and attitudes) within the learning activity.  This is followed by feedback/assessment, the opportunity for reflection, continued practice and refinement.  It provides a complete and continuous cycle of instruction and assessment for learning. Competency-based instruction recognizes that competencies are valuable societal skills, and these skills cannot be assumed to be present in learners.  Differences between learners in culture, educational background, and life circumstances dictates that their learning tools will be unique and not necessarily complete.  Competency-based instruction can help all learners to build a more complete tool kit for learning, living, and working.

To illustrate the need for competency-based instruction, consider a typical classroom where learners are grouped and asked to “work collaboratively” on a task.  Some groups may quickly divide the tasks amongst themselves and then work in relative isolation to complete “their job,” and then paste it all together in the end.  Other groups may have a hard time even identifying the task and may not have a coherent process or result.  With guidance and instruction, the teacher can focus on the different component actions and attitudes to facilitate behavior that overall could be identified as “collaborative.”   Consider how the following descriptors of collaboration could influence the group process:

• all members have equal talking time (all voices are heard and quiet members are encouraged to speak)
• members listen carefully to others for understanding (there will be paraphrasing to check for understanding or questions asked to clarify ideas)
• group members acknowledge that each may have different experiences and skills  group tasks are aligned to reflect and appreciate these differences
• group members recognize that there may be cultural differences and are sensitive to these differences in terms of developing ideas, group norms and individual roles
• members voice disagreement with ideas respectfully, acknowledge differences in perspectives, identify areas where there may be agreement and demonstrate a willingness to compromise

This list of collaboration is by no means exhaustive and can be altered or expanded upon to reflect the needs of the learners.  By focusing on the various smaller behaviors, incrementally and in different contexts, learners can meet both the curricular outcomes while developing life skills that will benefit our learners in the larger life picture –family dynamics, work place success or personal growth areas to name a few.

Focusing on competencies in instruction and learning may be a bit of a shift for both teachers and learners as our teaching style and our learners’ habits are influenced by many things - mostly our own previous teaching/learning experiences.  Teachers are often most comfortable teaching how we’ve been taught and learners are most comfortable learning in a way that is familiar to how they’ve learned before.  Being more mindful of the competencies, however, I recognize that there are many instances where I am expecting learners to apply these skills, and as such, it behooves me to provide some direct instruction and strategies in places where they can build these skills in a more tangible way.  

I invite you each to examine the information related to competencies on the Alberta Education website and refer to it as you are designing your classroom activities.  Consider what competencies lend themselves to the activities that you have in place and find a way to more explicitly instruct your students on the underlying actions and attitudes that are embedded in the activities – providing a clear target for them to work towards.  Providing greater awareness and clarity in what each of the competencies “looks like” and “sounds like” and including focused practice encourages learner growth that will benefit everyone in the long term.