A Study on the Concept and Validity of 'Competency-Based Education' in University Liberal Arts Education

Abstract

This study will discuss three topics. First, whether competency-based education as a national educational policy has validity, second, if competency-based education is applicable to liberal arts education at universities, and third, how members in charge of liberal arts education perceive competency-based education. First, this paper revealed that the definition of 'competency' originated from evaluating the specific job performance ability of individuals belonging to an organization. In this way, the concept of “competency” considered in the strategic aspect of the organization has expanded to be essential to a person’s “success in life” according to the OECD's “DeCo Project,” the EU's “Key Components” agreement, and the US P21 Committee's proposal for the 21st century. Based on the concept of core competencies, the Korean government implemented competency-based curriculum reorganization in public education, and accordingly aimed at the input and output of elementary, middle, high school, and university education, that is, it quantified educational effects and employment rates. Second, this fact was supported through examples of competency-based curriculums at domestic and foreign universities. In foreign countries, competency-based curriculum is selectively applied to practical and professional fields rather than pure learning and liberal arts. Even if it is conducted by the government, it is given considerable autonomy within universities and plays a role in providing necessary support, which is different from the examples found in Korea. Third, in this study a survey was conducted on the perception of 'competency-based education' for university instructors. As a result of the survey, respondents of this survey recognized that it was difficult to apply competency to the teaching-learning process or achievement evaluation process because each university did not sufficiently collect opinions from instructors when setting core competencies and mapping core competencies for their subjects. In addition, competency-based education contributes to enhancing the competencies required by the current society, and it is expected to be effective when applied to specific subjects with instrumental, practical, and professional characteristics. However, it is expecting too much for it to be applied to the entire liberal arts area. In conclusion, this study revealed that competency-based education can be effective only in certain fields, but it cannot be an educational method encompassing liberal arts education, including the humanities, society, and the arts. In addition, this study also revealed that competency-based education is not appropriate as a government’s policy for public education and university education based on various perspectives, such as the theoretical approach, case studies, and perception surveys.