Ambiguities and paradoxes in a competence-based approach to vocational education and training in France

Pierre Hébrard

doi:10.3384/rela.2000-7426.rela9002

Abstract

This article aims to show the effects of the prevalence of the competence regime within several sectors of vocational education and training in France. The first part of the article outlines the origin of the concept of competence and the evolution of its meaning. Later, the underlying theoretical and epistemological foundations are examined and two different paradigms are distinguished. The second part of the article focuses on ambiguities and paradoxes of effect of competence approaches, in specific educational programmes in the healthcare professions and social work in France. This study is based on the analysis of a corpus of documents concerning French vocational education and training that use a competence-based approach

Highlights

This article aims to outline the effects of the prevalent competence regime within several sectors of vocational education and training (VET) in France (Ropé & Tanguy, 1994; Zarifian, 2001)
We analyze a corpus of documents: reference lists of competences, evaluations tools, training programs within French vocational education and training programs that have been recently reformed according to the competence-based approach
In vocational education and training, the training design largely takes after the “modèle de la compétence” (Zarifian, 2001) or the “approche par les compétences” (Coudray & Gay, 2009)

Summary

Introduction

This article aims to outline the effects of the prevalent competence regime within several sectors of vocational education and training (VET) in France (Ropé & Tanguy, 1994; Zarifian, 2001). It presents research results about the evolution of VET within both the healthcare and social services sectors. These changes, which have taken place recently in the 2000s, are the result of numerous reforms based on the competence-based approach implemented in these sectors (Hébrard, 2004, 2011, 2013). We analyze a corpus of documents: reference lists of competences (référentiel), evaluations tools, training programs within French vocational education and training programs that have been recently reformed according to the competence-based approach

The notion of competence

One difficulty in defining the concept of competence

Analysis of VET programs based on the competence model

Confusion between activities and competences

Ambiguities and paradoxes

Child care