Theoretical framework on competence based model

COM_WORK PROJECT Exchanging practices for recognize and validate competences of social and educational professionals Project n° 2014-1-IT01-KA200-002490 – CUP Code:F85C14000310005

Transnational Partnership Meeting Valladolid, Spain - December 18th / 19th, 2014

Theoretical framework on competence based model

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Research focuses Com_Work is a co-research that aims at making some progress on the ground of practices in promoting social and educational works. This research focuses are all extremely dense and equally essential to each other: !  The NEET population, who is one of the main beneficiaries not only for EU policy but also of this research, being the beneficiaries of the operators’ work; This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Research focuses The non-formal and informal competences of the operators who carry out their professional activities in the areas of social and education; for this we must have a common framework on competence based model; !  The system of training and skills recognition in european terms aims at ensuring transparency and mobility to people. ! 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Research focuses These focuses of research will be analyzed to achieve the main objective of the project, which is building Learning Unit.

This first draft of the Theoretical Framework aims at narrowing the field, problematizing the issues and proposing ideas and definitions to be shared within this working group of the COM WORK Project.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

NEET: a status difficult to define A long economic crisis has increased poverty in Europe and the consequent gap to the objectives set in the Union strategy Europe 2020. Youth unemployment is at very high levels and many factors affect the actual ability of young Europeans to access rights and achieve personal and professional autonomy.

Now the skills mismatch or guys/girl over e under qualification is one of the main problem of european policy.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

NEET: a status difficult to define This context is the background of the phenomenon of NEET, an acronym for "Not in Education, Employment or Training" that means young people who do not participate in or seek any path of training, education or work.

The phenomenon according to statistics is relevant especially in recent years, and is located mainly in the segment of the population aged between 20 and 29 years, with some exceptions.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

NEET: a status difficult to define

Neet people

Country

TOT

Man

Wom.

Bulgaria Italia Spagna Portogallo

24,7 23,9 22,6 15,9

23,0 21,8 23,1 15,7

26,4 26,1 22,2 16,0

[1] Rielaborazione

dati ISTAT 2013

Neet people (15-29 years) in COM_WORK Partners country] , 2012 (%)

Within this macro definition there are different realities, professionalities, training paths and social conditions. The initial starting point is that the Neet are a collection of stories, each one is a special case. It is difficult to give only one picture.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

NEET: a status difficult to define Another point that should not be underestimated is that the NEET may be unemployed or inactive people. For this reason we want to propose a reading of the 'status' no longer from multiple negations (notnot) but by affirmations. We could begin by saying that they are guys/girls who have dropped their education; or after earning several master’s degrees have tried to enter the world of university research but did not succeed; This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

NEET: a status difficult to define Some others, who finished compulsory education, are neither working not attending vocational training, or are illegally working and therefore they are not ‘identifiable’; And more other cases…

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

NEET: a status difficult to define Anyway, within the statistical data you can identify some recurring elements at EU level: ! A high presence of women ! A high presence of inactive people ! A high proportion of people with no work experience ! A high proportion of young people with a high degree ! A high presence of discouraged in finding a job This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

NEET: a status difficult to define For all these reasons, it is difficult to identify exactly what operators and what kind of services are aimed at NEET. !  COM_WORK project therefore has the objective to search the most significant experiences in each partner country. ! 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

European policy The need to enhance human capital, makes necessary to assert the centrality of the role of education and training.

Europe 2020 strategy, taking the objectives of the Lisbon Strategy in 2000, aims at creating the conditions for sustainable inclusive and intelligent growth, based on knowledge and innovation and on the processes of common learning and information.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

European policy In 2010, within the 2020 Strategy, the initiative Youth on the Move was launched. It aimed at enhancing the potential of young people by providing them with high quality education and training, effective integration in the labor market and greater transnational mobility.

In the same line we find the Recommendation of the European Union Council of 22 April 2013 establishing the ‘Youth Guarantee’ to ensure young people under 25 a high quality work offer, This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

European policy further education, training or apprenticeship training within four months after being unemployed or exiting the formal education system. In order to promote the activation of different beneficiaries, this Program needs services and highly qualified professionals able to integrate and to create a link between training, knowledge of labor market and the personal and professional biography of NEET people.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

A red line for COM_WORK? The Youth Guarantee represents an opportunity to identify, in the different countries involved in COM_WORK, experiences and professionals addressed to support specific actions to NEET. !  What operators (i.e. professional educators, trainers, counsellor) and what kind of services (i.e. young centers, vocational training, guidance)? ! 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

A red line for COM_WORK What operators?

ITALY

What kind of services?

SPAIN

What are the main beneficiaries?

BULGARIAN

PORTUGAL

What are the key competecences for professionals?

Emerging of competences construct The evolution of the concept of competence proved to have in its development a holistic nature that originated, at EU and international level, a fruitful theoretical work connoted by a great diversity of approaches, languages, methods and tools.

We can identify at least three "prototypes" of definition.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Emerging of competences construct ! 

Competencies as individual characteristics: it defines competence any intrinsic individual characteristic casually related to an effective job performance; these characteristics are considered as "prerequisites" of the performance itself. This is D. Mc Clelland’s definition from which R. Boyatzis, L. Spencer and S. Spencer have developed the approach known as competency model of success.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Emerging of competences construct ! 

Competencies as activity/performance.

Competencies are not defined as a "cause" of effective performance (ie as input resources required for the action), but they rather represent the "result" (performance, "well done" work activities). By adopting this approach, competencies are then described as the set of activities that the individual is able to effectively implement according to criteria and standards.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Emerging of competences construct ! 

Also competencies are not resources to achieve a result, but the result itself. In many References of professional standards we find the adoption of this approach combined with skills and knowledge required to perform the activities described in "units of competence".

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Emerging of competences construct Competence in the singular form. The competence represents the process through which a person, in a given labour context, and in order to meet specific requirements, actively mobilizes all his/her resources: knowledge, abilities, personal characteristics, etc. (Le Boterf, 2000). Therefore, competence for each person is a specific mix of: !  knowing how to act (practical, relational and emotional skills) ! 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Emerging of competences construct The will to act which refers to motivation and personal commitment; !  being able to act which refers to social conditions that make the undertaking of responsibility and the acceptance of risks feasible and legitimate for the individual. ! 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

A proposal for ours COMmunity We can define competence as the skill of mobilizing and “orchestate”(like an orchesta), in a stated contexts and with the final aim of getting to an efficient working performance, using the whole set of either internal or external resources of the self.

By external resources we mean: ! Learning and knowledge (formal knowledge and experience knowledge), ! Knowing how (using knowledge and managing techniques and ITC),

A proposal for ours COMmunity ! Knowing

how to behave (practical ability, perception, quickness, sensitiveness. We can give a lot of examples taken from several jobs: glance and gesture communication of the surgeon with his staff, as well as the right evaluation of the cook of the level of coking of the roasted meat without knowing the cooking time but simply taking into account colour and smell.

A proposal for ours COMmunity ! Knowing

how to be (personality dimension that is to say: quoting Goleman, Emotional competences: self awareness, self control, motivation, empathy, social abilities like sending clear messages, knowing how to work in groups, as well as the skill of enhancing and feeding useful relationship, etc.)

A proposal for ours COMmunity ! knowing

how to act (the skill of managing his/her own job in a social and ruling context): it means not only correctly fulfilling a job, but knowing how to do it within safeness and ruling (either European set of rules or general rules); taking into due account the delivery as well as the performance terms; knowing how to plan reliable, innovative and proper solutions for the user, acting as a technician and a counsellor at the same time.

A proposal for ours COMmunity ! Knowing

how to become (creatively use his/her set of resources as well as resources gained from other context in new contexts)

Why use a competence based model For the purposes of our reflection what interests us is that the adoption of the construct of competence and the logic underlying it is necessary because:

It allows to respond well to the increasing complexity in managing work situations that include those intangible factors (talents, psychosocial resources, etc.), not technical, but decisive for the "differential performance" in different roles; !  It allows to manage the integration between subject and context; ! 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Why use a competence based model For the purposes of our reflection what interests us is that the adoption of the construct of competence and the logic underlying it is necessary because:

It allows to explain what are the subjective dimensions that are activated in acting professionally in order to predict the development, recognize and validate their existence; !  It allows to overcome the logic of performance which ends up penalizing the autonomy, responsibility and personal growth ! 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

Why use a competence based model ! 

The construct of competence is a different way of thinking about the relationship between the subject, learning and work, and it allows to put in a dynamic relationship experiences, training, will, knowledge and contexts.

! 

It allows to enhance the forms of re-action to change, "learning to learn", to develop greater selfconfidence (empowerment), to activate their projects or vocational training, that is, the ability to know how to use what has been learned.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

A basic bibliography G. Le Boterf (De la compétence [1994); Construire les compétences individuelles et collectives [2010]; Repenser la compétence [2010]); ! D. S. Rychen e L. H. Salganik ( Key Competencies for a successful Life and a Well-Functioning Society [2003]); ! D. Goleman (Working With Emotional Intelligence [1995]); !

The tools for mobility and transparency of human capital The terms "non-formal" and "informal" are defined by the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training (Cedefop): summing up, the nonformal learning is what the individual learns voluntarily in planned activities (work, study) but that is not explicitly formulated in terms of learning objectives. Informal learning is acquired involuntarily in daily activities related to work, family or fun and is not structured according to learning objectives. Â This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

The tools for mobility and transparency of human capital The E.C. and Cedefop split the process of validation of competences in three steps: identification, assessment and recognition (or validation) of nonformal and informal learning. The first two phases highlight the process of learning and aim at specifying the strengths and weaknesses of a career training, offering suggestions for improvement. The recognition is linked to the results of learning, to their formalization and certification.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

The tools for mobility and transparency of human capital The European Qualification Framework for Lifelong Learning (EQF) is the unitary framework for describing and comparing qualifications of education and of vocational training (initial and on going) issued by the different countries of the European Union.

The qualification is a formal outcome of a process of evaluation and validation and is obtained when the learning outcomes of a person meet defined standards.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

The tools for mobility and transparency of human capital The main objectives are: to promote mobility and lifelong learning through putting into transparency of qualifications, skills and competencies; improve the quality of education and vocational training; facilitating the personalized access of all citizens to vocational education and higher education through the recognition and validation of non-formal and informal; Â This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

The tools for mobility and transparency of human capital facilitate transfer of learning outcomes from one system to another; !  define a common reference code for education and training based on learning outcomes.

On a practical level from 2012 all the titles, diplomas and certificates and also national Europass documents issued by the competent authorities must contain a clear reference to the EQF level. ! 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

The tools for mobility and transparency of human capital Member states should therefore establish the appropriate connections between the EQF and national systems of training, qualification and skills recognition acquired in any way; !  They should implement / integrate all those instruments aimed at the promotion of mobility and employability of workers and citizens linking them to EQF: ! 

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

The tools for mobility and transparency of human capital ! 

ECVET (European Credit system for Vocational Education and Training) for the recognition of credits in the field of vocational training; Europass the device for the recognition of training periods performed in another EU country; EQAVET (European Quality Assurance in Vocational Education and Training) for the quality assurance of education and vocational training.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

The tools for mobility and transparency of human capital ! 

The EQF is based on learning outcomes regarded as acquisitions that a person can prove at the end of a learning process within not only formal but also non-formal and informal pathways. Such acquisitions must be specified in terms of knowledge, ability and competences.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

The tools for mobility and transparency of human capital ! 

The comparison of the different qualifications issued in member countries is based on common reference levels related to the learning outcomes and placed into a structure at eight levels.

The Recommendation of the European Union Council of 20 December 2012 contributed to the fact that the recognition of experiential learning and all the skills become a person's right.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

The tools for mobility and transparency of human capital ! 

Therefore, adopting an approach that focuses on the concept of competence allows us to focus on the ability to mobilize the resources of each individual in response to different contexts; it also offers the opportunity to represent the complexity of their experiences in a legible and extensible language to all potential partners, companies, training agencies, institutions.

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This communication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein

COMmunity_WORK: Output 1, comparative research National approach at competence based model for training path of educational and social professionals (if EQF or EQVET or other national Reference are used)

What are Main and innovative service or project to NEET people in any country What kind of professionals are involved, what are its professional skills and what the main informal and non formal competences important for making proactivity in NEET people

How this competences are acquired?

COMmunity_WORK: Output 1, wickness EU transparency and mobility tools

Professionals in socio and educational

• A very big diversity from a country to another • Not confiance with competence approach, tools and vocabulary

• Many different professional profiles in any country • A very hight diversity of training path or education

Final beneficiary (NEET people) • Many different socio and economical profiles • National policy too linked at political priority and budget

COMmunity_WORK: Output 1, opportunity EU transparency and mobility tools

Professionals in socio and educational

• Improve knowledge of EU tools • Disseminated practical informations • Deals with an EU approach in real work of ComWork partners

• Valorization of strategical informal and non formal competences • Improve and facilitate recognition of professional and its mobility at EU level • A very concret Learning Unit for training

Final beneficiary (NEET people) • Identification of effectiveness practices of service for NEET • Renforces a global approach at fenomenon • Improve employability of young people

THANKS TO ATTENTION!