Author Description

Competence-based assessment is the cornerstone of the UK Government's reforms of vocational training and of non-academic, full-time education post-16. Australia has adopted similar policies, and there is considerable interest in the notion of 'competence' in both Europe and North America. Alison Wolf describes the main characteristics of the competence-based approach as it has emerged in the UK, and traces its origins in American experimental programmes of the 1970s. The arguments for the approach are discussed in detail. She then analyses the theoretical assumptions which competence-based assessment shares with the criterion-referenced movement as a whole, and synthesizes the growing body of evidence on implementation. Finally, she reviews the prospects for competence-based awards, and offers some conclusions on what is essential to a competence-based approach. Alison Wolf is a Reader in Education at the Institute of Education, University of London.