Competence - must be maintained

Credit to Jean-Luis SERVAIS published on Pixabay

The responsibility for maintaining and developing competence one has acquired and cultivated at school, within the family, or in the local community lies with the individual. This may seem harsh, but nobody else has a responsibility for one's life.

However, society has a responsibility to provide all children and young people with the tools and foundational competencies that enable them to assume this responsibility. Since all children and young people are different, the school must have the ability to offer each child and young person the specific tools they need.

This necessarily implies that the content of school objectives needs to be tailored to encompass genuine knowledge of various tools and methods. This, in turn, means that those who have pursued a teaching career, as well as those already practising in the profession, must receive training to use these tools and methods effectively.

If we assume that individuals will spend less time in any chosen profession than today, given that the job market is significantly influenced by technological advancement, it is reasonable to expect the ability to learn anew. Competence is something that needs to be maintained. New competencies can build upon existing knowledge or may need to be replaced entirely. Since it is impossible to foresee which sectors or professions will be affected, one must be able to adapt relatively swiftly. Therefore, one needs a resilient foundation within oneself to rely on, as well as the ability to identify new opportunities based on what one knows or wishes to learn.

In many cases, this will be both an individual process and a process shared with others. An element that requires social interaction where ideas and thoughts are exchanged through dialogue. A dialogue characterised by participants showing empathy towards one another and maintaining an absolute presence throughout the conversation. The ability to actively listen to what others express through voice, emphasis, body language, or emotions becomes a necessary skill.

Through such discussions about one’s own or others’ competence development, or indeed the need for entirely different competencies, the groundwork for freedom of action in an uncertain future is created. These conversations provide the individual with the opportunity to learn from others as well as the chance to contribute to others' learning. An important aspect of information exchange is the ability to evaluate the information received as well as to propose solutions or contribute to suggestions for improvements. Both are vital components of critical thinking.

Children and young people, in addition to fixed subjects and subject areas in an existing curriculum, need to gain knowledge in various other areas. For those young people leaving school to enter the workforce, it is essential that they are competent in the same domains. The implication for the educational system is that the content of curricula needs to be revised.

As previously mentioned, knowledge and competence are items that can degrade, which necessitates having tools to manage uncertainties and to sketch various solutions, either as an individual or collaboratively with others.

One must possess the skills of listening to gather the necessary information during a conversation. Listening, along with showing empathy and respect in various forms of dialogues, is another crucial ability to master.

To stay creative and engaging in problem-solving, with joy, is especially important to maintain throughout one’s schooling. Preserving the innate creativity that all children possess when entering the world of education is much easier than attempting to reintroduce it later in life. While it is possible to do so, it is far more demanding than actually keeping what one already knew. Reviving the curiosity and spontaneity that children inherently possess can be quite challenging.

Communication with others is a central skill to master. This applies both to individual interactions and to those between individuals in teams or larger contexts. Acknowledging the individual's personality traits and inclinations is important to consider. Communication to larger groups can be developed if it occurs in safe formats and environments. Not all children and young people will become masters of communicating with large groups of people but will function well in smaller groups. This is not inherently problematic as long as they have learned to communicate effectively with a few.

The most challenging area to develop one's own competence is, however, in self-awareness. This is the foundation of what has been described in the text above. It requires much from the individual, as well as from the teacher or educator. Working with self-awareness can include breathing exercises, meditation, mindfulness, reflection activities, and more. A prerequisite for this to be effective is that children and young people are seen as individuals and feel secure within their class and school.

What has been outlined above may not currently be part of teacher training today, but it needs to become a component of their curriculum moving forward.

If we take the word "competence" for real, it affects the approach towards children and young people. The concept of competence consists of two parts: knowledge and the practical application of that knowledge. With this as our goal, we need to undertake some actions differently than we do today, especially if we aspire to something meaningful with phrases like "no one left behind." Everyone leaving school should be prepared to engage in society with the necessary competencies while also embracing their unique personalities.

The knowledge in each respective field already exists today, but it is not utilised to a great extent in the educational world, regardless of the level. If we were to take a step back and consider the world that children and young people will encounter when they leave the educational system, how should the education be structured then? Not to mention the rapid changes occurring all around us continually, which should influence how we approach this and the content we include.

Be Conscious

Ulf