Competency‐based standards: a boon for continuing professional education?

Abstract

Establishing competency‐based standards for professions promises to help solve many of the difficulties currently besetting continuing professional education. This paper explains why this is so by defining competency‐based standards, describing their uses and, hence, showing why they have attracted so much attention recently. Likely applications to continuing professional education are suggested. In addition the advantages and limitations of three different approaches to competency analysis of professions are discussed and illustrated by examples. It is argued that professional competence can be conceptualised in a way that overcomes the common objections that have been raised against competency‐based standards.