On March 28 and 29 I discussed the concept of competence with Jonathan Winterton (in Toulouse) in the perspective of composing a book together with invited chapters. Jonathan shared his recent article ‘Competence in European Policy Instruments: A Moving Target for Developing a National Qualifications Framework?’ in the Journal of Contemporary Educational Studies (5/2011, p. 72ff.). That is an interesting piece of work that meticulously analyses the development of the concept of competence in the European VET and HE debates and instrument creation for raising opportunities for mobility and related qualification comparison. The article shows in an excellent way the many inconsistencies and unclarities in the way European policymakers have defined and used the concept of competence, making it thus practically impossible to say anything consistent over the last decade in the direction of practice. It is therefore not a miracle that EU member states have difficulties in developing or matching their national qualification framework with the EQF which is meant to be the EU reference model for all national qualification frameworks in the EU. A lot of intelligence is needed to reach more convergence in the common understanding of the central concepts used in the European VET and HE policy development agenda.
