Opportunities and Obstacles in the Competency-Based Training of Primary Teachers in England

In this article, Denis Hayes discusses the competence model for teacher training in England in the 1990s. This model uses Circulars — policy guidelines that list competence statements — to outline the level of achievement that student teachers must reach before obtaining qualified teacher status. Hayes considers the impact that the competence approach to monitoring standards of achievement has had on teacher-training institutions and student teachers. He explores questions of terminology and examines the limitations of using a competence model, the difficulties of separating competences for the purposes of assessment and of structuring competence statements in a hierarchy that reflects the way that student teachers progress in their ability to teach. He presents a case study based on his own institution’s attempt to develop a hierarchy of competence acquisition and cautions that a competence approach to the training and assessment of teachers is extremely complex. Hayes concludes that, in aligning their programs with the statutory competence model, teacher-preparation institutions must not neglect the developmental aspect of the skills that enable student teachers to reach the competences.