Page 119 - Sustainability Communication Interdisciplinary Perspectives and Theoritical Foundations

102 I. Bormann

Competences

A competence is in general considered to be the ability of an individual to successfully
deal with the demands he is confronted with in a particular context. More specifically,
competences are those cognitive abilities and skills an individual has or can learn in
order to solve specific problems together with the related motivational, volitional and
social willingness to apply the problem solution in a variety of different situations
(Weinert 2001). Such a broad definition of competence is oriented toward the ideal of
a comprehensive capacity to act and individual maturity (Jude et al. 2008).
The orientation towards competences directs attention to learning outcomes,
or outputs, as can be seen for some time in both public and academic debates.
The demand that school pupils have defined competences at a specific point in time
of the learning process is not a unique characteristic of education for sustainable
development. For a number of years there has been a demand for pupils in schools
to be educated so that they can lead a successful life and actively take part in social
developments. The key competences thought to be needed can be found in an OECD
reference framework (Rychen and Salganik 2003). Sustainability, alongside human
rights, equity and social cohesion, is one of the social goals behind the OECD con-
ceptual framework of ‘definition and selection of competencies’ (DeSeCo).
One of the broad categories of competencies that an individual needs is – in addi-
tion to the ability to use tools (including language) interactively and to be able to
engage with diverse groups in a globalised world – to act responsibly as an autono-
mous individual within a broader social context. These three primary categories of
competencies in the OECD reference framework are themselves oriented towards
the classic dimensions – as discussed in the discourse on competences since the
1970s – of subject knowledge and method, social and personal competence.
With these provisions the DeSeCo concept is a suitable point of reference
speci fically for competency models designed for education for sustainable deve-
lopment. Thus, there is frequent reference to it when attempting to reach agree-
ment on which competencies are necessary (see the contributions to Bormann and
de Haan 2008). It does not however provide a unitary concept for developing
these competencies for ESD. Instead there is a wide variety of concepts by means
of which the competencies of ESD could be determined and modelled (ibid. 8),
each showing great differences and different motivations regarding its contentual
requirements.
Competency models specify the contents and goals of educational programmes
and to this extent are points of reference for developing teaching and learning pro-
cesses. There are quite different thoughts on what competencies are, how they can
be derived, justified, described and measured. For example the GRF Priority
Programme ‘Competence Models’ has focused on cognitive dispositions (Klieme
and Leutner 2006: 4; Hartig et al. 2008). Other concepts add the affective and moti-
vational dimension to the cognitive, with reference frequently being made to
Weinert’s (2001) definition of competence.