A Competency-Based Curriculum

The competency-based approach depends on determining learner needs and then developing a curriculum in which both instructional goals and assessment measures consist of a list of competencies for learners to achieve. These competencies are written in “can do” statements and need to be measurable. Learners are told the skills they are to achieve and so instruction and assessment are transparent to learners. This chapter discusses the approach, its strengths and weaknesses, its influence on textbook design, the types of classroom activities that support it, and example competency-based syllabi.