COPA Town Hall Meeting on 20th October 2011
"Developing Competency-Based Training Programs" by Ms Elizabeth Chan

CBLD’s 5th Community of Practice in Assessment (COPA) event was held on Thurs 20 October 2011, 7pm at its Headquarters and Training Center at Bestway Building.  About 40 people from different industries attended the event.

After the dinner and networking session, Ms Elizabeth Chan, Managing Director of CBLD Center, shared by imparting her insights on the characteristics of competency-based training and the differences between Workforce Skills Qualifications (WSQ) and non-WSQ competency-based training programmes.  She then focused on learning outcomes as the core of a competency-based training programme.  As learning outcomes are used to guide the development of competency-based training programmes, the assessment of competencies,  as well as evaluation of programme effectiveness, it is important that the learning outcomes are clear and measurable, either quantitatively or qualitatively.  Participants also learned about using the Bloom’s Taxonomy to develop learning outcomes at different levels of learning.

Participants had a greater appreciation for competency-based training programmes during the activity, where they were asked in groups to select a program, identify the learning outcomes, the Attitudes, Skills and Knowledge of the competencies to be imparted, the training and assessment methodologies that could be employed, and the resources required for training and assessment.  After an hour of discussion, each group was then asked to present their programme.  As each group presented their training programme, it was clear that participants were gaining a greater appreciation for clear learning outcomes.  It was also interesting to note the various methodologies that could be employed to achieve the various learning outcomes.

As like previous sessions, participants fedback that they enjoyed the group discussion and sharing best, as it allowed for greater interaction between industry practitioners.  Overall, the participants were already involved in competency-based training and development, and this session was impactful as it allowed them to refresh and gain a new perspective of developing competency-based training programmes.

In her debrief, Elizabeth encouraged participants to apply and constantly refresh on the principles touched on in this session, as well as others which are covered in the Advanced Certificate in Training and Assessment (ACTA) course.  If trainers and developers make a consistent effort to apply the various principles of developing and delivering competency-based training programmes, it would raise the standard of the workforce, and increase the effectiveness and value of training.