Experiential learning, competence and critical practice in higher education

ABSTRACT The expanding influence of competence-based education (CBE) through the activities of the National Council for Vocational Qualifications (NCVQ) now extends to all levels of the system, including the work of higher education institutions. The NCVQ approach is, however, ill-equipped to deal with education and training beyond the level of basic skills, and is largely irrelevant to the sort of learning that goes on in higher education. A critique of the NCVQ model of CBE is presented and, in place of the behaviourist obsession with performance outcomes, models of learning and development drawn from the cognitive and experiential tradition are recommended for higher education. Educators in this sphere need to maintain an attachment to critical practice and the humanistic tradition in order to resist the narrow utilitarian models of practice represented by CBE strategies.

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