What is Wrong with Competence?

The controversy centred on the notion of competence involves epistemological, ethical, and political considerations. Progress with analysing these objections entails classifying such criticisms into those which are integral to the concept of competence, and those which are not. Problems and their resolution can then be conducted within an appropriate framework. Ethical and political considerations concern the appropriateness or otherwise of competence-based schemes within the values of a democratic society. Objections on these grounds, though serious, are not considered fatal to competence-based schemes and they can be met by including more traditional courses within a person's total educational experience. However, analysis reveals that epistemological problems are the most serious difficulties facing competence-based schemes. Competence-based schemes appear to be committed to two different theories of knowledge and meaning. On the one hand, behavioural performances presume that knowing means behaving in a required fashion, and on the other hand, underpinning knowledge presumes that knowing means possessing the causal mental concepts which produce the required behaviour. Such a position is fundamentally incoherent, with the result that such schemes need reformulating with one coherent theory of meaning and one agreed epistemology.