From Competence in the Curriculum to Competence in Action

The article begins by drawing a distinction between the concepts of “curriculum” and “programme of study”, and goes on to show that curriculum reform involves much more than simply rewriting programmes of study. The reforms that are presently sweeping across education systems throughout the world qualify, in many cases, as true paradigm revolutions, given the magnitude of the transition from an objectives-based to a competency-based pedagogy. The authors discuss the complex nature of a situated approach to competence by exploring the theoretical foundations of a number of contemporary perspectives: situated action/cognition, distributed cognition/intelligence, collective intelligence and enaction. The value of a situated approach to competence is that it goes beyond an objectives-based pedagogy, while at the same time incorporating the best of what it has to offer. Original language: French Philippe Jonnaert (Belgium) Doctoral degree in educational studies from the Université de Mons; formerly, a professor at the Université de Louvain-la-Neuve in Belgium and the University of Sherbrooke in Canada; a visiting professor at the Université René Descartes, Paris 5-Sorbonne; he is currently a full professor at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQàM); director of the Observatoire des réformes en education (ORé); and consultant to various international organizations on issues related to curriculum development. E-mail: philippejonnaert@yahoo.ca Domenico Masciotra (Canada) Doctorate in educational studies from UQáM and completed post-doctoral studies at the Massachussetts Institute of Technology; he is a researcher for ORé and consultant to the Ministère de l’éducation, du loisir et du sport (MELS) of Quebec. E-mail: masciotra.domenico@videotron.ca Johanne Barrette (Canada) A graduate student in a doctoral programme of educational studies at UQáM; her dissertation concerns informal and tacit learning acquired through practice in business settings. She has worked as an educational consultant for adult education in the workplace; as an adult education teacher; as a project manager in charge of a number of Quebec-based and international projects on the development of competencies in the workplace; and is currently a researcher at ORé. E-mail: barsav@sympatico.ca Denise Morel (Canada) Denise Morel holds two master’s degrees: in philosophy (McGill University, Montreal) and in Applied Linguistics (Concordia University, Montreal); has worked as a teacher, educational consultant and analyst for the English Montreal School Board, and as a part-time lecturer at Concordia University; has participated in several programme development projects for the MELS of Quebec, and collaborates with ORé. E-mail: dmorel@emsb.qc.ca Yaya Mane (Canada) Holds a doctorate in educational studies from the Université Montréal; has taught at the Institut supérieur des sciences de l’éducation de Guinée (ISSEG); he is presently a lecturer in the Faculty of Education at the Université Montréal;, a research officer at the Centre interdisciplinaire de la formation de la profession enseignante (CRIFPE) at the Université Montréal;, and a researcher at ORé. E-mail: yaya.mane@umontreal.ca