European Journal of Education, Vol. 46, No.

3, 2011

Key Competences in Europe: interpretation, policy

formulation and implementation
ejed_1491

289..306

Gbor Halsz & Alain Michel

Introduction
Traditionally, the notion of competence has applied to vocational education and
training (VET) because of its direct link with the labour market and of the
description of skills and attitudes required for some specific tasks or responsibilities. Since the 1990s, the term competence has also become increasingly used for
basic and general academic education at lower and upper secondary levels. In
many countries, the curricula were more and more defined not only in terms of
knowledge attainment in different academic subjects, but also of attitudes, skills,
abilities, capacities, behaviours, values, competencies or competences. For
example, a report published by OECD in 1994 advocating a redefinition of the
curriculum to meet the challenges of the 21st century mentioned the requirement
of a basic core curriculum that provided every student with a survival kit in terms
of knowledge, competences and values (OCDE, 1994). A little later, the report
Learning: the treasure within by the International Commission on Education for
the 21st Century, set up by UNESCO and chaired by Jacques Delors, proposed
four pillars of education : learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together,
and learning to be (Delors, 1996). In the following years, another important step
in the reflection on competences was taken at the initiative of OECD with the
DeSeCo (Definition and Selection of Competencies) project (OECD, 2001;
2005) that started in 1997 and aimed at defining some key competencies useful
for a successful life for individuals and a well-functioning society (Rychen &
Salganik, 2003). It classified key competencies in three broad categories: using
tools interactively, interacting in heterogeneous groups and acting autonomously.
The PISA project was launched at the same time. The first survey carried out in
2000 and the following rounds represented an important methodological change
with respect to the previous international surveys on student achievement (IEA
and ETS surveys) by assessing the ability to use knowledge acquired in and out of
school in real-life situations, rather than knowledge per se. This more pragmatic
view greatly influenced curricula worldwide, given the impact on public opinion of
the international ranking of students performance which was amplified by the
newspapers despite the methodological warnings of OECD regarding an excessively superficial interpretation of the surveys results.
At the same time, at the European level, the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda
underlined the crucial importance of the acquisition of some key competences for
the well-being of citizens, social cohesion, economic development and competitiveness in the process of globalisation. Many initiatives have been taken in the last
ten years within the Open Method of Coordination1 to design new transparency
instruments to enhance student and worker mobility within and outside Europe
(Laffan, & Shaw, 2005; Lange, & Nafsika, 2007; Gornitzka, 2006). All took
account of knowledge, skills and competences at all levels of education, including
adult education: the European Qualification Framework for Lifelong Learning, the
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Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, the learning outcomes approach in higher education with the Bologna Process, the certificate
supplements and the Europass C.V., and, of course, the European Reference
Framework on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning on which this article will
focus (European Parliament and Council, 2006). We must also mention the work
carried out by the Council of Europe on democratic and ethical issues and
education to citizenship.
Why is there an Evolution towards a Competence-based Curriculum?
Before analysing the conceptual issues related to the interpretation of key competences and the practical issues related to the various formulations of the curricula and the implementation strategies in European countries, one should
briefly mention the main factors that explain the evolution towards what can be
seen as a new paradigm of education in a lifelong perspective. It can help to
clarify the political and ideological debates on the introduction of the concepts
(or notions) of learning outcomes and key competences in the curriculum landscape. An important factor of resistance amongst some intellectuals and teachers
against such an evolution is what they see as the increasing importance of economic considerations in the context of economic and financial globalisation. The
more pragmatic translation of the aims of education is often perceived as evidence of a greater impact of the labour market and employers expectations, as
if education was selling its soul to the devil. Admittedly, the growing importance of competitiveness in the global economy and the increasing role of human
capital and education in the knowledge society are important factors in the
emergence and development of the new education paradigm. But others also
contribute to explain the new expectations towards education (Michel, 2001):
Coping with the rapid pace of change and obsolescence of knowledge and
skills, which imply lifelong learning for all and preparing mindsets from an
early age to accept change and the continuous questioning of what was
previously taken for granted as normal constraints of everyday life.
Preparing students to question the consequences of change, rather than
considering it as an end in itself, and in particular to analyse science findings
and technology innovations in terms of their ethical and practical implications
for the future. The French author Rabelais warning in the 16th century has
never been more apposite: knowledge without conscience is but the ruin of
the soul. Environment, sustainable development, bioethics and other crucial
issues for the future of humanity require cross-subject approaches and active
learning in teams.
Preparing students to live in the digital era, using in a relevant way the rapidly
changing ICT, while being aware of the new ethical challenges brought about
by social networks, but also adapting teaching/learning practices to young
peoples digital culture.
Making learners aware of the dangers of growing inequalities (and new forms
of social exclusion) for social cohesion, peace and democracy among countries
and within some countries, as well as of the resurgence of xenophobia, racism
and intolerance.
Hence, the need to think the curriculum and learning outcomes in terms of
competences, understood as a combination of knowledge, skills, attitudes and

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values, should not be interpreted as resulting only from economic globalisation and
liberalism. Many elements of what we now call competence-based curriculum
have been present in our pedagogical thinking for centuries.
The European Framework of Key Competences
This framework was proposed in the Recommendation on Key Competences for
Lifelong Learning adopted by the European Parliament and the Council in
December 2006 after five years of work by experts and civil servants collaborating
within the Open Method of Cooperation. It defines eight key competences:
Communication in the mother tongue
Communication in a foreign language
Mathematical competence and basic competences in science and technology
Digital competence
Learning to learn
Social and civic competence
Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship
Cultural awareness and expression.
It is stressed that: 1) all these competences should be regarded as equally important, since each can contribute to a successful life in the knowledge society; 2) to
some extent, they overlap and interlock; 3) many themes should apply throughout
this framework as they play a role in these key competences: critical thinking,
creativity, initiative, problem solving, risk assessment, decision taking and constructive management of emotions. One should note that this set of key competences represents a consensus at a given moment in time and that many other basic
qualities or attributes could also have been mentioned, for example, the ability to
realise what is essential and what is unimportant, the capacity to set priorities, to
respect time-schedules and deadlines, to be aware of ones limits or ignorance,
to have a sense of foresight, etc.
If all the eight key competences are equally important and are more or less
interrelated, the first three are relatively easy to define and implement in a curriculum that is still predominantly structured around traditional subjects. The
main difficulty is to suggest concrete links between subjects so that each school
subject or activity can, for example, contribute efficiently to better communicate in
ones mother tongue. Yet not all teachers feel responsible about showing the
possible bridges between subjects, for instance between the structure of language
and mathematical logic. Yet, the first three competences do not lead to very
different interpretations among Member States, unlike the five other key competences, which are transversal and have been perceived and interpreted in different
ways in the European countries. That is why we will focus here on these crosscurricular competences.
Some Terminology Issues Concerning Key Competences
It is almost a truism to say that there is some vagueness in the terminology used in
different contexts and by various stakeholders: notions such as competence, competency, skill, ability, know-how, capacity, capability and aptitude are used or
associated with different meanings according to the context and are sometimes
considered as more or less equivalent. Moreover, in many countries, it is difficult
to make a clear distinction between skills and competences or competencies. Even
the official European terminology maintains some ambiguity. For example, on the
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IATE (Interactive Terminology in Europe) website competence is translated into

French as comptence, but skill is also translated as comptence, which reflects the
real world, since skills and competences in France are often used indiscriminately
in the general education sphere.
However, it is a different story in the field of vocational education and training (VET) and professional qualifications where certain distinctions are more
commonly accepted. Among the possible definitions of competence one can
quote CEDEFOP: competence is the ability to apply learning outcomes
adequately in a defined context (education, work, personal or professional development). It is completed by a comment: competence is not limited to cognitive
elements; it also encompasses functional aspects (involving technical skills) as
well as interpersonal attributes (social or organisational skills) and ethical values
(CEDEFOP, 2008). Hence, CEDEFOP defines skill as the ability to perform
tasks and solve problems, but defines basic skills as the skills needed to live in
our contemporary society (e.g.: listening, speaking, reading, writing and mathematics). There is no obvious difference with basic competences and the
French translation of basic skills in the CEDEFOP terminology is comptences de
base. Another source of ambiguity is the fact that competences and competencies are often used indiscriminately in the literature and some official documents
related to curricula. This was the case with the DeSeCo study (DeSeCo executive summary, 2005). But according to ILO standards, competency is a more
specific ability that can be observed in performing an action in a given context
and producing a set outcome.
So, with Rychen and Tiana, one should consider that competence is a
broader concept or notion than skill (Rychen & Tiana, 2004) or even competency and that it encompasses knowledge, competencies, skills, abilities, capacities, attitudes, values, attributes and qualities. But, in any case, the flexibility in
using the different notions related to competence and its close synonyms certainly contributed to the diversity among European countries in their way of
integrating the European cross-curricular key competences when designing their
new curricula. Another major factor is the fact that the perceptions and interpretations of key competences are closely related to the history and cultural
context of each country or region, which is, of course, also the case for the
overall curricula.
The Strategic Importance of Cross-curricular Key Competences
A first inescapable step is to present how the European Framework defines the five
cross-curricular competences (Annex of the Recommendation of the European
Parliament and of the Council, 18 December 2006):
Digital competence involves the confident and critical use of Information
Society Technology for work, leisure and communication. It is underpinned by
basic skills in ICT: the use of computers to retrieve, assess, store, produce,
present and exchange information and communicate and participate in collaborative networks via the Internet.
Learning to learn is the ability to pursue and persist in learning, to organise
ones learning, including through effective management of time and information, both individually and in groups. This competence includes awareness of
ones learning process and needs, identifying available opportunities, and the
ability to overcome obstacles in order to learn successfully. It means acquiring,
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processing and assimilating new knowledge and skills, as well as seeking and
making use of guidance. Learning to learn engages learners to build on prior
learning and experience in order to use and apply knowledge and skills in a
variety of contexts: at home, at work, in education and training. Motivation
and confidence are crucial.
Social and civic competences include personal, interpersonal and intercultural competences and cover all forms of behaviour that equip individuals to
participate in an effective and constructive way in social and working life and
particularly in increasingly diverse societies, and to solve conflicts where
necessary. Civic competence equips individuals to fully participate in civic life,
based on knowledge of social and political concepts and structures and a
commitment to active and democratic participation.
Sense of initiative and entrepreneurship refers to the ability to transform
ideas into actions. It includes creativity, innovation and risk-taking, as well as
the ability to plan and manage projects in order to achieve objectives (in
everyday life and society, but also in the workplace) and to seize opportunities.
It should also include awareness of ethical values.
Cultural awareness and expression are an appreciation of the importance
of the creative expression of ideas, experiences and emotions in a range of
media, including music, performing arts, literature, and the visual arts.

Every individual needs these competences for personal fulfilment and development, active citizenship, social inclusion and employment. For each of these five
competences the definition is completed by a list of related essential knowledge,
skills and attitudes. If each of these competences seems to be relevant with
respect to the main challenges of present day society, the definitions are heterogeneous in their formulation and leave a degree of liberty in the way to interpret
them and adapt them to each national or regional context. One of the concerns
expressed by many Member States has been the possibility to assess or measure
the degree of attainment of these competences. This is a real issue, as experience
has shown that what can be effectively assessed in a curriculum is taken more
seriously by learners and teachers and is therefore more likely to be learned and
taught. That is why DG EAC, through the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the
EU, decided to finance research projects in this field. The Centre for Research
on Lifelong Learning (CRELL) was established in 2005 to develop expertise in
building new instruments and indicators to measure attainment of transversal
competences such as civic competence, learning to learn and creativity (Hoskins
& Fredriksson, 2008; Hoskins & Deakin Crick, 2010; Villalba, 2008). In the
same way, another research centre of the JRC the Institute for Prospective
Technological Studies (IPTS) , established in 1994, has produced many
research studies in the field of education and training on ICT, digital culture,
creativity and innovation. Among the recent reports, it is worth mentioning the
final report on the Study on Creativity and Innovation in Education in EU
Member States that started in December 2008 (Cachia et al., 2010), on new
ways to learn new skills for future jobs (Redecker et al., 2010) and another study
about the place of creativity and innovation in school curricula in the EU 27
(Helmann & Korte, 2010).
Through its four strategic objectives, the Strategic Framework for European
Cooperation for Education and Training (ET 2020) reinforces the crucial
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importance of cross-curricular competences (European Council, 2009). This is

true in particular of objective 1 concerning lifelong learning and mobility, objective
3 concerning social cohesion and active citizenship, and objective 4 concerning
enhancing creativity, innovation and entrepreneurship. In the ongoing context of
peer-learning, the European cluster on key competences is still very active,
aiming at fostering cross-curricular competences and designing instruments to
implement and assess these (www.kslll.net/PeerLearningClusters/clusterDetails.
cfm?id=9).
Translating Cross-curricular Key Competences into Curriculum Policy
Formulations in Europe
We will refer here to the report commissioned by the Directorate-General for
Education and Culture of the European Commission in which both authors of this
article participated (Gordon et al., 2009). The focus is on cross-curricular competences because they require the most important innovations in teaching/learning
practices, assessment procedures and school organisation. And it is the reason why
they have been integrated to various degrees and in various ways in the curriculum
reforms across Europe. Given the limits of an article, the focus will be on compulsory education and only a few examples will briefly describe some contrasted
schemes of new curriculum design and the main convergences towards a
competence-based approach. It will be also taken into account that the examples
of Poland and Spain are developed in other articles of this issue.
Although all Member States do not refer explicitly to key or cross-curricular
key competences, most have been introducing similar concepts such as basic
competences, core skills, key skills or socle commun. For the countries which
specifically use the term competences, it is agreed that it means application of
knowledge and skills and also includes attitudes. Another feature is that the skills
and attitudes must allow one to use knowledge in various situations, both familiar or unexpected (e.g. the essential competences in Portugal). The notion of
key competences in many countries (e.g. Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Czech
Republic, Denmark, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia and
Slovenia) refers to subject-independent competences that are seen as providing a
core or basic set (Spain) or a foundation (French-speaking Belgium, France and
Luxembourg). The set of competences varies according to the education system.
In Slovenia, they include learning to learn, social skills, ICT, planning and developing ones career, entrepreneurship, environmental responsibility and safety at
work. In Germany, cross-curricular key competences are explicitly defined as
subject-independent. They are not limited to cognitive abilities and represent
complex operational competences required for and supported by various subjects
that help to solve difficult tasks in real-life contexts and can be transferred to
new situations.
Other countries use another terminology. In Austria, the term dynamic skills
(Dynamische FertigKeiten) refers to interactive transversal competences, while in
Estonia, there is a clear distinction between general and domain-specific competences, and cross-curricular themes. In Hungary, the original text of the European
Recommendation was included with only minor changes to the text of the national
core curriculum for the 618 age group, but it is completed here by specific
horizontal development targets which also define various competences and values
(e.g. European identity, economic culture or preparation for adult roles).
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In the four countries of the UK and in Ireland, the terms that are used are
skills, core skills or key skills. In Ireland, the skills are different for primary and
lower secondary education. For primary education, they are the abilities to question, analyse, investigate, think critically and solve problems; in lower secondary,
effective interaction, communication and literacy, numeracy, manipulative skills,
information technology, thinking and learning, problem solving, and social skills.
In Scotland, core skills are the broad transferable skills that are needed to be full,
active and responsible members of society: communication, numeracy, problem
solving, using information technology and working with others. The Scottish case
deserves particular attention as it is perhaps the most characteristic in Europe of
a new curriculum paradigm. The curriculum for excellence, designed over the
period 20052008 and which will be implemented from 2009 to 2014, is
deemed to enable all young people to become successful learners, confident
individuals, effective contributors and responsible citizens. Each of these capacities is described through attributes and skills. All learning should be directed
towards the achievement of these four capacities. Moreover, the whole content of
the curriculum is designed as a set of experiences and outcomes: experiences to
develop attitudes and capabilities, and achieve active engagement, motivation and depth of learning; and outcomes to represent what is to be achieved
(www.ltscotland.org.uk/curriculumforexcellence/experiencesandoutcomes/index.
asp).
In England, the curriculum states that, if young people are to be prepared
for the future, they must develop essential skills and qualities for learning, life
and employment. These include skills that are related to learning in subjects, as
well as more generic transferable skills: there are functional skills and personal
learning and thinking skills (PLTS). Functional skills are the core elements
of English, mathematics and ICT; PLTS encompass independent enquirers,
creative thinkers, reflective learners, team workers, self-managers and effective
participants. This curriculum framework is accompanied by a set of outcome
statements that are indicative of the skills, behaviours and personal qualities
associated with each group. The groups are interconnected and learners are
likely to encounter skills from several groups within any one experience. Some
cross-curricular dimensions are also stated: identity and cultural diversity,
healthy lifestyles, community participation, enterprise, global dimension and sustainable development, technology and the media, creativity and critical thinking
(http://curriculum.qcda.gov.uk). Among the interesting innovations in the UK to
develop motivation and learn to learn, it is worth mentioning the Opening
Minds project which started in 2006 at the initiative of the Royal Society
for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (RSA) and aimed
to enhance basic skills such as application of literacy and numeracy,
application of ICT, problem-solving, self-management, team work, business
awareness and customer care, and five groups of key skills, i.e. citizenship, learning to learn, managing information, relating to people and managing situations.
In 2011, about 200 English schools are using this approach (www.rsaopeningminds.org).
Another group of countries defines goals and objectives rather than competences or skills stricto sensu. This is the case in Sweden where two types of goals are
detailed in the curriculum documents: goals to strive towards and goals to attain
in the compulsory school.2 Both are listed in the following boxes.
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Goals to strive towards specify that schools ensure that all pupils should:
Develop the ability to form and express ethical viewpoints based on knowledge and
personal experiences.
Respect the intrinsic value of other people.
Reject the oppression and abusive treatment of other people and assist in supporting them.
Can empathise with and understand the situations of other people.
Show respect for the environment.
Develop a sense of curiosity and the desire to learn.
Develop their own way of learning.
Develop self-confidence.
Feel a sense of security and learn to show respect in their dealings with others.
Learn to carry out research and to learn and work independently and with others.
Learn to communicate in foreign languages.
Learn to listen, discuss, reason and use their knowledge as a tool to formulate and
test assumptions as well as to solve problems.
Reflect on their experiences and critically examine and value statements and
relationships.
Acquire sufficient knowledge and experience to be able to make well considered
choices for further education and vocational orientation.
Take personal responsibility for their studies and working environment.
Gradually exercise increasingly greater influence over their education.
Have an understanding of democratic principles and develop their ability to work
democratically.
Acquire sufficient knowledge and experience to be able to examine different
options and make decisions concerning their future.
Develop the ability to assess their results themselves.

Goals to attain in compulsory school are to:

Have mastered Swedish and be able to listen and read as well as to express ideas
and thoughts in the spoken and written language.
Have mastered basic mathematical principles and be able to use these in everyday
life.
Know and understand basic concepts and contexts within the natural sciences as
well as within technical, social and human areas of knowledge.
Have developed the ability to express themselves creatively and be interested in
participating in the range of cultural activities that society has to offer.
Be familiar with central parts of the Swedish, Nordic and Western cultural
heritages.
Be aware of the culture, language, religions and history of national minorities.
Have developed their understanding of other cultures.
Be able to communicate in speech and writing in English.
Know the basis of societys laws and norms as well as their own rights and
obligations in school and society.
Have a basic knowledge of the requirements to maintain good health and to
understand the importance of lifestyle for health and the environment.
Have some knowledge of the media and of their role in relation to the media.
Be able to use information technology as a tool in their search for knowledge.
(www.skolverket.se)

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Some countries have introduced key competences in the curriculum through

legislation (Belgium, France, Greece, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Italy, Portugal,
Slovakia and Spain), while others did it by a revision or lower level legal acts
(Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, German
Lnder, Hungary, Ireland, Malta, the Netherlands and the UK).
These examples show the diversity among EU Member States in the identification and formulation of cross-curricular key competences in their education
systems while responding to similar concerns to give young people the basic
capacities to address present and future challenges. There is also considerable
diversity in how the changes have been introduced through legislation at systemic
level or through local experimentations.
In France, an Act of March 2005 established a common base (socle commun) of
knowledge and competences for all pupils in primary and lower secondary education. Every student must attain specified minimum standards at the end of
compulsory education in seven major competences, each being a combination of
knowledge, skills and attitudes and requiring the contribution of several subjects,
while each subject must contribute to the acquisition of several skills. The socle
includes 5 competences which correspond to 5 competences of the European
Reference Framework: command of the mother tongue, command of at least one
foreign language, basic competences in mathematics, science and technology,
digital competence, and social and civic competences. Two others are close to two
recommended key competences. However, they are expressed in a way which
reflects traditions that are deeply rooted in the French education system : 1) a
humanist culture instead of cultural awareness and expression; 2) autonomy
and sense of initiative instead of sense of initiative and entrepreneurship. Finally,
one should note that the learning to learn competence was not included because
it was not clear how to assess it.
For further descriptions of countries approaches to introducing cross-curricular
competences in the school curriculum one can consult the CASEs report commissioned by The Directorate General for Education and Culture of the European
Commission (Gordon et al., 2009). Here, we would just like to underline that,
beyond the diversity of approaches and of the relative importance of cross-curricular
competences in the curriculum of compulsory education, the European Recommendation had an impact in all Member States, even if other factors like PISA
surveys, or the reform of national qualifications systems also played an important
role. It is also true that the relative importance given to each of the transversal
competences can differ from one country to another or even within each country.
Finally, although it is not easy to establish a typology of the policy formulations
regarding key competences, it is possible to propose a rough classification by taking
the dominant approach in each country as a criterion.
Functional approaches:
Mostly skills or competence-based
Mostly subject-based
Thematic approaches
Mostly through major issues of society
Mostly through developing personal qualities
Goals and principles based
Mixed approach (functional and thematic)

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Cyprus, Germany, Ireland, Lithuania, Poland,

Slovenia, and United Kingdom.
Bulgaria, Italy, Malta and Portugal
Denmark and Slovakia
Austria (primary school), the Czech Republic,
Greece, Hungary and Luxembourg
Finland, Latvia, the Netherlands and Sweden
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But another crucial issue is to understand the strategies adopted by the EU

Member States in order to implement a competence-based curriculum and the
obstacles that they had to face.
Implementation Strategies
Since the adoption of the Recommendation on European Key Competences,
almost every Member State has adopted the development of key competences as
a major national education policy goal and many have also made significant
progress in its implementation. The challenges they have faced, however, are
tremendous. The inclusion in national curricular documents of the relevant goals
and normative requirements which could be reached in some countries only
through difficult and complex political processes is already a major achievement,
but this is probably the easier part of the task. What seems to be much more
difficult is the practical implementation which should make thousands of teachers
change their professional behaviour, alter the deeply-rooted assessment and evaluation practices at both system and classroom level and ensure the management of
all those classroom level innovations that are necessary for substantial changes to
occur in thousands of schools. As the 2010 Joint Progress Report of the Council
and the Commission on the implementation of the Education & Training 2010
work programme stated, while good progress has been made in adapting school
curricula (. . .) there is still much to be done to support teachers competence
development, to update assessment methods, and to introduce new ways of organising learning in an innovative school environment (Council of the European
Union, 2010).
It is important to stress that some Member States started devising and implementing education policies that were oriented towards competence development
long before the adoption of the European Recommendation. This happened,
typically, first in the field of vocational education and training, where the competences to be developed could be defined on the basis of occupational analyses with
the active involvement of employers or those in the relevant professions (Stanton
& Bailey, 2004; Raffe, 2007). In several countries, some schools, sometimes operating in special circumstances, started devising and applying competence development approaches long before this became part of a formally adopted national
policy. Given this diversity, the conditions and chances of successfully implementing the European Recommendation have varied significantly in the different
Member States.
Although the word curriculum does not appear in the Recommendation, the
shift towards competence development in general, and the development of the
specific competences defined in the Recommendation in particular can be
described as a curriculum reform. This was made very clear in the original proposal
of the European Commission which interpreted the mandate received from the
Lisbon European Council in 2000, stressing that this work was to focus on
identifying the basic skills and how, together with traditional skills, they can be
better integrated in the curricula (European Commission, 2005). In the impact
assessment statement of this document the Commission stressed that the Recommendation will facilitate curricular reforms.
Since the 1980s, when researchers came to recognize the extreme complexity
of the implementation process (Thomas, 1994), the question of implementation has been strongly emphasised in curriculum theories and research about
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curriculum reform. It is an unquestioned and shared conviction among researchers

in curriculum theory or curriculum policy that successful curriculum development requires better use of change knowledge and failure is often a result of
neglecting it (Sahlberg, 2006).The systematic analyses of curriculum reforms and
developmental interventions aiming at changing teachers classroom behaviour
have led to curriculum implementation being seen increasingly as a process of
mutual adaptation (McLaughlin, 1990). Even the notion of curriculum has
changed as a result of this shift of emphasis: today, we see curriculum increasingly
not as a product but as a process, i.e. a process of change and learning (Pinar
et al., 1995).
If the Recommendation on Key Competences is to be taken seriously by the
Member States, most of them, especially those that have not yet made significant
progress in this direction, will have to introduce curricular reforms or changes.
Conceiving and implementing them are naturally internal affairs of the Member
States: the jurisdiction of the community in this area is very limited.The European
Parliament and the Council made this very clear when they stressed that the
document they adopted leaves the implementation of this Recommendation to
Member States (The European Parliament, 2006). This means that there are two
parallel reasons why the exploration of this issue is extremely important, and there
are also two different perspectives that we must follow when analysing this. On the
one hand, we must look at the more general question of how policies are implemented in the European Union, especially in areas such as education where the use
of direct instruments (such as binding legal actions) is not possible. On the other,
we must look at the more specific question of how curriculum reforms are implemented, taking into account the extreme complexity of this process.
When entering the field of curriculum, with its Recommendation on Key
Competences, the European Union found itself confronted with a double challenge: it must gain the support of the key actors in the domestic education policy
arena in the Member States and, at the same time, it must tackle their uneven
implementation capacities. The implementation of the Recommendation will,
therefore, be uneven. As the conditions of successful implementation depend on at
least two parallel factors (political commitment and implementation capacities1),
at least four different outcomes or scenarios are possible (see Figure 1).
Strong political commitment
Implementation is possible in the
longer term if implementation
capacities are developed

Weak implementation
capacity

Implementation is
unlikely

Implementation is
likely to happen

Strong implementation
capacity
Implementation is possible in the
shorter term if political support is
obtained

Weak political commitment

Figure 1. Conditions and chances of implementation

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It is likely that the European Recommendation will be successfully implemented in

those countries where strong political commitment (i.e. the support of key education policy actors) is associated with strong implementation capacities (i.e. a
good understanding of the logic of curriculum changes and a competent use of
appropriate policy tools). In the three other cases, this is less likely or unlikely. In
countries where strong political commitment is not linked with high level implementation capacities (i.e. the key policy actors, although committed, lack the
understanding of the complexities of curricular changes and do not possess the
appropriate implementation instruments) successful implementation is possible
but unlikely, at least in the short term. The effective implementation of the
Recommendation is possible in these countries only in the longer term in function
of the necessarily timely development of implementation capacities. In those
countries which have greater implementation capacities (e.g. they have accumulated knowledge from the failures of past reforms or have learnt from the experiences of other countries) but the commitment of key education policy actors is
lacking, implementation is possible, even in the short term. However, this will only
happen if the attitude of the key education policy actors changes and they support
the idea of altering the curriculum so that it could better serve the development of
European key competences. Finally, in those countries where both the political
support and the implementation capacities are lacking, successful implementation
in unlikely, even in the longer term.
It is very difficult to estimate the number of Member States that belong to
the four cases of Figure 1. Assessing the level of political commitment is perhaps
easier, although, as stressed earlier, this factor may change quite quickly, depending on domestic political changes, and its sustainability or fragility may also vary.
Policy actors who are strongly committed to the idea of key competences and to
enhance classroom practices, serving effectively their development, may gain a
dominant position in the education policy arena but it may remain fragile. In a
decentralised system, they may gain a dominant position in the national arena,
while the local control of schools may remain in the hands of others who are
more reluctant to apply the new model of competence development.
It seems more difficult to assess the implementation capacities of the Member
States, although the international or supra-national agencies (including the European Commission) that regularly monitor national policy processes and outcomes
have accumulated significant knowledge in this area.We probably cannot use general
criteria to assess implementation capacities, as these vary according to the characteristics of national systems of governance. Probably the most interesting question
here is whether a preference for the top-down or the bottom-up models can be
justified, or whether these must be seen as being of equal value. In fact, one of the
implications of the development of our knowledge about curriculum reforms in the
last decade is that changing the curriculum i.e. changing the behaviour and
professional beliefs of thousands of teachers so that their daily interactions with
pupils are significantly modified is an extremely complex, open-ended, non-linear
process, i.e. it is a partially controllable innovation process which cannot be
effectively directed top-down and may even imply that it is conceptually unsound,
socially unacceptable, and empirically impossible to solve the implementation
problem by programming the persons concerned with putting the innovation into
reality through detailed elaborations of the desired practice and step by step
specifications for the process of implementation (Altrichter, 2005).
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The vertical axis of our Figure, i.e. the level of commitment of key education
policy actors to competence development in general or to the development of the
eight European competences in particular is beyond the scope of this article. The
only thing we stress here is that it is very uneven and may fluctuate according to
domestic political changes. The data collected in the survey that constitutes the
basis of this article (Gordon et al., 2009) show that, in some countries, the
dominant education policy actors immediately welcomed the Recommendation
and quickly started using it in their domestic action, while in others they did not
seem particularly enthusiastic and may even have attempted to neutralise it. This
is in accordance with the dynamics of European policy making which deliberately
seek to change incentive structures of the involved actors in order to stimulate and
modify the domestic policy context in favour of effective compliance (Knill &
Lenschow, 2003). Like other European policy interventions, the most important
hidden goal of the Recommendation on Key Competences was to provide
domestic actors with new opportunities for achieving domestic reforms in the field
of curriculum modernisation as it could challenge domestic institutions, policies,
and processes inducing processes of social learning or empowering domestic
reform coalitions (Brzel, 2003).Those domestic actors who were less happy with
the policy line expressed in the Recommendation may have been forced to seek
excuses for non-action.2
The main focus of this article is on the implementation capacities and concrete
implementation actions of the Member States. The proposal of the Commission left
this responsibility entirely to Member States, and the text adopted by the Council
and the Parliament did not contain any reference to implementation.There was no
mention, for instance, of changing curricular standards, of adapting assessment
approaches to them, of developing new teacher competences or of enhancing
pedagogical innovations in schools or classrooms. In the light of what we know
about curriculum reforms there is no doubt, however, that if none of these
elements are changed, it will be impossible to shift towards effective competence
development.
For education and training systems to develop effectively, the learning to learn
capacity or the sense of initiative and entrepreneurship make it necessary to
emphasise these goals in national standards; the regular evaluation of the performance of pupils and schools also includes the assessment of these competences;
teachers possess the appropriate repertoire of pedagogical tools to develop them;
and learning environments become favourable for their development. For
example, learning to learn can only be developed in open and complex problem
situations which make the learners not only apply what they have already learnt,
but also engage in new learning. This only happens when they are forced to reflect
on their specific contextual learning needs and cannot succeed without new
learning. Such situations can be created through real life projects, work-based
learning or learning-oriented social work. Creating such learning situations in
schools and making them effective require specific teacher competences (and
therefore, new and more effective forms of developing these competences both in
initial teacher education and continuous professional development) and innovative
learning environments (and therefore school organisations and school leadership
that encourages innovation and pedagogical experimentation). Although the
Recommendation on European Key Competences did not make any reference to
teacher behaviour and to learning environments it has long been clear that the
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development of competences for lifelong learning is not possible without modifying these factors. As it was stressed more than 15 years ago when, in the US there
was an attempt to define 21st century skills: todays students to be prepared for
tomorrows workplace (. . .) need learning environments that allow them to
explore real-life situations (de Corte, 2010).
In the simplified policy model that was used in the survey behind this article
(Gordon et al., 2009) a distinction was made between policy inputs and the practice
of policy implementation. The first included two equally important factors: the level
of political commitment and the implementation capacities specifically related to
curriculum reform (Figure 1).The four key elements mentioned above (standards,
assessment, teachers, innovation) were included in the latter category.The analysis
of country level data confirmed that the policy inputs and the practice of implementing curriculum reforms together determined the policy outcomes, i.e. how
effectively the Recommendation on European Key Competences has been implemented in the Member States (see Figure 2).

Figure 2. The model for the implementation of the European Recommendation

on key competences for lifelong learning
The analysis of country data showed that the easiest element of implementation
was changing the curriculum goals and standards. This was quickly achieved in
countries where there was a clear and strong political commitment. Adapting the
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feedback mechanisms to the new goals and standards, i.e. developing new assessment instruments or introducing new evaluation approaches has been more difficult, but this could also have been done relatively easily if the political will was
present, and especially if this had been conceived as a technical task. Redefining
teacher competences and adapting the programmes of teacher education and
continuous professional development to the new competence demands have
been much more difficult, partly because this is an area that operates in many
countries out of the direct control of national authorities responsible for primary
and secondary education, and partly because this is something that requires
significant behavioural and cultural changes (e.g. among academics in teacher
training universities). Changing the learning environments, at least in a critical
number of schools, is certainly the most difficult implementation challenge
and is the area where only a very limited number of countries could report
significant progress. This has happened in most countries, typically in a limited
number of schools participating on a voluntary basis in nationally-supported
pilot programmes.
The country cases analysed in the framework of the study behind this article
show that implementation has had the best chances of being successful in those
countries where the national education accountability system supports not only the
alignment of assessment approaches with the goal of competence development,
but also local and school level innovations, where curriculum reforms are accompanied by massive investment in capacity development among teachers, and where
the national educational innovation system is relatively well developed. The quality of
local and school level leadership also seems to be a good predictor of successful
implementation.
The country cases also show that in those countries where the overall goal of
competence development and the definition of standards in terms of learning
outcomes are supported in all subsystems of education (primary and secondary,
vocational, higher and continuing education) the chances of successful implementation is higher than in those where this support is unequal in the various
subsystems. The advantage of these countries is that they could benefit from the
synergies between the various subsystems and hence mobilise more energy and
knowledge for successful implementation.
Conclusion
Following the adoption of the Recommendation on European Key Competences
in 2006 almost all Member States of the EU amended their national curricula to
make teaching and learning more oriented towards competence development. In
several countries, this process started years before the adoption of the Recommendation, and in some it is still only beginning. There are significant differences
between countries in their way of interpreting the notion of competence and of
translating it according to their national contexts. The other aspects of the implementation of the Recommendation also show great diversity. Countries differ not
only in the strength of the commitment of key policy actors to the idea of
competence-based education, but also in their capacities to implement complex
curriculum reforms aimed at altering school level pedagogical approaches.
Successful implementation can be expected only in those countries where there
is coordinated action in the following four areas: (1) the definition of competence
development-related goals and standards in national curriculum documents, (2)
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the alignment of national and school level assessment and evaluation approaches
with these goals and standards, (3) intensive capacity building among teachers so
that they become capable of adapting their classroom level practices to the new
goals and standards and, particularly, (4) massive support for school level pedagogical innovations that enhance the renewal of learning environments. This also
requires investing in the development of school leadership and national educational innovation systems. National assessment and evaluation systems must also
be developed so that they better support school level innovations.
Gbor Halsz, ELTE University Budapest, Faculty of Pedagogy and Psychology, Centre
for Higher Education Management, Budapest, Hungary, [email protected],
http://halaszg.ofi.hu
Alain Michel, 57 avenue du Maine, 75014 Paris, France, [email protected]
NOTES
1. The Open Method of Coordination (OMC) is a relatively new intergovernmental means of governance used in the EU, based on the voluntary cooperation of its Member States. It involves developing guidelines, indicators,
benchmarking, peer learning and sharing best practice. (http://ec.europa.eu/
education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc28_en.htm)
2. In Sweden, a parliamentary commission was set up to examine the applicability of the Recommendation. The countrys biannual national report to the
European Commission in 2009 referred to its report which said that the
concept of competence is (. . .) difficult to interpret and Swedish policy
documents and the EU key competences treat it a bit differently . . . (see: Joint
Council/Commission progress reports on education and training. Sweden,
2009 http://ec.europa.eu/education/lifelong-learning-policy/doc1532_en.
htm).
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