Levelling Competencies

A key part of developing competencies is understanding how they can be interpreted and assessed at all levels within a programme. At Hull we have referred to this as “levelling”.

Within a programme, competencies must be practiced and assessed at the level of the award. Programmes that award intermediate or exit qualifications, for example certificates or diplomas for students who do not complete the qualification they are aiming for, must ensure those programme competencies are achievable at the appropriate undergraduate or postgraduate certificate and diploma levels.

Therefore when designing Programme Competencies delivered in modules it is vital to ensure that they:

• are achievable and assessable.
• reflect relevant external reference points (such as Subject Benchmark Statements and Professional Statutory and Regulatory Body requirements).
• are appropriate to the level of study as defined by the Quality Assurance Agency’s Framework for Higher Education Qualifications in England, Wales and Northern Ireland (FHEQ) and the University of Hull Grading Descriptors.
• align (as appropriate) with relevant Graduate Attributes and Education Strategies.

Competence-based programme design integrates study, research, practical and methodology skills with a disciplinary context.  This reduces the need for stand-alone modules which focus on delivering a specific skill. Where there is need or external requirement for such skills-based modules, these modules will be designed to support programme competencies like any other module in the programme.

A suggested approach to delivery

One approach we have seen used to good effect at Hull when developing competencies over a programme is use of a spiral curriculum.

In a spiral curriculum, learning is spread out over a programme of study with material being revisited repeatedly across the duration of the programme. So a topic which is introduced in an early module is then revisited at other stages throughout the students’ period of study, each time at a higher level. This spaced repetition supports students to build on their previous learning so that they can not only recall facts but can gain a deeper knowledge of the topic and therefore a competence and mastery of the subject. The cognitive theorist Jerome Bruner first described the spiral curriculum in 1960, acknowledging that he was naming something which was already common practice in teaching.

1. Cyclical: students have the opportunity to return to the same topic several times during the programme.
2. Increasing depth: each time the topic is returned to, the student should explore and understand it at a deeper and more complex level.
3. Prior knowledge: when the student revisits a topic their prior learning should be used as a foundation to build from.

As an approach, the spiral curriculum supports a student-centred teaching style, as the student’s prior knowledge and abilities are central. The difference in the level of the learning should however be clearly explained so that students don’t feel that they are just covering the same material or topic again.

Example of a levelled competency
BSc Animal Behaviour and welfare conservation (Bishop Burton College)

This example shows how a programme team has taken the final competency (level 6) and adapted it for each level. These can then be used when planning assessments to ensure appropriate levelness.