Unfortunately there is no industry-standard set of definitions when it comes to competencies. Contradictory and ambiguous definitions abound.
Historically occupational competencies have been defined as the knowledge, skills and attributes necessary to perform occupational functions, but more recently it has been recognized (consistent with an outcome-based approach to learning) that competencies are best viewed as abilities.
Over many years of experience we have developed a definition that almost all of our clients find very clear and meaningful: An occupational (or practice) competency is the ability to perform a specific workplace task with a predetermined level of proficiency.
From this definition it is clear that an occupational competency is not a piece of knowledge, a skill or an attribute, but the ability to apply knowledge, skills and attributes to proficiently perform workplace tasks.
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