The nature of educational competence

J. G. Wallace

pp. 218-252

in: John Sants (ed), Developmental psychology and society, Basingstoke, Palgrave Macmillan, 1980

Abstract

The "raison d"etre" of this chapter is to consider the actual and possible contribution of developmental psychology to the resolution of educational issues and, in particular, the problem of divining the nature of educational competence. As this represents the theme for a tome rather than a chapter a well-defined and delimited structure is required to render it manageable. The approach adopted will involve a consideration of two lines of research concerned with "competence". It will be argued that the current situation in both indicates the desirability of the same research strategy in developmental psychology if progress is to be made towards the understanding of educational competence. The reasons that this strategy has not been characteristic of developmental psychological research to date will be discussed and the chapter will conclude with a consideration of aspects of ongoing research which suggest trends towards its adoption.