The double edge of competency training: Contradictory discourses and lived experience

Abstract

This article explores discursive constructions of competence among training managers in enterprises throughout Australia. Drawing on data from a national evaluation of competency-based training (CBT) in four major industry sectors, the implications of various constructions of competency are examined, and contradictory purposes and uses of competency-based training, and their potential consequences, are investigated. It is argued that, while CBT appears to be meeting the requirements of many stakeholders very effectively, there is a shadow side to this success story, in the ways in which certain enterprises, workers, worker identities and forms of knowledge seem to be privileged over others. Such privileging may be contrary to the long-term interests of all parties. Implications for policy and practice are outlined. © 2001 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.