Competencies and skills: Filling old skins with new wine

Abstract

“Key competencies”, "key skills" and “key qualifications” are buzzwords so prominently featured in contemporary scientific treatises that discussions have been prompted about an inflationary use of the terms and what they really should be taken to mean. A similar situation exists in the field of ICT and CS education: What meaning should we ascribe to terms such as “skill”, “competency” and “qualification” and what should be taught as “basic information technology”? These questions merit a closer look, especially since the idea of teaching competencies received a new updraft in Europe by the Bologna-Declaration, and the teaching of basic ICT and/or CS skills is still a difficult issue in the educational sciences. This paper wants to provide insight into the discussion on skills in Anglo-American and German scientific research and wants to act as a call for more clarity in definitions and concepts regarding IT skills.