Episode 22: What on Earth are the "Basic and General Competencies"?
(June 17, 2017)
Teruyuki Fujita, University of Tsukuba
More than 20 years ago, the mainstream of career guidance in Japan's lower secondary schools and general courses in upper secondary schools (especially those considered to be de-facto pre-college schools) focused on the practice of "sorting out" the students' paths based on the scores of mock exams organized by private companies.
Even back then, such practices were strongly criticized as "cutting the whole class of students in round slices based on their deviation values of the test scores," but in the so-called academic-background-oriented society, the parent's desire for their children's future security and the teacher's enthusiasm pushing their students to enter the best possible schools were tightly connected. The practices aimed solely at success in the entrance examinations were not easily altered.
Moreover, the "total ban on vendor-created mock tests in lower secondary schools" implemented by the Ministry of Education, Science and Culture (MESC), the immediate predecessor of MEXT, in 1993 as a final measure to overcome this situation did not prove to be decisive. In addition, the subsequent campaign launched by the MESC, "Cherish Your Dreams and Hopes for the Future," was only a slogan that echoed hollowly.
In the meantime, the eyes of the public shifted to the problems of NEETs and "freeters" spending their time on part-time, mostly unskilled work, leading to the emergence of career education as a measure to deal with youth employment issues. Then, as many of you may know, further development of the policy is as summarized in Episode 14 of this series.
These are the brief outlines of the development of career guidance and career education in the past quarter-century, but it is worth noting that in parallel with these "externally visible developments in policy and practices at schools," the MESC, its successor MEXT, and the National Institute for Educational Policy Research (NIER), a research organization under the MESC & MEXT, have continued to conduct research and development on the theoretical infrastructure that supports these developments.
The launch of these research efforts was the "Fundamental Research on Vocational Education and Career Guidance," a research project commissioned by the MESC that started in 1996. As a result of the investigation in European countries and the U.S., the research task force concluded that it is necessary to propose the abilities and attitudes that should be progressively acquired throughout primary and secondary education in a step-by-step and structured manner toward social and professional independence.
The commissioned research task force members, consisting of teachers from primary, lower secondary, and upper secondary schools, professors from universities, and representatives from private corporations, discussed the abilities and attitudes that must be fostered developmentally for students to participate and live independently in the society. While being heavily influenced by the global trend of "competency-based education" that emerged in the early 1990s, the task force developed 12 competencies under four categories appropriate to the social context of Japan.
However, in response to the advocacy of career education in 1999 and the
subsequent development of measures to promote it, the National Institute
for Educational Policy Research (NIER) refined the model and presented
the set as four categories with eight competencies. This new set was recommended
by MEXT as part of the measures to promote career education, and gradually
became widely recognized as the "Four-Fields-Eight-Competencies Model."
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The major problems that have arisen as a result of the Four-Fields-Eight-Competencies Model and its explosive growth in recognition among teachers can be summarized in the following three aspects.
The first problem is that the Four-Fields-Eight-Competencies Model has been treated as the gold standard in each school, and used as a "copy/paste source" in the process of developing instruction plans at schools. This led to the phenomenon that the competencies acquired through career education appeared to be the same in all schools across the country with only a few exceptions. Furthermore, 1) one of the fundamental rules in developing an instructional plan, namely, to meet the needs of the students at each school, was left out. Also, 2) the sense of security of relying on (or rather copying) the plan formulated by an "authoritative national organization" resulted in an unfortunate situation skipping the very basic process of reviewing the instructional plans each year. As you can imagine, this brought about a sudden increase in the number of schools that prepared instructional plans for career education, with many cases where such plans fell into a mere formality.
The second problem is that the "Four-Fields-Eight-Competencies Model" only covered up to the upper secondary school level. It was insufficient to function as a framework to support comprehensive career education, which requires a versatile approach from pre-school to higher education. Under these circumstances, similar competency models were proposed mainly targeted at university students, making it difficult to maintain consistent and systematic approaches between primary and secondary education, and postsecondary and higher education. For example, in 2004, the Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare (MHLW) proposed "Essential Competencies for Employment" as "the competencies that are emphasized by more than half of corporations when hiring people for office and sales jobs, and that can be enhanced through training in a relatively short period. Then in 2006, the Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) proposed "Basic Skills for Working Adults" as "abilities necessary to work in cooperation with various people in the workplaces and local communities," and the number of universities and other organizations gradually increased that implemented career development support programs based on the frameworks proposed by MHLW or METI.
The third problem, which is somewhat technical in nature, is that the term
used for the competency names in the Four-Fields-Eight-Competencies Model
did not necessarily convey the content appropriately. For example, at first
glance, the "Competency to Utilize Information" in the model
seems to mean a broad range of skills to utilize a variety of information,
but in reality, it was conceived as the ability to "utilize a wide
range of information to choose one's career path and way of life. In the
end, the focus was on "choosing the future path and way of life. This
misalignment between the "label" and the "content"
of the competencies ultimately hindered the proper understanding of the
model.
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The "Basic and General Competencies" were developed to overcome these problems inherent in the "Four-Fields-Eight-Competencies Model".
On January 31, 2011, the Central Council for Education issued a report entitled "The State of Career Education and Vocational Education at Schools in the Coming Years." The report envisioned "Basic and General Competencies," consist of the following four competencies: the Competency to Form Relationships and Community, the Competency to Understand and Manage Oneself, the Problem-solving Competency, and the Career-planning Competency.
In understanding the essence of the "Basic and General Competencies",
it is crucial to recognize that the report viewed the meaning of work and
getting a job itself as follows (p.21).
The Constitution of Japan states that all citizens have the right and the duty to work. There are various possible meanings of work, such as satisfaction, earning income, a sense of belonging in society, personal growth, and contribution to society, and each individual may emphasize different aspects of work. What is important to understand is that work requires a balance between the individual and society.
When thinking about employment, it is necessary to consider that no matter how much planning is done, things do not always unfold accordingly. In addition, when choosing a job, it is impossible to know and select from all the occupations in society, so encounters with jobs around oneself are also important. Therefore, it is vital for students to voluntarily act to obtain opportunities to encounter jobs, and spontaneously adjust and improve when things fail to progress as expected. To support such actions, it is also extremely important for them to be proactive in learning throughout their lives.
The views toward work and occupation are the selection criteria for making various decisions in work. While it is important to have these criteria, they are not fixed values but will change according to one's roles, lifestyle, and age. Therefore, it is desirable for students to have the experience of choosing their own paths through the process of forming these values before making the actual transition to society and occupation. In particular, working nowadays is no longer just a linear progression within a single corporation or other organization in the society, and it is necessary to experience the process of forming such values to cope with the several turning points sure to come after entering society and to actively choose and change career paths.
The "Basic and General Competencies" are not a list of competencies that are necessary just to "get a job successfully". Nor is it an attempt to develop labor providers convenient for employers. While assuming that the so-called "Japanese-style employment practices" have been undergoing a major shakeup since the collapse of the economic bubble or asset bubble in the early 1990s, the "Basic and General Competencies" represent the fundamental skills necessary to live independently in a rapidly changing society with diversifying values.
Regarding the development process of the "Basic and General Competencies", the 2011 Report explains that it was organized based on the "Four-Fields-Eight-Competencies Model," while referring to various competencies presented by different organizations (p.25 footnote). In other words, the "Basic and General Competencies" are a competency model designed for career education practices from pre-school to higher education institutions by incorporating the necessary elements from precedent models including the MHLW and the METI competency framework.
Furthermore, the report states, "The degree to which these competencies
should be acquired in a coherent manner will vary depending on the characteristics
of the school and region, the nature of the major field of study, and the
developmental stage of the students." It is also highly important
to note that the Report declares, "Regarding these four competencies,
each school should develop the specific competencies considering the issues
they face, and accomplish them through well-designed education programs
(p.25)." This shows that the important mission of the "Basic
and General Competencies" is to overcome the nationwide uniformity
that the "Four-Fields-Eight-Competencies Model" has resulted
in.
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Now that I've covered almost everything you need to know before reading the 2011 Report by the Central Council on Education.
For those disappointed and saying, 'Oh, I have to read the report after
all,' please take a look at the concise document mentioned in Episode 14:
Guidance and Counseling Research Center (2011) New Direction of Career
Education, Creating Career Education, National Institute for Educational Policy Research, 14-15, https://www.nier.go.jp/shido/centerhp/pdf/Creating_Career_Education.pdf
But seriously, it is best to read the 2011 Report. I strongly recommend that all undergrad and graduate students interested in this field read the text. ...What? ...Too busy? ...I couldn't hear what you were saying. Maybe I'm getting old and my hearing is getting poor. Please forgive me.
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[P.S.] Reference resources for readers of the English version
The following is provisional translation of the remarks in the 2011 Report
regarding the definition of "Basic and General Competencies".
(Central Council for Education (2011). The State of Career Education and Vocational Education at Schools in the
Coming Years. Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science, and Technology. 25-26)
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Based on the assumption of diverse forms of participation in society and focusing on "being involved in paid work", the specific elements of the Basic and General Competencies were organized into four competencies from the perspective that they all are to be demonstrated in actual behavior: The Competency to Form Relationships and Community, the Competency to Understand and Manage Oneself, the Problem-solving Competency, and the Career-planning Competency.
These competencies are a comprehensive concept of capabilities, and were compiled based on the intention of presenting the necessary elements as clearly as possible. These four competencies are not independent of each other, but are mutually related and dependent. For this reason, there is no particular hierarchy or priority, and it is not expected that all people should acquire these competencies to the same degree or in a uniform manner.
Determining how and to what extent these competencies should be acquired coherently will depend on the characteristics of the school and region, the major field of study, and the stage of development of the students. Regarding these four competencies, each school should develop the specific competencies considering the issues they face, and accomplish them through well-designed education programs. In doing so, primary and secondary schools are required to develop them based on the Courses of Study, the national curriculum standards.
COMPETENCY TO FORM RELATIONSHIPS AND COMMUNITY
Competency to Form Relationships and Community includes the capabilities/skills to understand the ideas and viewpoints of diverse individuals, to listen to the opinions of others, to communicate one's ideas accurately, to accept the situation that one is facing, and to participate in society by cooperating and collaborating with others while fulfilling one's role and responsibilities. These are necessary to participate in society and actively shape the future.
This competency is the foundation for living and working in the context of society. In particular, in our society, where values continue to diversify, people of various genders, ages, personalities, and values are actively involved, and the abilities to work together while acknowledging various individuals are indispensable. Further, in this rapidly changing world, we need to be able to create and build a new society by ourselves, if necessary, while participating in and adapting to the existing one. In addition, interaction with people and communities makes us aware of the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes that we need, which in turn influences our self-development. Specific elements for this include, for example, the ability to understand the individuality of others, the ability to work with others, communication skills, teamwork, and leadership.
COMPETENCY TO UNDERSTAND AND MANAGE ONESELF
Competency to Understand and Manage Oneself represents the capability/skill to act independently based on a positive understanding including one's future potential, of what one can do, what one feels is meaningful, and what one wants to do while maintaining a mutual relationship with society and controlling one's thoughts and feelings, as well as being willing to learn for future growth.
These abilities are important as they enable students to think "I can do it if I try" and to act accordingly, as it is often reported that students today lack self-confidence and self-esteem. Moreover, in a rapidly changing society where cooperation and collaboration with diverse individuals are required, the ability to regulate one's thoughts and feelings and to enhance personal skills are increasingly important. These are the foundations for career development and the formation of human relationships, and in particular, the ability to understand oneself needs to be constantly deepened in the process of forming diverse careers throughout life. Specific elements of this include, for example, understanding of one's role, ability to think positively, self-motivation, perseverance, stress management, and proactive behavior.
PROBLEM-SOLVING COMPETENCY
Problem-Solving Competency refers to the capability/skill to discover and analyze various issues in performing work tasks and to handle and solve those issues by making appropriate plans.
This competency is necessary to tackle the tasks to be undertaken in a motivated manner. Also, in light of the advent of a knowledge-based society and globalization, this ability is necessary to move things forward without being bound by conventional ways of thinking and methods. In addition, as society becomes more information-oriented, it is important to acquire the ability to independently select and utilize information and communication tools. Specific elements of this include understanding, selecting, and processing information, understanding the essence, pursuing causes, discovering issues, planning, implementation, evaluation, and improvement.
CAREER-PLANNING COMPETENCY
Career-planning competency means the capability/skill to understand the significance of "working (i.e., making certain contributions to society and being beneficial to others)", to recognize "working" concerning the various positions and roles to be fulfilled and to develop one's career by making autonomous judgments while appropriately discerning and utilizing various information on diverse ways of life.
This competency is indispensable throughout one's life to live as a professional
or a member of society. Specific elements of this include, for example,
understanding the significance and role of learning and working, understanding
diversity, planning for the future, making choices, and taking action,
and making improvements.
(Translated and uploaded on September 26, 2021)
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