Is there anything so elusive or thought provoking as defining competence? Let’s start with this thought; “everyone worker is competent”. In fact let us go one stage further and say that everyone is competent. We can explore definitions later, but it important to acknowledge this important fact.

Now why would you imagine that to be so when everything discussed up to now has been about taught competence? However what of reasoning, integrity, honesty, creative thinking, visualising. Are these natural attributes not also an essential element of competence?

From the point of its conception a child has the ability and the instinct to survive. For that to happen the child needs to find nourishment, warmth, comfort and protection, which it gets from its mother. In those early days through some period of months after its birth the child is totally dependent on its mother to provide for all of its needs, but eventually there comes a time when the child starts to talk, walk and develop the skills need to survive as an independent person. As the child grows the degree of dependence it has on its parents, its teachers and its mentors diminishes. And so the journey is one of total dependence through to complete independence of thought and of deed.

In order to accept this it is necessary to acknowledge some basic truths about competence. The authors are happy to explore the skills, knowledge and ability aspect of the competence definition but first let’s get to the core.

Is it possible that the natural instinct to survive is a core tenet of competence?

And if this is so then at a point where individuals do not possess all of the skills and resources needed to survive there is a level of dependence on others to provide assistance; the child and its’ mother; the new student and his teacher; new employee and her colleagues.

But as the individuals’ skills, knowledge and ability grow their level of competence grows to a point where they can perform fully in their chosen occupation with confidence. And it is just as essential that as this journey progresses that the dependency on others will and must be allowed to diminish. Creating a false degree of dependency affects an individual’s ability to achieve their full competence potential.

Just for one second consider how well an animal reared in captivity would survive in the wild.