It's very understandable that people elide certain words if there is no
confusion in their home context. In this case, though, I think it would be
really helpful to distinguish three things which could loosely be called
"competency", and which I think different people are referring to at
different times.
1. A natural "competency": a property of an agent, as in the question "do
you have this competency" meaning "are you competent" rather than "are you
qualified/certificated"
2. A "competency definition" (or "competency description"): a form of words
describing a competency without reference to the person that may or may not
have it.
3. A "certificate of competency" or "competency certificate": something
like a credential (I have no opinion about whether it is a credential or
not) that means that some organisation attests that a person has a
competency.
You could also have an abstract "competency certificate description" but I
think that is less helpful.
To my reading, Alex so far has been closest to keeping these distinctions
clear.
Does that help?
Simon
On Tue, 20 Aug 2019 at 14:54, Alex Jackl <alex@bardicsystems.com> wrote:
> Jason,
>
> You point to an interesting thing. I think I understand exactly what you
> are saying. You are saying:
> "a university may publish that a particular person has achieved these ten
> competencies but did not get an Associate's degree."
>
> I would *strongly assert (I am not saying this is true but I htink it
> should be) *that a super formal credential like an associate's degree IS
> not structurally different than a "university publishing the achievement of
> having mastered these ten competencies" . It is not a difference in TYPE,
> it is a difference in scale and formality.
>
> A Credential could be a badge that I issued through Credly that you
> attended four hours of *Alex Jackl's Amazing Data Emporium*, or it could
> be a PhD in Information System Design from MIT.
>
> Both are credentials - and what makes it a credential/achievement
> assertion rather than a competency is the assertion from an organization
> that XYZ knowledge, skill, aptitude or experience has been validated in
> some way.
>
> A competency/achievement description is the description of the XYZ
> knowledge, skill, aptitude or experience that is being assesses or
> asserted.
>
> I believe this level of simplicity and clarity in language will serve us
> well as we try to align all these standards and methods of describing
> these issues
>
>
--
from Simon Grant +44 7710031657 (I'm "asimong" with many services)
