Theoretical and empirical questions about the concept of key competencies and its measurement has been the critical issues as the world has been transformed into a knowledge-based society and economy. These issues have been raised also in Korean educa...
Theoretical and empirical questions about the concept of key competencies and its measurement has been the critical issues as the world has been transformed into a knowledge-based society and economy. These issues have been raised also in Korean education field in conjunction with the recent concerns for the human resource development. This is not just a research trend but also national policy agenda on education. OECD takes a lead to measure adult literacy and life skills survey at the international level. Some advanced countries define the concept of the key competencies as key skills, core skills, generic skills, life skills, etc., and try to measure the levels of competencies of their people. And they try to apply these efforts to the educational reform in order to improve their people's performance. This article review the recent research trend in this field, and analyze the concept of key competencies and the limits and implications of the competency measurement, and finally, suggest how to use these outcomes to improve our learning system.