Competency-based education is an outcome-oriented educational philosophy. It seeks to strengthen communication between educational institutions and the workplace for the purpose of establishing observable standards of performance and ensuring that new members of the job or profession can meet these standards before they begin practicing. Nursing educators have been attempting to employ this philosophy for more than two decades.
There are hundreds of nursing schools around the United States and thousands throughout industrialized, English-speaking countries. Student competency requirements vary, though not dramatically, because schools maintain standards that will preserve their credibility within the profession as a whole. Using a fairly typical example from the Rowan-Cabarrus Community College nursing program in North Carolina, students are required to achieve a minimum of 80 percent on graded exams in nursing courses, maintain a minimum of a 79.4 grade-point average overall and pass all practical exams, which are graded pass/fail.
The National League for Nursing maintains a lengthy competency standard that lists eight competencies: (1) facilitate learning; (2) facilitate learner development and socialization; (3) use assessment and evaluation strategies; (4) participate in curriculum design and evaluation of program outcomes; (5) function as a change agent and leader; (6) pursue continuous quality improvement in the nurse educator role; (7) engage in scholarship; and (8) function within the educational environment. Each of these competencies is defined with an itemized list of observable actions and practices.
The National Institute of Health's abstract provides a good example of what is meant by "core competency-based education, certification and practice" as it applies to nurse-midwives. Core competency-based education is the ongoing process of standardizing competency standards for nursing education. States do not subscribe to a common standard in this specialty and others, but agreement is emerging on some basic requirements, i.e., that a bachelor's degree is a minimum requirement and that re-certification -- a continuing education requirement within the profession -- must occur at least once every eight years. Each specialty within nursing is engaged in the same process. In the United States, for example, while each state maintains its own licensing statutes for nurses, all states require the licensee to pass the National Council Licensure Examination, administered by the respective State Board of Nursing.