Professional Competence: Complexity, Concepts and Characteristics

Professional Competence This thesis explores the concept of professional competence, how it is defined and how it evolves through on-going practice into specialist practice and/or expertise. It uses complexity theory to propose a model of professional competence that moves beyond traditional conceptions of competence that are based on the separation of behaviours, functions and tasks. The model developed conceptualises professional competence as a complete entity in its own right that comprises the integrated knowledge, skills and attributes associaled with five domains of competence. It is only when the five domains are fully integrated that professional competence is able to be exhibited. The behaviours that are demonstrated through professionally competent practice are distingished in this reasearch and tested to determine their ability to differentiate between not-competent, competent and expert performance. The implications of this research for standards-based and competency- based assessment, quality assurance and curriculum design and delivery are considered.