Competency-based educational model: effectiveness and application limits

Introduction. The abandonment of the Bologna system was one of the stages in the creation of the National Model of Higher Education, but has not yet led to the modernization of the competency-based approach, which, in its current form, is considered methodologically destructive, if not toxic, by some in the expert community.

Purpose setting. To achieve this goal, a survey was conducted among law students at the Siberian University of Consumer Cooperatives (SibUPC) and the Siberian Institute of Management of the Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (SIU RANEPA) as part of the research project «The Influence of the Academic Environment on the Dynamics of Student Subjectivity». A random quota sample of 45 respondents from four student groups participated in the survey and interviews, representing at least 40 % of the total number of junior students in this educational profile. We believe that examining students' opinions and analyzing their judgments is of particular research interest and will help us understand the causes of «competency-based» disruptions.

Methodology and methods of the study. The study utilized traditional methods of sociological research among faculty and students (content analysis, questionnaires, interviews, etc.), a structural-functional approach, a pedagogical experiment, and comparative and retrospective analysis. The empirical basis was a sociological analysis of law students' opinions, revealing objective value judgments.

Results. This paper analyzes the impact of the academic environment on the development of positive student agency. Students' expectations of the educational process, preferred forms of classes and extracurricular activities, and their interests and motivations in the context of the actual application of traditional and competency-based educational models were considered. The influence of the competency-based approach on the substantive content of the educational process was examined, primarily in the context of the pedagogical positions of not so many teachers, but rather taking into account the opinions and judgments of modern students. Critical aspects of students' understanding of the competencies necessary for successful academic and professional growth were updated. It was shown that, given the polarized attitudes toward the competency-based educational model on the part of the expert community and teachers, students' attitudes toward it are highly abstract and uncertain.

Conclusion. First, students demonstrated an extremely low level of problem understanding: the majority of respondents were unable to provide a clear definition of the «competency-based approach.» This indicates that this concept, despite its declared importance for modern education, is either insufficiently or incorrectly applied in curricula, or is explained in a manner that does not facilitate student understanding. Secondly, only a fifth of respondents attempted to explain the essence of the competency-based approach, limiting it to the conditions for developing students' learning skills and as a method aimed at the practical application of knowledge. Thirdly, a lack of awareness of the importance of a competency-oriented approach was revealed in the respondents’ responses, with a predominance of «vague» formulations, which suggests that such an approach is unlikely to be effective.

1. Ambarova P.A., Zborovsky G.E. Imitation in higher education as a social problem. Higher education in Russia, 2021, vol. 30, no. 5, pp. 88–106. (In Russ.)

2. Kayumov O.R. On the limits of applicability of the competence approach in higher education. Higher education in Russia, 2016, no. 4, pp. 150–155. (In Russ.)

3. Kuznetsova E.M. Competence-oriented educational standards: problems of implementation. Higher education in Russia, 2016, no. 5, pp. 150–155. (In Russ.)

4. Senashenko V.S., Mednikova T. B. (2014.). Competence approach in higher education: myth and reality. Higher education in Russia, 2014, no. 5, pp. 34–46. (In Russ.)

5. Ulyanina O.A. Competence approach in the scientific paradigm of Russian education. Psychological-educational studies, 2018, no. 2, pp. 135–147. (In Russ.)

6. Vatlina L.V., Gorin S.G., Fesenko E.A. Educational transformations and social subject: some aspects of positive dynamics. Professional education in the modern world, 2022, no. 1, pp. 97–104. (In Russ.)

7. Donskikh O.A. On the example of the competence approach. Higher education in Russia, 2013, no. 5, pp. 36–45. (In Russ.)

8. Gorin S.G. The competency-based model of education and academic freedom: the problem of choosing individual educational technologies. Ideas and Ideals, 2014, no 3 (21), pp. 116–125. (In Russ.)

9. Gorin S. Transformation of student subjectivity: Humanitarian component of Legal education and internal motivation of the student. VIII International Scientific Conference Transformational Processes in Law, Regional Economics and Economic Policies: Topical Economic, Political and Legal Issues. Riga, 2019, pp. 585–588.

10. Gorin S.G., Fesenko E.A. Competence-oriented approach in education as a destructive factor of educational transformations. Science and society: materials of the All-Russian scientific and practical conference with international participation. Novosibirsk, 2018, pp. 4–9. (In Russ.)

11. Sevostyanov D.A. Reverse analysis in modern education. Professional education in the modern world, 2019, vol. 9, no.1, pp. 2433–2442. (In Russ.)

12. Sevostyanov D.A., Bezrodnaya G.V., Cheltsov M.V. Pedagogical control: inversion of goals and means. Higher education in Russia, 2012, no. 1, pp. 31–37. (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

13. Chernykh S.I. Education as fictitious capital. Professional education in the modern world, 2020, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 3400–3407. (In Russ.)

14. Yakovleva I.V., Kosenko T. S. Competence and knowledge approaches: philosophical and educational problems of understanding and application. Professional education in the modern world, 2020, vol. 10, no. 1, pp. 3474–3480. (In Russ.)

15. Gorin S.G., Cheltsov M.V., Cheltsova, M. G. Metamorphosis of «transformed forms» of Russian educational reality during the reform of higher education. Professional education in the modern world, 2024, no. 1. pp. 88–95. (In Russ.)