What are the Key Competences?
Our globalized societies are more and more challenging in terms of finding jobs and social integration. People need more competences in order to fully participate to communities and to be active citizens, competences that have to keep up with the progress and new technologies. People in EU do not have the same educational opportunities, and improvements have to be made in this area too, in order to offer equal chances to education for everyone.
In this regard, the European Commission has issued a Recommendation on eight key competences for lifelong learning, which was adopted in May 2018. Among these key competences are also the ones that are in the core of this training programme, namely:
- communication competences in the mother tongue,
- mathematical competence and basic competence in science and technology,
- digital competences,
- social and civic competences,
- learning to learn competences,
- sense of initiative and entrepreneurship competences.
These key competences include sets of knowledge, skills and attitudes.
- Knowledge is defined by information, ideas, and facts necessary to understand a certain theme or subject.
- Skills are the ability to do something, more specifically to use the knowledge that you gained in order to obtain the results you desire.
- Attitudes are settled ways of behaving or of thinking about certain subjects or persons.
People will develop these key competences during their lifetime, in the process of education (formal, non-formal and informal) in the variety of environments that they encounter and live in.
These key competences are important in equal measure and the development of certain competences will boost the improvement of other competences as well.