Analyze the jobs and skills expected

Lesson

Professional Skills

An issue which arises when defining the content of a 'skills based' training course: which skills precisely? with what value in the professional environment? and in what cases should they be applied?

To grasp these aspects we can consult academic literature on the subject.

Academic literature presents an analysis of professional skill development. The goal is to better understand the work context to better train the employees. To obtain information for this kind of study a rigorous analysis of the sector and available career paths must be carried out.

So how can you describe a professional skill?

To be competent you must use skills: you must take action and adapt your action to a range of contexts occurring within your field of work. A competent professional knows how to use the right skill at the right time to achieve maximum efficiency

Guy Le Boterf, a French human ressources engineering consultant, states that a skill is "knowing how to take action by combining cognitive, material, social, cultural and information resources to formulate pertinent solutions"

Example :

Farmers are increasingly having to to deal with new and fast changing situations. This has an impact on farming methods and the general development of agricultural practices. The training of farmers must evolve to prepare them for these constant changes but futhermore, all the people working in career paths connected to farming must learn how to adapt.