Towards a Competency Profile (2001)--and related documents

Towards a Competency Profile for the Professional Field of the Practice of the FELDENKRAIS Method   A Research Paper for The International FELDENKRAIS Federation May, 2001  

Compiled for the IFF Special Committee for Quality and Competence
by
Rob Black & Markus Riesen

 (links to additional Reports and Research can be found at the bottom of this page)

Executive Summary

Background

What is a Competency Profile?

What Competencies are not!

The main Uses and Benefits

Are there FELDENKRAIS ways of doing this?

Research on Competency

How do we determine "Competency"?

Competency Profile - Necessary Components

Research on Developing Competency Profiles

Steps for the Development of an IFF Competency Profile

Who. What. And Why

Next Steps

Background

The current project on developing a Competency Profile for the FELDENKRAIS Community was initiated by the International FELDENKRAIS Federation at the last Assembly (Neuberg, May, 2000). (for more details, see the Background paper)

In summary,

... the IFF Assembly voted to continue the work on the competency project through the work of a Quality and Competency Special Committee.

Part of the role of this Special Committee is to coordinate the development of the competency approach in many of the current activities of the IFF. Further, the Special Committee will coordinate a group of 'experts' who will continue to research the issues specific to the need to develop a Competency Profile.(from Working GROUPS A, B AND C: Quality and Competence: Why, What and How January, 2001 IFF Newsletter)

 

What is a Competency Profile?

In its most general sense, a Competency Profile is a description of those aspects of an occupation needed for a person to practice with competence. The literature on competencies for professionals suggests a Competency Profile is "... the mixture of skills, knowledge, attitudes or values and attributes of practitioners that are needed, to be able to carry out complex professional tasks in likely professional situations."

A Competency Profile is composed of a series of statements (or "competencies"), each of which is clear and understandable. The statements are organized in clusters of similar meaning.

Because the Competency Profile needs to contain descriptions of the activities, thoughts and understandings of a FELDENKRAIS practitioner, the Competency profile is descriptive rather than prescriptive.

What Competencies are not!

Competencies:

• are not a set of rules or prescriptions for how to practice the Feldenkrais Method
• are not a definition for the Feldenkrais Method
• are not a list of specific techniques or isolated bits of skill and knowledge that form some kind of simplistic checklist

The main Uses and Benefits of Competency Profiles

The ABC Working groups at the May, 2000 Assembly discovered the following uses of a Competency Profile:

When practitioners consider the benefits of a Competency Profile from the perspective of a practitioner, two themes emerge. One theme is for the profile to inform the practitioner how to increase his or her competence or proficiency in the Method. A second is for the practitioner to be able to show the public that he or she has met or exceeded standards. (ABC Report, IFF Newsletter, January, 2001)

Other professions identified the benefits for their members and for their profession as:

• increased credibility and visibility of the profession
• encouraging and facilitating professional development
• safe-guarding the public
• providing assured quality of service
• networking/uniting the profession/broader perspective
• better service to public/quality of information
• remove ineffective practitioners from the profession
• advocacy/legal support

An additional benefit for our community is that the Competency Profile may provide a way for practitioners from non-accreditted to be fully recognized.

Some professions use their Competency Profile to help practitioners develop their skills. For example, the College of Massage Therapists of Ontario has a two-part process which was developed in the mid-1990's. The first part was the standard Certification process. However, they then created a multi-dimensional Quality Assurance Plan involving Self-Assessment, Continuing Education program and a Peer Assessment program. (for more information, see: CMTO Info (at http:/Competency/cmto.html)

Are there FELDENKRAIS ways of doing this?

To make this broad question more concrete we follow the viewpoint of a practitioner asking: How can competencies be developed in a way compatible and comparable with the experiences we have as practitioners while teaching or taking a Feldenkrais lesson?

Ten "Feldenkrais ways" of acting within the context of quality and competency processes are:

I Process-orientation and flexibility

II First person perspective

III Working within a function

IV Shifting perspectives

V Working with constraints

VI Interrelationship/connectedness and interdependencies

VII Acceptance: Going with the system, not against it.

VIII Participation

IX Respect for the practitioner's ways of self-direction

X Mindfulness, attention, and slowness

(From: "The FELDENKRAIS-Specific Approach" by Barbara Pieper).

These Feldenkrais ways guide and define the constraints on the development of the Competency Profile.

Research on Competency

There is a great deal of literature on Competency with very diverse points of view. Our starting point was a series of monographs by the National Office of Overseas Skills Recognition (NOOSR). Further research was collected from a variety of professions. We also investigated perspectives from a variety of continents (see Markus's paper, in German, and excerpts from Pablo Friere in Brazil). In addition we summarized how competency is considered in a variety of related professions (see "related Disciplines").

How do we determine "Competency"?

When a person graduates from a Feldenkrais training program, they have a set of skills, knowledge, values and so on sufficient to begin to practice and to develop their understanding of the Method. While we understand that practitioners are constantly developing themselves in the Method, is it possible to identify a certain point in their development as "competent"?

One aspect of the considerations of competency relates to the point of view, or perspective of the questioner. At the May, 2000 Assembly, there was a role-play with a number of different perspectives (see: Working GROUPS A, B AND C: Quality and Competence: Why, What and How January, 2001 IFF Newsletter). This role-pay has been repeated several times with very similar results. Let us consider the interplay between two perspectives, that of the individual practitioner's own thoughts on his or her competence, and that of the perceptions of peers of the competence of a particular practitioner. In the best of all worlds, the two would be congruent. However, it is quite common in the world for there to be a difference between the two. If we were to simplify the two perspectives and bring them together into a table, we would find the following:

<

Competency Profile - Levels

A very interesting debate has been whether we could (or should) propose more than one level of practice. Strong arguments have been proposed for either a singular level or multiple levels.

Three stages (or more) of professional development have been suggested in the debates on this topic. The first stage culminates in graduation from a training. The second stage is perhaps more elusive but corresponds to the principle of integration and synthesis suggested by Merleau Ponty. A third stage may be mastery.

What has emerged is a larger view of the development of practitioners. As was stated in the "ABC Report" (IFF Newsletter, January, 2001)

...it was clear that the process for being a proficient practitioner is a developmental one. At what point in this developmental process would a person be competent? One perspective is Merleau Ponty's idea. Competence can be the outcome of a certain synthesis or crisis of understanding where the practitioner transcends the separateness of the organic and cognitive learnings.

From this point of view, each person experiences a period following training in which she or he has a sense that their understanding of the Method is significantly incomplete. This sense is uncomfortable and is similar to feelings of anxiety. At a particular point in the person's development, a kind of a crisis occurs. Following this crisis of understanding, the person has formed a gestalt of their knowledge (organic and cognitive).

The two-phase spiral was chosen for a graphical representation of the process. The report continued,

As we considered the idea of development and synthesis, we added the image of development as a kind of spiraling upward of two phases: organic learning and cognitive learning. The spiraling is like the double helix of DNA. This spiraling model allowed us to recognise multiple levels of competency, from the student phase, to graduation, to various possible points, perhaps even extending to a mastery level. With this in mind, plus the appreciation of the different roles experienced in the role-play mentioned above, the special case of graduation was better understood.

It is fortuitous for the current project that the Training Accreditation Boards are developing a Graduation Competency Profile. This eases our concern for the student in trainings.

It is clear that the IFF can focus on the competencies of the professional field -- that is, practitioners in their actual practice.

Competency Profile - Necessary Components

We have been thinking about the Competency Profile as having two main components:

• Core Competencies
• Areas of Specialization

These two, taken together provide the basis for a set of Common Skills and Knowledge.

In addition to these competencies are the standards for interacting with the public, the professional organization, and so on. These are, of course, local-Guild-based.

• Code of Conduct

Further, we have come to an understanding that the competencies can be described in terms of Knowledge, Skills and Ability.

The figure at right graphically ties together many of these considerations.

Research on Developing Competency Profiles

The most recent research that emerged from the NOCA Conference is that the preferred methodology is currently the Job Task Analysis approach. In a Job Task Analysis, an expert interviews and observes persons at work. From this, a preliminary Competency Profile is developed. The next step, would be involvement of Subject Matter Experts (SME's) to review the initial Profile and identify areas of further investigation. Currently, JTA's are being done for many complex situations. Schroeder Measurement Technologies state,

"the job analysis is the primary basis for defining the content domain Therefore, the job analysis must be derived from a rationale that is supportive of the claim that the knowledge, skills and abilities being assessed are crucial to the competent and safe performance of the occupation."

Further information on this method, and other methods can be found in the companion document, "Developing a Competency Profile: Comparison of Methods Commonly Used".

Steps for the Development of an IFF Competency Profile

A great deal of involvement with the international community of practitioners is envisioned to ensure that all aspects of our practice of the Method are covered. There are many feedback loops to the community to ensure early in the process that all practitioners have input and can give the direction to the process.

Preliminary Activities: Scan

The beginning activities involve searching for financial resources, external experts, members of committees and ideas from the community. In addition, a workshop series for practitioners curious about the process will be available.

1. First loop: Sense

In this first loop we have to collect information/data. The scope is wide and open. Therefore the collecting takes place in a kind of brainstorming-style. This has to take place within the community of all kind of practitioners.

The External Expert will accompany us in this process, giving us hints how we can watch and look at our work and it can be documented and collected.

As part of this initial scan will be the sensitivity to differences between countries. The process will also be sensitive to other aspects of the practice of the Method that may show some uniqueness.

2 Second loop: Summarise

Here a first summary is made. The vast amount of data will need to be structured. We hope that a natural order will emerge that is congruent with the Method. However, we also anticipate that multiple orders or possibilities are possible.

The report will also indicate what was learned through the sensitivity to uniqueness, either by region or by type of practice.

3. Third loop: Community Input for Validation

The first summary is presented to the community. Feedback is collected in a structured way. There will be a variety of methods for practitioners to access this summary and to respond to it.

4 Fourth loop: Synthesise and Integrate

The incoming feedback is collected and an overall synthesis is developed into a first formalized draft.

The formalization will also integrate aspects relevant to the implementation of the whole profile, including recommendations regarding implementation in various regions.

5. Fifth loop: Community Input Validation

This loop is for a second validation of the profile (re-validation) and for a first validation of the implementation considerations.

6. Sixth loop: "Real World" Proposal

Finally a proposal is finished. There will have been exceptional input from the Feldenkrais community throughout this process.

All together, we anticipate that this process could take 3-5 years. This process needs finances, brainpower, political processes within the community, social processes within the different countries of the guilds and also the broad community stream that should accompany this flow.

In order to ensure the quality of this process, there could be a quality-group which is accompanying the process. The work of this special "Quality" group is to reassure the community that the work is within the spirit, ideas of the Feldenkrais field. This group should have some rights to intervene into the process or give some comment to every loop which is done and write its own report about.

Who. What. And Why.

Based on the research and the experiences of other professions to produce a Competency Profile we will need:

1. a Profile Content group, that works with

2. an external expert

The Profile Content group and the external expert will follow the Plan identified in the previous section.

The external expert will be knowledgeable on the processes necessary and will advise the Content group on what needs to be done. Further, the external expert will advise the Content group what aspects of the Profile can be valid in a Certification process.

The role of the Content group will be to work intensively with the external expert on:

1. organizing the practitioners who will be called upon to represent the Method in the field.
2. clarifying the content of the profile that emerges from the field research
3. Ensuring that the process and the content is congruent with the Meta-level considerations (e.g. client centered, and so on)
4. Reporting in writing and verbally (interesting question here, to whom? to the Members of IFF or to members of Guilds -- thus to their general meetings, etc!)
5. Ensuring that the matrix of competencies accurately and adequately reflect the internationalism of the Method.
6. Ensuring that the initial formulation is in at least 2 languages

Next Steps:

1. Develop the Content

Produce a Competency Profile of the Practice of the Feldenkrais Method (world-wide) that has the following characteristics:

• a comprehensive description of the skills, knowledge and abilities of practitioners
• spans / integrates regions, as well as worksite (clinics, private practice, educational settings, etc)
• organized such that each Guilds may choose a subset of this Profile

2. Develop the Guidelines for Use

This process:

• covers and guides the development of the Competency Profile,
• identifies the guidelines for Guilds to select subsets, yet remain equal
• identifies the guidelines for determining the level of "proficiency" and when assessments may be carried out
• suggests Policies that Guilds may include in their definition of Certification (and the rationale for each)
• identifies global and regional considerations

Thus, a number of different outcomes will be identified with associated Policies.

Meta-principles (for example, those outlined in "Feldenkrais-Specific Approach") will guide this process