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Doctoral research into competence for social work practice engaged with 17 participants who drew upon their experiences of being practice educators and registered social work practitioners and the analysis of data suggested they identified a difference between competence to pass a final placement and capability for social work practice. Baseline social work knowledge, skills and values will enable a student to pass a final placement however, research data suggest that the individual’s approach to learning, emotional intelligence and resilience give confidence that they are more likely to be able to cope in a social work role. Practice educators intuitively recognise these characteristics and this article argues that in addition to working with students, practice educators are ideally situated to support individuals throughout their post qualifying social work learning journey. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Coaching in organisations is often limited to high potential employees and varying levels of management for a specific duration of time, typically lasting six months. The Strategies for Enhancing Performance Initiative introduces a more simplified usage of coaching and one that has potential to address a much larger audience. The Strategies for Enhancing Performance Initiative began in 2003 and involved 115 workers in an experimental/control design. The purpose of the study was to identify, test and measure the most effective Performance Control Practices used in the workplace to increase performance while simultaneously mitigating the negative effects of stress. Participants took part in a 4-hour traditional classroom-based training programme, followed by one individual 30-minute phone coaching session with an external coach 3–4 weeks after the training programme. The results for the experimental group, when compared to the control group, showed a significant difference in their ability to identify solutions to issues that positively impacted their work to be done, their effectiveness when being criticised, their heightened ability to deal with changing priorities and more effectively dealing with tight deadlines and turning around assignments. The experimental group also showed an increased adeptness for articulating ideas more clearly and concisely when compared to the control group. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper explores the definitions and usage of competence, especially in the context of training and development initiatives in the USA, UK, France and Germany, seeking to clarify the concept by incorporating knowledge, skills and competences within a holistic competence typology. One-dimensional frameworks of competence are inadequate and are giving way to multi-dimensional frameworks. Functional and cognitive competences are increasingly being added to behavioural competencies in the USA, while in the UK cognitive and behavioural competences are being added to the occupational functional competence model. France, Germany, and Austria entering the arena more recently, adopted from the outset more holistic, but different, approaches. After comparing these approaches, we argue that a holistic framework is useful in identifying the combination of competences that are necessary for particular occupations and to promote labour mobility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]