What we see and don't see when we look at 'competence': notes on a god term

摘要

'Competence' is one of health professional education's most cherished ideas. It's what the 20th century rhetorician Kenneth Burke would call a 'god term' (Burke 1952): a sort of education idol, an "expression to which all other expressions are ranked as subordinate" (Weaver 1953). This god term presides over many of our conversations in health professions education, conversations including curriculum reform, evaluation systems and program accreditation, to maintenance of certification. And, like other god terms of our era ('patient safety' has recently emerged as one, 'objective assessment' has long been another), 'competence' is a rhetorical trump card, regularly played as the last word in debates about how health professions education should function.