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Learners who learn from OER often cannot have their learning assessed or receive a credential. Open credentials offer a potential solution to this problem, combining badges or micro-credentials with competence frameworks and digital seals. This study identified the current situation of open credentials in post-secondary education in Europe, the main themes of the discourse, and the points of agreement and divergence surrounding them. The data comprised a corpus of transcriptions from 12 expert interviews and a focus group. Qualitative text analysis identified the principal themes. Findings included the following: (a) few assessments are available as open content; (b) linking OER and credentials requires detailed and expensive work on learning outcomes and assessment; (c) the aggregation of open credentials to create higher-level qualifications is a widely accepted ambition; (d) the European Union's infrastructure to support open credentials is appropriate and effective and can foster trust; (e) the outstanding challenges are organisational and practical, not technological; (f) assessment and content provisions should belong to separate organisational functions; and finally, (g) funding and support for open credentials in professional accreditation are essential for further progress.

Previous research by the authors of this piece hinted at the heavy workload of Special Educational Needs Co-ordinators (SENCos) within settings in England, and their ever-mounting challenges in the context of reduced local government services and cuts in funding to schools for their children with Special Educational Needs. As a result of these findings, the aim of this research was to focus exclusively on the lived professional experience of the SENCo in primary schools in England. Through anonymous survey, we asked SENCos to share with us their perception of their role and the responsibilities that it included. Although our sample of 20 was relatively small, it provided rich data about the preparedness and the perceived competence and confidence of those in this role. Workload, and the erosion that excessive demands caused to the well-being of SENCos dealing with complex systems, was prominent in the data we collected, in line with most recent investigations of the educationalist's experience in England. However, our data also raised questions about the status, or lack of, of the SENCo in settings, the way in which the nationally recognised qualification associated with the role is delivered and sources of support available to those in the role.

This original study presents findings from a study of members of the first cohort of legal degree apprentices. Introduced in the UK in 2016, legal degree apprenticeships (LAs) remove uncertainty towards legal qualification in an otherwise competitive graduate recruitment environment and could help to increase social mobility into the professions. We examine the impact of the LA pathway on the development of wellbeing and capabilities of apprentices and traditional law students through the following research questions: does it enhance wellbeing when instead of loans, debt and insecurity, aspiring lawyers have a salary, no debt and secure job prospects through an apprenticeship pathway to qualification; and does using a capability framework offer a meaningful lens for understanding the experiences on different pathways? The analysis adopts a capabilities approach, intersected with an inequalities lens, to explore interviews with 23 aspiring solicitors, from different social backgrounds and at different stages of progression on the traditional university and LA pathways in England. The interviews explored access to and experiences of both pathways, particularly how participants were able to develop and convert their social and cultural resources into key capabilities. This provided a meaningful way to make sense of participants' experiences. Capabilities were enhanced for LA students by removing stress and uncertainty around employment. This wellbeing gain was corroded for some by long commutes into work--often centred in London. Future quantitative research could establish whether, on balance, the majority of LA students experience an overall wellbeing gain. The capability framework usefully showed how across the LA and university pathways, all participants valued agency and developing all capabilities. Social capital was a key resource for creating opportunity and a desired capability that participants sought to develop.

This article considers how neoliberalism has created a reductionist view of lifelong learning in the UK focused on upskilling workers for the labour market. This critical policy analysis uses Marx's theory of labour-power, as conceptualised by Glenn Rikowski, to examine the Skills and Post-16 Education Act, 2022 and to identify its ideological roots, its distribution of power, resources and knowledge, and the potential effect it will have on inequality. Findings indicate that while the Act aims to make it easier for adults to study more flexibly, not all adults will have the labour-power attributes and financial resources to access the higher-level qualifications prioritised for funding. This article argues that the Act represents a general deepening of neoliberalism in lifelong learning that will further stratify adult education and increase inequalities. This article concludes that policy has shifted from widening participation in lifelong learning linked to social enrichment and the development of democratic citizenship, to widening participation in higher levels of education and training aimed at enhancing labour-power for the capitalist labour market.

Offering online courses can be seen as a way of enhancing the three essential "presences" (teaching, cognitive, and social) of the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model. Creating and enhancing cognitive, teaching, and social presences require an innovation for teachers during planning, implementing, and evaluating their online courses. As teachers develop their own expertise in teaching online, they contribute to the enhancement of cognitive, teaching, and social presences for effective online learning. The present conceptual study provides a review of the models presented previously and develops a complete model for effective online learning experience by adapting the Activity Theory within the context of online learning management. The study discusses a framework developed to adapt the Activity Theory for the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of online courses to enhance the cognitive, teaching, and social presences within complex cognitive tasks so that the learning outcomes of the course, as well as the required qualifications of higher education, can be reached.

It is our source and it is irreversible. With industrialization, the time people spend at work has decreased, and their free time has increased. This has led people to look for new ways to spend their free time productively. At this point, graduates of the recreation department will have the opportunity to show the methods that will be useful for people to spend their free time efficiently in line with the education they receive. Since graduates are thought to be employed in organizations that provide leisure time services, the qualifications of graduates are important in this regard. In this study, the expectations of the employers from the graduates and the required qualifications of the graduates were investigated. One issue drawn from the results is that although each branch has specific expectations, all graduates must have certain qualifications, such as communication and constructive language skills.

A graduate profile shows the qualities of a graduate passing from a particular institution. However, it does not inform the specific attributes that a graduate develops through studies. As a result, universities tend to develop Graduate Attributes (GAs) which are Intended Learning Outcomes (ILOs), focusing on what the graduates of a university are capable of doing, which provide essential information for potential employers. Although General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University was established in 1981 and had offered degrees since then, it did not have properly documented GAs until recent. Hence, the specific attributes or capabilities of graduates were not properly documented/exhibited. Therefore, the possibility of applying Barrie's model for developing GAs for the General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University was assessed. Barrie's model was used as the framework and its three main components: Scholarship, Global Citizenship, and Lifelong Learning were mainly considered to maintain the holistic nature of the academic requirements. Input from syllabus documents and student/peer contributions were used in the process. In addition, Sri Lanka Qualification Framework (SLQF) published by the University Grants Commission (UGC) in Sri Lanka was also consulted. Eleven GAs were identified to include Discipline based knowledge, Problem solving skills, Communication skills, Team working ability, Management and entrepreneurship, Information technology skills, Leadership ability, Endurance, Professionalism, Lifelong learning skills, and Critical thinking. Under each GA, benchmarks were also developed with an evaluation framework (including measures to obtain employer/student feedback), in order to execute and also evaluate the level of achievement of the GAs by graduates. This study indicates that Barrie's model supported by SLQF can be successfully used to design/develop specific GAs while further facilitating its execution and evaluation.

Course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) rapidly have become more common in biology laboratory courses. The effort to implement CUREs has stimulated attempts to differentiate CUREs from other types of laboratory teaching. The Laboratory Course Assessment Survey (LCAS) was developed to measure students' perceptions of how frequently they participate in activities related to iteration, discovery, broader relevance, and collaboration in their laboratory courses. The LCAS has been proposed as an instrument that can be used to define whether a laboratory course fits the criteria for a CURE or not. However, the threshold LCAS scores needed to define a course as a CURE are unclear. As a result, we examined variation in published LCAS scores among different laboratory course types. In addition, we examined the distribution of LCAS scores for students enrolled in our research-for-credit course. Overall, we found substantial variation in scores among CUREs and broad overlap among course types in scores related to all three scales measured by the LCAS. Furthermore, the mean LCAS scores for all course types fell within the main part of the distribution of scores for our mentored research students. These results suggest that the LCAS cannot be used to easily quantify whether a course is a CURE or not. We propose that the biology education community needs to move beyond trying to quantitatively identify whether a course is a CURE. Instead, we should use tools like the LCAS to investigate what students are actually doing in their laboratory courses and how those activities impact student outcomes.

There is increasing interest around the use of microcredentials for upskilling, employability, professional development, and reaching a wide range of learners. However, little discussion exists around the use of microcredentials to contribute towards broader qualifications and accreditation. This paper investigates the use of a series of microcredentials contributing towards a broader Postgraduate Certificate in Academic Practice (PGCAP) qualification. Using a descriptive case study approach, we explore the initial development of this qualification. We also discuss PGCAP learners' experiences of microcredentials study, drawing on the results of a survey. In doing so, we present both the merits of microcredentials from the learners' perspectives but also some of the pedagogical and practical considerations involved.

The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of the change in the vision of vocational education within the scope of the "Modernization of Vocational and Technical Education Project" (MTEM) and "Strengthening the Vocational Education and Training System" (MEGEP) financed by the EU, which was concluded by the Ministry of National Education. Vocational education is a type of education that increases the employability of students by providing vocational skills and is very important in the economic development of countries. Vocational education has gained even more importance in recent years due to the increasing need for human resources. This increasing importance obliges to take some decisions about education locally and to transfer some responsibilities to local administrations as a means of development and development. In addition to this, it is necessary to set standards for each occupational group for an advanced vocational education and citizens to take responsibility for a qualified vocational education. In the relevant literature review, it was seen that there are limited studies that evaluate the policies and practices vocational education that Turkey has been involved in and implemented in the European Union harmonization process in a holistic manner. In this study, which was conducted based on qualitative research method, a holistic single case design was used and the data was analyzed by document analysis method. A total of seven documents were reviewed within the scope of the study. This study evaluates the studies on the development and standardization of the vocational education system through the projects made on this subject and sheds light on the development of the last twenty years.

The theoretical literature on the meaning of qualification standards depicts a variety of definitions. Some definitions describe properties of examinees, whilst others rely on cohort-level or system-level characteristics. Different definitions can be compatible or contradictory. In this study, stakeholders' views of the meaning of qualification standards in Scotland were collected, using focus groups (82 participants) and a questionnaire (918 participants). Almost 60% of questionnaire participants responded that standards tell us about performances on the assessment (criterion-referencing) and approximately 40% responded that they tell you about an underlying ability (construct-referencing). Few participants considered that maintaining statistical grade distributions every year were important. Discrepancies in views raise questions regarding how an examination board manages the political and technical process of maintaining public confidence in standards. Based upon this Scottish case, the authors argue that social settlements regarding qualification standards are a social contract, and a solely technocratic view of standards is conceptually inadequate.

In the last decade, explorations into the work of volunteer educators, titled "docents," within art museums revealed turbulent circumstances that led some institutions to alter their volunteer programs, if not end them entirely. How did art museums come to rely on volunteers to undertake such an important responsibility -- that of engaging and connecting with visitors -- thereby functioning as the face and voice of their institution? The memory of Anna Hyatt Huntington's 1953 sculpture "The Torch Bearers" frames an exploration into docent history to tease out interpretations, questions, and ideas to inform contemporary practice.

The relevance of translation and law degrees as pathways to professional legal translation is the subject of persistent debate, but there is limited research on the relationship between legal translators' backgrounds and competence levels in practice. This study compares the revision performance of several groups of institutional translators (44 in total) according to their academic backgrounds (legal translation specialisation, translation degrees with no legal specialisation, law degrees or other degrees) and legal translation experience (more or less than three years). The scores of justified, missing and over-corrections, among other indicators, corroborate the crucial impact of legal translation specialisation and subject-matter knowledge in ensuring legal translation quality, while experience can serve to partially fill certain training deficits. Qualified translators with a legal specialisation stood out as the most efficient revisers, followed by law graduates, translation graduates without a legal specialisation and other translators. A subsequent holistic assessment of the revised target text yielded results globally in line with the revision scores, as well as mixed perceptions of the target text as potential machine output. The findings support the added value of legal translator training, and are of relevance for translator recruitment and workflow management. They also challenge the rationale behind ISO 20771:2020 qualification requirements.

Background: In this paper, we contribute to the discussion of modelsbased practice (MbP) in physical education (PE). While versatility is a global ideal for PE, the common pedagogical approach to PE has been criticized for being biased towards activity-based instruction and mastering discipline-specific skills. To address this problem, Kirk, Metzler, and Haerens et al. suggest PE based on pedagogical models (a MbP) to meet the ideal of versatility for PE. However, a MbP does not automatically fulfil the versatile ideal of PE, and it is thus important that a MbP is embedded in and informed by broader theoretical perspectives on PE's educational purpose. In this paper, we will broaden the perspective on the ideal of versatility by including the purpose of PE, and the discussion of the purpose of PE draws on Gert Biesta's perspective on education and its purpose as qualification, socialization and subjectification. Purpose: The purpose of the paper is to investigate how Biesta's three educational domains of qualification, socialization and subjectification can qualify a versatile MbP in PE. Method: To examine how we can understand versatility as an ideal for PE, the paper presents Biesta's perspective on education and how we can apply this understanding to craft a MbP in PE (Biesta 2013; Friesen 2020). Findings: Drawing on Biesta's (2020) perspective on education, we argue that a versatile MbP in PE should account for all three domains of the educational purpose: qualification, socialization and subjectification. Even though the three domains are inseparable in practice, the crux of any pedagogical model will tend to focus more explicitly on one domain of the educational purpose over the others. From the perspective of education as a human science pedagogy, the present paper offers some theoretical reflections on the purpose of PE and makes a case for a MbP using three pedagogical models: Direct Instruction (Metzler 2017), Sport Education (Kirk 2013; Siedentop 1994) and Movement literacy (Standal 2015). Conclusion: Using Biesta's (2020, 2022) three educational domains of the educational purpose, this paper offers some theoretical reflections that can qualify a versatile MbP in PE from the perspective of education as a human science pedagogy.

This qualitative study examined how a selected sample of 15 to 16 year-old Norwegian pupils experience Bildung (all-around development) and education in their schooling, and how those experiences are in coherence with the intended curriculum policy goals as stated in the latest Norwegian curriculum reform. Wolfgang Klafki's operationalisation of Bildung into dimensions of self-determination, co-determination and solidarity were used to examine pupils' experiences regarding Bildung. Further, to compare the pupils' experiences with the intentions of the curriculum policy Gert Biesta's concepts of qualification, socialisation and subjectification were applied. The main findings indicate that students are concerned with Bildung in terms of co-determination, but to a lesser extent with self-determination and solidarity. The pupils are preoccupied with school subjects and that subjects should have a specific functionality for them. The research showed that it is the domain of qualification and socialisation that concerns the students the most, while they are less concerned with the domain of subjectification. It is concluded that in light of the study findings, there seems to be a lack of coherence between the intended education policy goals as stated in the Norwegian core curriculum and the formal school experiences of pupils.

In England, some secondary-level qualifications comprise non-exam assessments which need to undergo moderation before grading. Currently, moderation is conducted at centre (school) level. This raises challenges for maintaining the standard across centres. Recent technological advances enable novel moderation methods that are no longer bound by centre. This study used simulation to investigate the feasibility of using comparative judgement (CJ) for moderating non-exam assessments. Our study explored the effects of CJ design parameters on the CJ estimates of script quality and how to assign moderator marks after the CJ procedure. The findings showed that certain design parameters had substantial effects on reliability and suggested minimum values for CJ protocols. The method used for assigning moderator marks maintained the rank order of scripts within centres and calibrated the centres to a common standard. Using CJ for moderation could transform current assessment practices, taking advantage of technological developments and ensuring reliability and fairness.

This paper draws on longitudinal birth cohort data for Britain to analyse participation in learning activities by people in their 30s and 40s. People in this age group have received less attention than either young adults or people in retirement. Yet technical change and the need for new skills make it important for them to engage in learning to improve their prospects at work. We investigate participation and non-participation in a range of different types of learning including gaining qualifications, vocational training and learning for interest. Statistical models explore how factors which occur before their 30s influence learning in this phase of the lifecourse. The results show that cumulative advantage is important -- those with the highest qualifications in early adulthood were most likely to engage in further learning later on. Participation in learning activities of any kind in young adulthood was also a key antecedent factor predicting higher chances of participating in learning in mid-life.

College students are currently facing various crises due to psychological issues, driving universities to prioritise their mental health. Perceived overqualification negatively affects students' well-being. Drawing on the person-organisation fit theory, we propose that perceived overqualification reduces students' organisational identification, study engagement, and personal accomplishment. Furthermore, serving as a student leader and the frequency of extracurricular activities (ECA) participation play moderating roles. We conducted a two-wave survey with 423 freshmen at a university in China. Results showed that perceived overqualification negatively affected all three outcomes. In addition, serving as a student leader mitigated the negative effects of perceived overqualification on organisational identification and personal accomplishment, whereas the moderating effect of the frequency of ECA participation was not significant. Nonetheless, a supplementary analysis found that when students participated in ECA related to social practice, their perceived overqualification enhanced their personal accomplishment. Finally, our theoretical contributions to the existing literature are discussed, and suggestions are proposed for universities to impede the harmful effects of students' perceived overqualification.

There are two ways, broadly speaking, that one might conceive of meritocratic education. On a standard, 'narrow' conception, a meritocratic approach to education is one which distributes certain educational goods and opportunities according to merit. On a second, 'broader' conception, however, meritocratic education is an educational system suited to a commitment to meritocracy - where 'meritocracy' refers to a particular conception of distributive justice. In this article, I argue that these two conceptions are incompatible with each other, and so the standard 'narrow' conception of meritocratic education is, in fact, incompatible with a commitment to meritocracy, at least given the typical way of understanding meritocracy. Of particular importance is that while meritocracy, as a view of distributive justice, requires a commitment to equality of opportunity principles, the narrowly meritocratic conception of education does not. The reason has to do with differences in the underlying justifications of the merit-based principles in each: Meritocracy appeals to moral desert, while the educational desert that is grounded by one's merits is best thought of as a kind of institutional desert. Thus, I will argue, while meritocracy (and so the broad conception of meritocratic education) is constrained by a fair equality of opportunity requirement, narrowly meritocratic education is not. Recognizing the relationships between meritocracy, meritocratic education, and equality of opportunity, I argue, sheds considerable light on disagreements in the debate over equality of opportunity in education.

This article aims to elaborate multiple dimensions of ethical perception in professionalism and introduces novel didactic viewpoints on educational routes through which professionals learn and develop the moral competencies essential to praxis. Results are discussed from recent innovative research projects on professional didactics, education and work practice. The article explores new research pathways through which to learn and develop professional ethics for teachers and social educators in collaboration between several agents in the field: students, teachers and educational leaders, as well as public institutions. Through lifelong learning trajectories, professionals are enabled to skilfully confront ethical challenges in reality, to develop concrete ethical perception and discernment based on practical wisdom, here defined as pedagogical phronesis. Based on a synthesis of empirical findings and theoretical perspectives, we argue that an interchanging dynamic between subjective experiences and dialogical learning constitutes several dimensions of tacit practical wisdom, which is accentuated in the perception of practice. These are: (1) the existential-phenomenological dimension, (2) the life-historical dimension, (3) the dimension of inter-relational competence, and (4) the social dimension of learning. Our findings have significance and applicability for policymaking, professional training, and educational development, as well as wider research projects on professional learning and development.

There has been much interest in how to develop a sense of belonging to an academic institution over the last twenty years, given the evidence that this improves student retention, satisfaction and attainment. Fostering a sense of belonging involves both psychological and sociological aspects; students need to feel like they belong and are valued by their institution, and this is developed through interactions with staff and peers. Research carried out since 2020 into belonging online has focused primarily on course-based teaching initiatives. This article will describe our 18-month pilot on a fully online qualification developing a greater sense of belonging for our students based on qualification-wide online events and their impact on student engagement and sense of belonging. Qualification-wide events are events that are open to all students on a qualification or programme, such as a law degree, as compared to events which are only available to students on a specific course. It will highlight some of the barriers students perceive to building online community, including a lack of confidence, and discuss the students' views that the responsibility for developing community lies with the university.

In the library and information science (LIS) literature, there are examples of librarians leading educational development initiatives, often centered on information literacy (IL). However, there does not appear to have been significant exploration in the educational development literature of librarians acting as educational developers. This article is intended fill this gap by providing an overview of academic librarians' engagement with educational development and offering a brief case study of a librarian who is involved in educational development, followed by discussion of key questions and potential implications that are raised when considering librarians acting in this role. The goal is to open up a dialogue between and among educational developers and librarians about the role of librarians in educational development. This may also encourage discussion among educational developers about how the field should be defined and who qualifies as an educational developer.

Efforts to increase the number of young people in England studying mathematics post-16 have historically focused on participation in standalone mathematics qualifications. However, following the recent A-level reforms, many advanced level students are engaging with some form of mathematics through the mathematical content now formally embedded within other subjects. To offer a more comprehensive view of the mathematics being learned post-16 we present a framework analysis of the subject content documents of the 19 A-level subjects with a required quantitative component, using a recently developed framework of General Mathematical Competences (GMCs). Results are visualised as maps showing the presence of GMC sub-competences for individual A-level subjects and combinations of subjects. The application of the GMC framework in this new context provides a much-needed common language for cross-curricular discussion of the types of mathematics present in different subjects, with implications for interdisciplinary mathematics learning and curriculum alignment between post-16 and higher education across the disciplines. In addition, the framework highlights the non-binary nature of mathematics participation, calling into question what counts as participating in mathematics in the post-16 phase.

Skills-based education can provide a way forward to sustainable development in a developing country. It is a hopeful scenario that more than 60% of the population of Pakistan is less than 30 years of age and almost half of them are under 15 years of age. It is important for the policymakers and planners to learn from the societies where human resource development is integrated in educational planning at secondary and higher secondary schools level. The paper at hand presents the policy analysis part of a bigger study that was conducted for proposing changes in the current policies and practices of technical and vocational education in Pakistan. To fulfill this purpose three of the best models of technical and vocational education were reviewed and a comparative analysis was conducted to identify the adaptable policy measures in Pakistan. The three models reviewed and compared were from Germany, Switzerland, and South Korea. This paper presents the analysis of policies in the three aforementioned countries including the implementation strategy proposed; as well as lessons learned for improving the policy of technical and vocational education in Pakistan. This article is based on one part of a larger study.

Structuring a degree is a common activity for course developers. Analyzing appropriate subjects and year levels, establishing pre- and co-requisite, and benchmarking against similar degrees are common academic activities. However, the degree structure itself has not had significant changes until now. A degree often lacks flexibility and cohesion and arguably may even lose the main concept of making students highly skilled in the selected labor market more employable. After examining different degree structures, approaches, and employability incentives, we identified a degree structure that can divide each subject into components. Subjects' learning activities, tutorials, and assessments are tailored to align more closely with employment skills. We then proposed breaking all subjects into components relative to year levels, such as majors, minors, streams, and more. This sub-division of work can be performed to any degree. Particular advantages come with a general degree with standard core units and majors--creating learning activities closer to the major and offering students a more robust academic scaffold of their subjects. In addition, higher Education providers benefit by having a cost-efficient degree with minimum overhead to pass the benefits onto students. We discussed several examples from engineering, business, and information technology. Showing how learning opportunities can be divided per degree and subjects into degrees, majors, streams, and specializations. Students studying this framework will have developed skills firmly built on each other, enabling specialization in employment careers and academically. Closing the gap between employment and graduation.

The financial cost to individuals of higher education is now regularly exceeding £50k before maintenance in the UK; consequently, students are more concerned than ever that their degree should offer value for money when they enter the jobs marketplace. Overshadowed by long-term debt, lack of career options and job offerings with low salary, student numbers in the arts, languages, humanities and philosophy areas have suffered compared to most STEM disciplines (Universities UK, 2018). Computer science, I.T. and computing tend to buck this trend (HESA, 2020), and, with a drive toward reskilling the workforce for a more technology-focussed future, this suits Government strategy. However, graduate employers want to hire individuals who are well rounded and have experience; businesses identify that more general workplace experience is key. The subsequent sections describe a level 7 (Master's) capstone project module, Commercial Development Practice, dedicated to fulfilling these employer requirements by focussing on project processes rather than project products. The practicalities of running this module and considerations that have been key for the successful application of this technique over the 14 years the module has been running are discussed. The curriculum, pedagogic approaches and assessment methods are presented. The evaluation of this approach, which analyses the impact and student experience and perception of the module using data gathered since 2015, has found that participants gain valuable skills, experience and confidence which leads to more employable graduates.

Many high-stakes qualifications include non-exam assessments that are marked by teachers. Awarding bodies then apply a moderation process to bring the marking of these assessments to an agreed standard. Comparative Judgement (CJ) is a technique where two (or more) pieces of work are compared at a time, allowing an overall rank order of work to be generated. This study explored the practical feasibility of using CJ for moderation via an experimental moderation task requiring judgements of pairs of authentic portfolios of work. This included aspects such as whether moderators can view and navigate the portfolios sufficiently to enable them to make the comparative judgements, on what basis they make their decisions, whether moderators can be confident making CJ judgements on large pieces of candidate work (e.g., portfolios), and the time taken to moderate.

This study aimed to reach a pro on Competency-Based Education (CBE) through the opinions of Educational Sciences experts and to review the literature on CBE. In this study, convergent design, one of the mixed methods research, was used, and a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The sample was selected through convenience sampling and consisted of 28 participants. In the study, the documents related to National and International Qualifications Frameworks, history of CBE, its comparison with traditional education, its implementation, and the challenges of CBE practices are reviewed. The findings revealed that there is a conceptual consensus among the experts on the concepts of skill and learning outcome, but no agreement on the use of "competence," "proficiency," and "qualification." The study showed that the experts adopt the most up-to-date definitions of CBE, but it is often confused with Proficiency-Based Education. The study revealed that CBE focuses on the demonstration of competence when considering students' progress and measures it by formative assessments and that, in CBE, students' learning gaps are eliminated by supporting them at each stage.

A few months ago, the largest school district in Texas announced plans to close twenty-eight elementary and middle school libraries, claiming it was part of an effort to combat low test scores and discipline problems. Unfortunately, this troubling trend seems to be spreading. According to the author, multiple studies have shown that effective school library programs can enhance learner literacy, increase learner test scores, and create more equitable learner outcomes So closing school libraries to deal with low test scores (and other perceived issues) is clearly counter-productive at best. School libraries are just as essential to a healthy campus as providing food service. Many low-income learners have only limited access to accurate information sources. So, as the author states, our children (and classroom teachers) desperately need more highly competent school librarians and media specialists, not fewer. A strong school library program can have a significant positive impact on student learning and test scores.

In the study the authors show how visualization and analysis of education data could be used in simulation and adjustment of education program curriculum for future evaluation of the formation levels the graduates competences as specified by educational standard. The authors suggest the scenario that demonstrate the possibility of automatic evaluation of graduate competences formation. This study is a viable teaching tool that can be used to simulation of the pedagogical activity scenario in order to eliminate all kinds of gaps in the training of the graduates and the evaluation of their professional competencies. The approach proposed in the study can be used to build a more result-oriented educational program by its redesigning to eliminate identified gaps in the consideration of important learning outcomes (the formation level of graduates' professional competencies) and evaluate the educational program using an updated visual model of evaluation activity. The relevance of this work is also based on its contribution to expanding the capabilities of multidimensional analysis and visualization of the results in relation to solving professional educational tasks.