Competence for life: a review of developments and perspective for the future : Farewell address upon retiring as Professor of Education and Competence Studies at Wageningen University & Research on 20 October 2016

Abstract

Esteemed Rector Magnificus, distinguished colleagues, respected students, family and friends.It is a great pleasure for me to see you all here and to give this farewell address after 42 years of active service in education and science. First of all I would like to apologize for those amongst you who do not understand English very well. Wageningen University is an international university, there are many international colleagues present here, and most of our academic meetings are held in English. What I would like to do in this farewell address is to present a review of competence theory, research and practice and share a perspective on future research on competence for life. I will begin with the short version of the turbulent history of the chair group I have been leading during the past 18 years. Then I will go into the alignment of the mission of ECS with the mission of Wageningen University. Next I will address the competence construct which has been the core focus of ECS, and give a short overview of the competence research we have conducted so far. Next I will point at overviews and syntheses which have been published during the last decades, and then I will go into the issue of competence for life and the future. Finally of course I like to conclude with a series of words of thanks. Short turbulent history of ECSSo, first of all in short hand the turbulent history of ECS. Or should I say the remarkable history of the chair group within this university. I will keep this short, although you may find this the most exciting part of my talk. When I came to Wageningen University from the University of Twente in 1998, I was not aware of the difficult situation in which Wageningen University was finding itself. Actually, it went through an existential crisis. Draconic measures were taken to discontinue many chair groups and several education programs. What nobody expected was that soon after my start in October 1998 it was decided to also strike the chair of Agricultural Education from the list of chairs of the University. This happened in November 1998, within six weeks after I assumed my position. It felt like being in the 4 | Prof.dr. Martin Mulder Competence for Life -A Review of Developments and Perspective for the Future famous Brussels bar 'A la Mort Subite'. I have spoken about this sudden and unexpected move of the university already in my inaugural address of 2004. I shared that I convinced the university that educational research and teacher education were contractual and legal commitments of Wageningen University, which resulted in postponing the decision to dissolve the chair group, and as we say in Dutch: 'van uitstel kwam afstel'. Postponing resulted in withdrawal of the decision. The chair was reinstalled as chair of 'Education Science' and a bit later as 'Education and Competence Studies'.Some may also remember the picture I showed from the regional newspaper, which commented on the strategic plan of the university at that time, saying that certain professors had luck, such as now emeritus profes...