Instrumental Competences
Instrumental competences are a set of fundamental capabilities that allow people access to knowledge, process information, communicate effectively and solve problems in formative, professional and social contexts. They act as basic tools of cognitive and methodological functioning, necessary for the performance in any context, independently of the sector or job occupation.
They are denominated instrumental because they comply with an operative and enabling function: they do not constitute a purpose in themselves, but they facilitate the development of other leanings, competences and performances more complex. Without them, it is difficult to acquire new situations or participate actively in academic and laboral environments.
What do instrumental competences cover?
Instrumental competencies mainly include abilities related to language use, thinking, information and job methods. Among the most relevant can be found:
- Oral and written communication: capacity of expressing ideas in a clear, structured and adequate way, as well as to understand complex texts and messages.
- Reading comprehension and written expression: ability to interpret information, summarise contents and produce coherent and functional texts.
- Analytic and critic thinking: capacity of analysing situations, identify relations, contrast information and formulate well-founded judgements.
- Resolution of problems: identification of problems, cause analysis, generation of alternatives and application of effective solutions.
- Management of information: search, selection, organisation and responsible use of information coming from different sources.
- Autonomous learning: capacity of planning, regulating and assessing the learning process itself.
- Instrumental use of digital tools: functional handling of technologies and digital resources such as learning support, communication and work.
These competences are developed in a progressive manner and they are manifested in different complexity levels according the experience, context and assumed responsabilities.
Importance of instrumental competences
Instrumental competences are essential because:
- They constitute the basis of lifelong learning.
- They facilitate the acquisition of technical and professional competences.
- They improve adaptability ahead of academic, technological and laboral changes.
- They favour personal and professional autonomy.
- They increase the quality of the performance in diverse tasks.
In the educational context, they key for academic success and the formative continuity. In the professional context, they allow to face new tasks, understand instructions, communicate effectively and solve unexpected situations.
Instrumental competences and laboral market
In the current laboral contexts, characterised by the technological tranformation and the necessity of constant update, instrumental competences are highly valued because they allow:
- Learn new procedures with larger speed.
- Understand and apply technic information.
- Communicate effectively in teams and organisations.
- Adapt in different job positions, functions and job environments.
Therefore, they are considered a transveral requirement of emplyability, independently of the qualification level or professional sector.
A key component for personal development
Beyond the academic or laboral context, instrumental competences contribute to the personal and social development when faciliting environment comprehension, making informed decisons and the active participation in daily life. They reinforce the capacity of people to learn, communicate and act in an autonomous and responsible manner.
In set, instrumental competencies represent a basic pillar for learning, work and life, constituting an indispensable basis in which it is built other more specific knowldges, abilities and competences.
