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In the past decade, there has been a steady growth in the adoption of concept-based and competency-based approaches within higher education. In health sciences education, these approaches have largely emerged in response to criticisms of the traditional education model and a call for greater accountability of graduates to possess a consistent set of core knowledge and skills (Lucey, 2018). Added to the mix are “core competencies” from a number of professional organizations that detail expectations of graduates within a specified area or specialty of practice.
Not surprisingly, there are variations in the approaches and terms used, which has contributed a rising number of questions from nurse educators. Are concepts and competencies the same? If not, how are they different? Which are better, concepts or competencies? Should concepts, competencies, or both be incorporated into a curriculum redesign? Can a concept-based curriculum work with competencies? How should the competencies developed by various organizations be incorporated into a curriculum? In this editorial, I hope to reduce some of the confusion by providing clarification to such questions. Because analogies can be useful to simplify complex or confusing ideas, I'll use a fun and unexpected topic to help illustrate the relationship of concepts and competencies.
Having spent most of my adult life living in New Mexico, I developed a deep appreciation and love for the single unifier of New Mexicans—the chile pepper! The chile pepper is used extensively as an ingredient in New Mexican cuisine in the form of red or green chiles. In fact, a common question in any New Mexican restaurant when ordering is “Red, green, or both?” Those who are unfamiliar with New Mexican cuisine may ask, “What is the difference between red chile and green chile? Which is better, red chile or green chile?”
Many people assume red and green chilies are two different types of chile peppers. In actuality, they share the same origin. The difference between red and...