3.6 El Éxodo o Salida de Egipto.

An important characteristic of generic competencies is that they can be transferred, that is, utilised in new occupational or life situations. Transfer occurs whenever prior learned knowledge and skills affect the way in which new knowledge and skills are learned and performed. When later acquisition of knowledge and skills or performance is facilitated, transfer is positive. When later acquisition or performance is impeded, transfer is negative. (Bransford, Brown & Cocking, 2000; Cormier & Hagman, 1987; Broad & Newstrom, 1992; Perkins & Salomon, 1996). The issue of transferability of generic competencies has a strong relation with the question how context-bound competencies are. Many authors stress that generic competencies are context-bound or have to be acquired and developed in context (e.g. Down et al., 1999; Hager, 1996; Stasz et al., 1996). A car mechanic and a brain surgeon may both be excellent problem solvers but one would not be too happy when a car mechanic showed up to perform a surgery on your brain. Some authors even claim that it is not possible to talk about generic competencies (e.g. Lankard, 1996). "Generic competencies are domain specific: skills cannot be divorced from context" (Pennington 1993, p. 10 cited by Candy, Crebert & O'Leary, 1994 p. 62). A distinction is often made between near transfer, where there is a small distance between the contexts in which the competency has to be used and far transfer in case of very different, new contexts (Salomon & Perkins, 1988). On the mechanisms of transfer Perkins and Salomon (1996) distinguish 'low-road' and 'high road' transfer. Low-road transfer reflects the automatic triggering of well-practised routines in circumstances where there is considerable perceptual similarity to the original learning context. High-road transfer requires deliberate cognitive action, that is, mindful abstraction of skill or knowledge from one context for application in another (Perkins & Salomon, 1996).

A further distinction can be made between that what is transferred (transferable skills according to Levy, 1987, cited in Brown, 1998b) and the ability to realise the transfer: transfer enabling skills or transferring skills (Bridges, 1994, cited in Bennet, Dunne & Carré, 1999; Levy, 1987; Shepherd, 2000), being meta-skills or meta-competencies. Hager (1996) refers to situational understanding when he states: "…perhaps it is not so much the key competencies that transfer, as growing understanding of how to deal with different contexts" (p. 4). Oates (2001), cited in Rychen and Salganik (2002) states that effective performance is a function of dialectical interaction between the existing skills and strategies of the individual on one hand and the features of the new situation on the other hand. Thus, "…the concept of transfer is better thought of as a process of adapting existing skills in order to perform in a new, unfamiliar context – rather than as a process of transfer of existing skills" (Oates, 2001 in Rychen & Salganik, 2002, p. 13).

For the development of the ability to transfer two conditions are required: context- specific knowledge and general skills have to be brought together and the approach to learning has to encourage transfer (Brown, 1998b; Cornford, 2001). This includes the learning of reflection on the continuing process of competence development in relation to the use of competencies in specific contexts (Brown, 1998a). Adkins (1997) proposes 'detached content-independent strategies' for the development of transfer capacity. Such strategies are taught separately from content and are generic in nature, and, according to Adkins, they support a variety of learning tasks and academic subjects. Earlier, in section 3.4.1 Hager's criticism on such an approach has already been mentioned (Hager, 1996).

The important role of building up a solid knowledge base, having substantial domain-specific content knowledge is central to expert's problem-solving strategies (Chi et al., 1988), characterised by high road transfer (cf. Perkins & Salomon, 1996; Bransford at al., 2000; Hyslop-Margison, 2000). Occupational skills development which develops just the knowledge required for performance can fail to give a sufficient base for future learning (Brown, 1998b). On the other hand, next to domain-specific knowledge, a more 'general knowledge' is also important for expert performance (Salomon & Perkins, 1989).

When transfer issues are handled with a 'Bo-peep' approach (Salomon & Perkins, 1988) in which transfer is thought to take place almost automatically ("Let them alone and they'll come home wagging their tails behind them" [Salomon & Perkins, 1988]), the criticism by Hager (1993) and Gonczi (1994) of the 'generic skills approach' is valid. This criticism was discussed earlier in section 3.4.1. Generic competencies should, however, be developed with the aim of 'far transfer' (Everwijn & Palm, 1993) in which the professionals have learnt how to use the acquired knowledge and skills in new, atypical situations. The term 'mindfulness in learning' (Solomon & Globerson, 1987; Perkins & Salomon, 1996) is sometimes used to characterise a learning strategy where skills are not learned as a routine but also reflection takes place on the principles, theories and strategies behind the (generic) skills. Everwijn and Palm (1993) advocate a synthesis between context-specific knowledge and skills and generic competencies (cf. Brown, 1998b). This implies the application of generic strategies in interaction with domain-specific competencies. Necessary for transfer is a conscious abstraction of the specific (decontextualisation) and a purposeful translation of abstract goals into the specific situation (contextualisation). Van Oers (1998) defines transfer as a process of continuing recontextualisation. Principles (statements on what conclusion belongs to a certain set of data) and strategies (statements of what activity is appropriate for what situation) have to be applied in different specific contexts in order to facilitate far transfer (Bransford, et al., 2000; Everwijn & Palm, 1993; Perkins & Salomon, 1996). This implies as well the development of schemas (Heskett, Andrews & Chandler, 1989), networks (Simons,

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1990), or maps (Soden, 1993) as organising tools. Other conditions of transfer, mentioned by Perkins and Salomon (1996) are explicit abstraction of principles from a situation, meta-cognitive reflection on one's thinking processes and using metaphors or analogies as a bridge between old and new material or situations.

Another view on the question of how to promote the development of transfer capability claims that research supports the 'Good Shepherd theory' of transfer, meaning that transfer is facilitated when it is 'shepherded' – nurtured and mediated, using learning activities and teaching styles that are likely to foster it (Blagg, 1993, cited in Bennett et al., 1999). Two techniques for such a nurturing are 'hugging' and 'bridging' (Salomon & Perkins, 1988). 'Hugging,' means teaching to better meet the resemblance conditions for low road transfer. It involves connecting past learning to present, and present learning to future situations. Examples are simulations, problem-based learning). 'Bridging' means to meet better the conditions, for high road transfer. The teacher helps the students to build a bridge from the context of their present learning to other contexts of potential application by helping them see the connections between the two (cf. Bransford et al., 2000). Examples are brainstorming and using analogies. Thus, rather than expecting students to achieve transfer spontaneously, one "mediates' the needed processes of abstraction and connection (Delclos et al. 1985; Feuerstein, 1980, cited in Salomon & Perkins, 1988). The meta-cognitive aspects of transfer are emphasised by Adkins (1997) who states that successful transfer is dependent on students being able to effectively control and monitor their learning (cf. Boekaerts, 1999; Bransford et al., 2000). He mentions four elements of metacognition:

ƒ Metamemory, including knowledge about memory systems and memory strategies.

ƒ Metacomprehension, involving the recognition of what is missing and knowing how to take remedial action to ensure successful comprehension.

ƒ Self-regulation refers to meta-cognitive adjustments students make concerning errors.

ƒ Schema Training, assisting learners in generating their own cognitive structures.