Competencias para el Ejercicio de la Dirección de Instituciones Educativas. Reflexiones y experiencias en Iberoamérica

This text is the result of the contributions to the meeting held by the members of the Red de Apoyo a la Gestión Educativa in June 2011 in the city of Lima. It constitutes the third document in the Report Series that RedAGE has produced and is an expression of the constituent commitment to analyze and disseminate topics related to the organization and direction of educational systems and centers. The management exercise analyzed from the perspective of competencies is the topic addressed on this occasion. On the one hand, the reflection begun with the second report, dedicated to the Management of educational centers in Ibero-America. continues; On the other hand, it is deepened from the perspective of competencies with the idea of disseminating and promoting the new approach. We thus deal with an incipient topic in some of the countries, but present and part of the agenda of those responsible for educational policy, with the idea of providing elements for possible actions to develop or improve in this regard. We talk about competencies and about competencies1 and by this we refer to the person’s characteristics related to successful performance in their workplace. They thus identify with the activation and coordinated application of elements of different natures (cognitive, affective and procedural) to resolve specific professional situations. The concept of competence has been used for a long time in the field of vocational training, making its way, little by little, throughout the entire educational system and in continuous training processes, where management by competencies has become an integrative and guide of the different human resources policies.