Adapting teaching and assessment strategies to enhance competence-based learning in the framework of the european convergence process

In the framework of the European higher education area, one of the key issues is to discuss how teaching, learning activities and assessment can be best organised to allow students to reach both transferable skills and subject related competences. In this context, during the 2005/06 academic year, our School decided to essay different strategies in a first-year Pilot Group, due to the traditional poor academic performance on these students. Thus, the proposal included a learning contract that must be signed for all the pupils enrolled on this particular group. Both active teaching-learning methods and additional assessment strategies were applied to achieve the objectives, defined in terms of competences. Among the new assessment methods, it may be quoted: a practical-based work, a hands-on exam carried out at the laboratory and the student's portfolio. This approach intended encouraging the pupils' motivation as well as to get a continuous and personal trace of their real learning processes. The Pilot Group has helped to analyze the effectiveness of the different approaches, the students' response as well as the feasibility of extending them to all the groups. These points have given the necessary feedback for the final proposal in the course 2006/07.