Competence for life: a review of developments and perspective for the future: Farewell address upon retiring as Professor of Education and Competence Studies at Wageningen University & Research on 20 October 2016

The concept of competence is probably as old as humanity. Introduced in the academic literature in the 1950s, it underwent a remarkable development. Used in the 1960s, criticised in the 1970s, discarded in the 1980s, renewed in the 1990s, and transformed in the 2000s, the global competence movement in the 2010s is stronger than ever. Started as an approach to train specific skills and teach for known jobs, it developed as a strategy to align the worlds of work and education and to prepare professionals for the labour market and lifelong learning. Now it is time to think about competencies for the unknown future and about ways to learn these.