Assessment and competencies as fields of study: a historical view from the twentieth century La evaluación y las competencias como campos de estudio: una mirada histórica desde el Siglo XX

Abstract

This paper focuses on the historical development of the evaluation and competences fields from the twentieth century to contemporaneity. For this, a genealogical and archaeological analysis is conducted to identify discontinuities or ruptures in the milestones of history, especially those that marked a relevant event. It is concluded that the evaluation field in the contemporaneity behaves as a power device that dominates the educational systems in Latin America into geo-political and geo-economic interests, where pedagogical practices are reduced to global market trends. Therefore, the competences field is installed in three emerging categories: quality = educational effectiveness; competence = productive labor; university professional = competent worker. Leaving these structures of power means setting a critical and transformative position of higher education.