Section 1: Core Competences and Subject Competences

What is a competence or key/core skill and why should we introduce them?

Definition of basic competence

Competence is the capacity to use knowledge and skills in a transferable and interactive way. You use this in contexts and situations that require the activation of knowledge. It implies understanding, reflection and discernment processes, bearing in mind the social dimension of each situation.

In section 3 you were introduced to the stages for good CLIL planning. But students have to develop the necessary capacities to acquire techniques and knowledge. They have to be able to develop the contents in a functional and meaningful way; the learning acquired should be useful in helping solve lifelong learning problems. So teachers must include the competences in their unit plans. This section aims to offer some help for this purpose.

The competences appear in the educational field completing the particular capacities of each subject for pupils to be ready to give a satisfactory answer to the problems, labour, social and personal needs.

There are many definitions of competences given by several authors depending on the different educational administration. Here we refer to the definition we have in Article 6 (page 5/136) of Decret 119/2015, from which we emphasize, the will to use contents in different contexts to solve daily problems as well as the need to focus in cross-curricular tasks, to allow students to become active and engaged citizens.

Decret 119/2015 (article 6, pàgina 5/136)

- S’entén per competència bàsica la capacitat d’una persona de resoldre problemes reals en contextos diversos integrant coneixements, habilitats pràctiques, actituds i altres components socials i de comportament que es mobilitzen conjuntament per assolir una acció eficaç i satisfactòria.
  1. L’adquisició d’una determinada competència se sustenta en experiències d’aprenentatge interdisciplinars en les quals els coneixements i les habilitats interactuen per donar una resposta eficient en la tasca que s’executa. La competència comporta la integració harmònica de coneixements, habilitats i actituds.
  2. Les competències bàsiques són aquelles que tots els alumnes han d’adquirir en un grau suficient en acabar la seva escolarització obligatòria i que li han de permetre poder incorporar-se a la societat com a un ciutadà actiu i assegurar els fonaments sobre els quals construirà el seu procés formatiu al llarg de la vida.

For more information see the Competences Table at DSLA Llengua anglesa a secundària Starting point


Key Competences

Competències bàsiques

The Key Competences Descriptors (English version, see it below) is a useful tool for planning CLIL units. You can tick on the document the ones you are using in your CLIL unit.

Basic competences by joan_alberich

In case your browser does not allow to see it properly, access the file in pdf format here: key_competences_english.pdf


This is a list of links to the competences development which can be found in the Catalan Syllabus for Secondary Education.

Core/Key Skills


Identificació i desplegament de les competències bàsiques en el curriculum[Accessed 6 January 2016]
DECRET 187/2015, de 25 d'agost, d'ordenació dels ensenyaments de l'educació secundària obligatòria [Accessed 10 January 2016]
Propostes de discussió i treball en els centres dels "Documents per a la identificació i el desplegament de les competències bàsiques" [Accessed 10 January 2016]
Xarxa de competències bàsiques [Accessed 10 January 2016]
ARC. Aplicació de recursos al currículum [Accessed 10 January 2016]

You have examples of CLIL units including key competences and subject competences in the lesson plans of section 3 of this module. Section 3: Thinking-skills lessons. CLIL planning

Exercise 1: Adding some competences into your CLIL Unit Plan

Take a pen and a blank worksheet and decide which competences you are expanding in your unit, classifying them in:
  • Key competences
  • Subject competences