Supervisors’ perspectives on employee development in competency-based education: The activation gap between learning and workplace practice

Yet research on CBE outcomes has largely focused on learners’ perspectives, with limited attention to how supervisors interpret employee outcomes. This study examines how work supervisors perceive the contribution of competency-based stackable micro-credential (CSM) degree pathways to employees’ work performance and development.

Drawing on semi-structured interviews with six supervisors of employees enrolled in CSM pathways in Singapore, we analyse their accounts using the Five Capitals framework. Supervisors described changes in employees’ technical and transferable skills, including communication, time management, and confidence, which they associated, to varying degrees, with participation in the programme. However, many supervisors were not fully aware of what the programme involved, and there were few formal processes to discuss what employees had learned.