Concepts of competence are widely debated within Europe, in the context of their relationships with VET and qualification frameworks. Integrative approaches to competence, which emphasise capacities, are contrasted with those that focus primarily on the  performance of tasks. A narrow focus on task performance characterised early versions of NVQs in the UK , in which it was held that standards and qualifications could be achieved without necessarily following a prescribed curriculum or programme of education and training. There has been a gradual broadening of the learning outcomes that are associated with vocational and professional education, but the central principles continue: that (a) means and outcomes of learning can be separated and (b) many learning outcomes can be achieved through workplace and informal learning and can be validated for accreditation purposes. These principles are embedded in the Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF).

The European Qualifications Framework competence is described in terms of responsibility and autonomy ( EC 2008: 11), emphasising proven knowledge and abilities in work or study situations. The EQF is often described as a translation device, allowing equivalences between qualifications to be explored, yet this exploration is critically dependent upon the different interpretations  of the concepts of competence and qualification that are dominant in different countries. The UK approach to competence development generally critiqued as narrowly work-task oriented ( see Brockmann, Clark  and Winch 2011)

In contrast with many occupational fields, UK nursing qualifications can be seen as having more in common with European frameworks than with rest of UK system. All nurses in England are to be educated to Bachelor’s (Honours) degree level, from 2013.Nursing degrees are scientifically-based, regulated and validated professionally, with 50%-50% shared learning between university and clinical placements.But competence frameworks that are more typical of UK approach have progressively been introduced, mapped across to NHS Knowledge and Skills Frameworks (KSF) for continuing professional development and potentially to EQF. Key workforce issues include increased delegation of care to healthcare assistants and a nationally perceived crisis in patient safety. 'Preceptorships’  for newly qualified nurses are one year programmes that involve building confidence and competence at the start of their careers (Dept of Health 2012). This research into the  preceptorship in nurse education aims to understand better how newly qualified nurses are supported, developed and assessed in the practice situation, in  their role of organising and supervising  patient care.   This process is often analysed in terms of the 'transfer' of knowledge and competences  into the work situation. But we have approached using the lens of knowledge re-contextualisation to understand how nurses put knowledge to work in the preceptor phase.

    In particular we have drawn on the framework of ‘re-contextualisation of nursing knowledge’ (Evans et al. 2010).This approach, which builds in part on van Oers (1998), provides a framework for researching  programme design as re-contextualisation of curricular content and of workplace or placement support. Pedagogic re-contextualisation focuses on the approach to learning and teaching, and ‘learner re-contextualisation’ examines ‘what the learner (in this case the newly qualified nurse) makes of it all. In this paper we focus on the last of these, exploring how nurses re-contextualise what they have learned in and through other settings to allow them to organise, delegate and supervise in the practice situation. The findings are discussed in relation to the EQF definitions of competence in terms of responsibility and autonomy and proven knowledge and abilities in work or study situations, and with reference to the European debate on the extent to which approaches to professional development at the higher levels are converging or diverging in the E.U. (see Brockmann 2011).   

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