The competence approach - CA - was established in most educational systems. It aims to renovate teaching giving emphasis on problem solving and, therefore, overcoming students learning of "dead" knowledge. Thus, CA introduces a renewed concern with the mobilization of knowledge into the schools. However, the risk of falling into utilitarianism is great, as only useful knowledge would be worthy of teaching. In this case, there is an ideological shift: Anglo-Saxon pragmatism replaced humanism, sustained mainly by the philosophy of lights. The authors of this article outline an intermediate path between these two views of school.
Knowledge; Metacognition