Returning to the debate on the origins of competencies in pedagogy and to the possibility of giving it a new meaning by subordinating it to the concept of qualification as social relation, this paper investigates the possibility of this notion becoming the basis for the construction of a counter-hegemonic pedagogy. This investigation is carried out through an analysis of the possible relations between the pedagogy of competencies, the neo-pragmatism and the so-called radical constructivism, all of which may be generating a post-modern epistemology, coherent with some contemporary trends in the Philosophy of Education and with implications for pedagogical theories. By demonstrating that these trends deny the objectivity of knowledge, thus admitting relativism and subjectivism, we conclude that the construction of a counter-hegemonic pedagogy must go beyond the principles that give a meaning to the notion of competency and turn to the notion of work as an educational principle under the historical-critical perspective of social relations.
competencies; qualification; constructivism; pragmatism