The global skills and competency framework for the digital world

Knowledge, skill and competency

This page explains how SFIA uses the terms knowledge, skill and competency

Knowledge, skill and competency

Purpose and scope

This page explains how SFIA uses the terms knowledge, skill and competency, and how these distinctions support consistent interpretation of capability evidence.

It is intended to help employers, educators, professional bodies and individuals understand what different types of evidence do and do not demonstrate when describing roles, assessing experience or planning development.

This page is not an assessment method, certification scheme or compliance checklist. SFIA does not prescribe how organisations must assess people, nor does it replace professional judgement. Instead, it provides a common reference point to support clear, proportionate and defensible decisions.

SFIA aligns with internationally recognised standards relating to professional competence, including those published by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO). This alignment is deliberate but pragmatic: SFIA reflects established practice without adopting a rigid or bureaucratic interpretation of standards, focusing instead on whether individuals can reliably achieve intended results in professional contexts.

Overview

Industry uses the terms knowledge, skill, competence and competency in many different and sometimes interchangeable ways.

SFIA takes a pragmatic approach. Rather than debating terminology, the focus is on whether an individual can reliably achieve intended results in a professional context.

To support consistent assessment and application, SFIA distinguishes between knowledge, skill and competency based on:

  • application of learning
  • context of performance
  • level of responsibility and accountability
  • consistency of outcomes.

This distinction helps organisations and individuals interpret evidence of capability more clearly, particularly when comparing education, training and workplace experience.

Summary

SFIA is both a skills framework and a competency framework.

It describes:

  • the skills that professionals apply
  • the responsibility and accountability with which they apply them.

The key distinction is that:

  • skills show what someone can do
  • competencies show what someone can be relied upon to deliver.

Definitions used in SFIA

Knowledge

Knowledge describes facts, concepts, principles and information that an individual has acquired through education, study or experience.

  • An individual may possess knowledge without applying it in practice.
  • Evidence of knowledge typically shows that the individual can explain, describe or discuss relevant topics and approaches.
  • Knowledge alone does not demonstrate the ability to perform.

Skill

Skill is the ability to apply knowledge to perform tasks or activities effectively.

Skills can be developed and demonstrated in:

  • the workplace
  • controlled or supervised environments
  • simulations or laboratories
  • classroom or project-based learning
  • practice or rehearsal settings.

An individual demonstrating skill can carry out the tasks / activities as required within defined guidance, but the context may involve:

  • limited risk
  • limited consequences
  • defined boundaries
  • close support or oversight.

Skill demonstrates capability to perform. It does not necessarily demonstrate responsibility for real-world outcomes.

Competency

Competency is the effective and reliable application of knowledge and skills in a professional context with responsibility and accountability for outcomes.

Competency is characterised by:

  • performance in live or operational settings
  • real stakeholders and consequences
  • ownership of results, not just tasks
  • judgement and decision-making in context
  • consistency of successful outcomes over time.

Competency therefore reflects more than the ability to perform an activity once.

It reflects the ability to perform appropriately, responsibly and reliably as part of a professional role or function.

Professional experience is typically what differentiates demonstrated skill from demonstrated competency.

Relationship between knowledge, skill and competency

These are not strictly sequential stages but recognisable states of capability:

  • knowledge → understands
  • skill → can perform
  • competency → can deliver outcomes with accountability.

Time alone does not determine competency.

However, many forms of responsibility, complexity and accountability can only be demonstrated through sustained performance over time. Sustained performance over time is evidence of reliability, not a proxy for competence in itself.

For this reason, evidence of competency usually includes both:

  • successful performance of activities
  • responsibility for the results of those activities in a professional context.

Using this distinction in practice

Assessing individuals

Knowledge

Evidence may include:

  • qualifications
  • training
  • examinations
  • tests
  • explanations of concepts.

Minimum expectation: can explain and discuss appropriately.

Skill

Evidence may include:

  • simulations
  • coursework or projects
  • supervised assignments
  • demonstrations of practical ability.

Expectation: can perform tasks/activities independently and correctly, possibly in a controlled or low-risk setting.

Competency

Evidence may include:

  • professional work experience
  • work products, deliverables and outputs
  • delivery of outcomes within a role
  • accountability for decisions and results
  • consistent achievement of objectives
  • feedback or validation from stakeholders.

Expectation: can apply knowledge and skills responsibly and reliably in real situations, achieving intended results on an ongoing basis.

Assessment principles and background rationale

SFIA reflects established industry practice and aligns with international standards relating to professional competence.

The International Standards Organisation (ISO) has developed standards related to this (ISO/IEC 24773-1:2019 and ISO/IEC 17024:2012) and recognises, for example, that the words competency and competencies can be used as synonyms of competence and competences.

From ISO/IEC 24773-1:2019:
competence, competency — ability to apply knowledge and skills to achieve intended results
Note 2 to entry: The word competency and competencies can be used as synonyms of competence and competences. Competence can be used to refer to general ability (e.g. overall competence), while competency can be used to refer to a specific ability (e.g. competency in design of user interfaces).

SFIA has been successful because it broadly adopts the ISO definitions without being overly prescriptive. This is a pragmatic approach—focusing on how SFIA can be used to determine whether someone can achieve intended results, rather than debating whether a professional skill within the SFIA Framework is a 'skill' or a 'competency'.

In assessment, knowledge, skill and competency should be treated as distinct evidential claims rather than as steps on a linear progression.

  • Evidence of skill may be demonstrated in controlled or supervised environments where consequences are limited.
  • Evidence of competency requires performance in professional contexts where outcomes have genuine consequences and the individual holds meaningful accountability for results.

Competency implies reliability. Reliability can only be established over sufficient time for the consequences of decisions and actions to be observed. The time required to establish reliability varies with the complexity, responsibility and impact of the role or activity being assessed

Assessment should consider the context in which performance occurred, the level of responsibility held and whether evidence demonstrates sustained achievement of expected outcomes.

Evidence from non-traditional professional contexts — including self-employment, entrepreneurship, volunteer leadership, military service and other roles with real responsibility — may support competency claims where genuine responsibility and consequences are present.