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60 mins
Teacher/Student led
+55 XP

Using Authentic Examples to Illustrate Competencies

Learn to prove competencies with authentic examples from school, community and work. Apply the STAR structure to turn claims into checkable evidence and bank three strong triplets for applications.

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    1 - Getting Started ~5 mins

    Illustration for Getting StartedYou already know what competencies are. Today is about the part employers actually read: the evidence. A competency-based form does not ask whether you are organised. It asks you to prove it with a moment that happened.

    Today you will bank three STAR triplets you can drop straight into applications. Each one has to come from school, community, or work experience you really had, not a polished story that could be anyone's.

    2 - Key Terms ~5 mins

    These three terms lock the standard for today's bank. Read them once, then keep them open while you write.

    TermWhat it means for youReal example
    STAR: Situation, Task, Action, Result: the four lines that turn a claim into checkable evidence.Every triplet you bank today follows all four letters, in order, with no letter left blank.A Transition Year student running the school open-evening welcome desk: doors opened at 6pm, their job was to keep the queue calm, they split greeters into two lines and restocked the programme sheets, and every family had a seat before the principal spoke.
    Competency evidence: proof of a skill drawn from a real occasion, not a personality label.If a shortlister cannot picture what happened, the line is not evidence yet."I rearranged the rota when two people called in sick" beats "I am reliable".
    Authentic example: a moment only you could write because the place, people and outcome are yours.Borrow details from your own school, club, job, volunteering or placement, not from a sample on a website.Naming your own GAA underage coaching session, not "I once helped at a sports event".

    3 - Build Your Competency Evidence Bank ~35 mins

    First the class builds one STAR response together so the shape is agreed out loud. Then you write three of your own for your Digital Portfolio.

    Class build (about 7 minutes). Follow the on-screen list-builder as the class agrees each line; your teacher may mirror on the board if useful. A line only stays if it names something that could actually be checked: a place, a responsibility, an action you took, a result somebody else would recognise.

    Your three triplets (aim for about 20 minutes of writing). Create or open a document called Competency Evidence Bank in your Strand 2.2 folder (Google Doc, Word file, or your school's portfolio format is fine). Set it up with three headings, one per competency you choose. Under each heading write Situation / Task / Action / Result as four short labelled blocks.

    Choose three competencies you are genuinely strong in (you can reuse ones from your Strand 1.1 Strong Skills Evidence work or from earlier competencies extraction if you have them). For each competency write a full STAR triplet:

    • Label the triplet with the competency it proves (e.g. Teamwork, Reliability, Problem-solving)
    • Situation: when and where (one or two sentences)
    • Task: what you were responsible for
    • Action: what you did, step by step, using "I"
    • Result: what changed, with something a reader could check if they asked (a number, a delivery, a decision someone else made, or a problem that stopped)

    Draw the three examples from different parts of your life where you can: one from school or a subject, one from community, volunteering or a club, and one from part-time work, work experience or a home responsibility that genuinely stretched you. If you do not yet have paid work, a real voluntary or family responsibility still counts when the detail is honest.

    Minimum for class time: get three full drafts down. Polish the weakest Result if time allows. If only two are solid by the end of the period, finish the third as a short homework add to the same bank before next lesson.

    Pair check (about 5 minutes). Swap one Result line with the person beside you. Your partner says whether they can picture the outcome. Rewrite if they cannot.

    This bank is not a one-off exercise: you will pull from it when you complete competency-based forms and interview answers later in the unit, and the triplets sit in your Digital Portfolio as assets for the Portfolio in Action AAC.

    One STAR response, built together

    4 - Think About It ~10 mins

    Talk these through with the person beside you, then decide whether any line in your bank needs a rewrite before you rely on it in an application.

    • Pick the weakest Result line in your three triplets. What single checkable fact would harden it: a number, a time saved, a decision someone else made, or a problem that stopped?
    • If you still have your Strand 1.1 Strong Skills Evidence open, which of today's three STAR triplets is stronger than what you wrote then, and what did STAR force you to add?

    If you want a short portfolio note later, add two lines under your triplets naming which competency you would lead with for a part-time job versus an apprenticeship or course application, and why the lead changes.

    5 - What You Covered ~5 mins

    Illustration for What you coveredToday you applied competency thinking to application-ready evidence.

    • You used STAR (Situation, Task, Action, Result) as a shared writing shape
    • You separated claims from competency evidence drawn from real occasions
    • You banked three authentic, competency-labelled STAR triplets in your Competency Evidence Bank (Strand 2.2)
    • You checked Result lines for something a shortlister could actually picture
    • You linked the bank back to earlier strong-skills work so it is ready for competency forms, interviews, and your Portfolio in Action AAC

    Optional stretch: rewrite one triplet twice for two audiences (a local part-time role and a more formal apprenticeship or higher-education-linked course application) and note the three words you changed for each reader.

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