Emergency medical care students’ perception on self-assessed competence levels in a selected higher education institution in the Western Cape, South Africa

Abstract

Introduction: The popularity of competence in educational research has grown in recent years. Assessing competence can help identify areas for professional development and educational needs, focusing on self-assessment, which promotes reflection and allows adjustments and corrections. Competence assessment tools or scales have gathered momentum in the past two decades. Studies show that competency tools and scales can help develop competency-based educational programmes and test their effectiveness. Purpose: To investigate Emergency Medical Care students’ self-assessed competence levels in a selected Higher Education Institution in the Western Cape, South Africa. This also includes the comparison of self-perceived competence and actual competence. Methodology: The quantitative study examined the self-perceived level of competence in higher education with 317 students. A pilot study of 16 participants was included. Data was collected via Microsoft Forms, and responses were processed in Excel. Statistical analysis was conducted using NCSS, employing descriptive statistics, cross-tabulation, and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). The reliability of the questionnaire was confirmed with a Cronbach alpha of 0.9. The results indicated that students perceive their self-assessed competence as high. The study used a quantitative methodological approach. Results: The sample consisted of 109 participants, thus, 34.4% of the study population. The participants scored their self-perceived competence as high. The theory and practical subjects had a higher perceived level of competence in all the year groups except one, ECP1. The Clinical Practice subject had the most variants in results, with six out of the nine-year groups indicating a higher perceived level of competence. The highest marks received for the actual level of competence were from the first-year students from the bachelor’s or extended programme, and the group with the lowest marks were from the first-year group in the Diploma programme. Participants with no work experience were more accurate in their self-assessment capabilities than those with work experience. Conclusion: The study showed that most participants overestimated their competencies. This is defined by literature as the Dunning-Kruger effect, where students with lower abilities overestimate their competence through self-assessment. A competence assessment tool for self-assessment motivated participants to self-reflect on their abilities and highlight areas that need improvement. The combination of competence and self-assessment has immense potential in the educational environment and can be researched more in-depth in the future.