What Are Engineering Competency Claims?

All these four units have 16 elements associated with them. Also, there are certain indicators of attainment provided by Engineers Australia for each element. In the engineering competency claim, the applicants have to demonstrate each element of the stage 2 competency units. In other words, they have to explain how they practised these elements in their engineering profession. The applicants can use the indicators to demonstrate their competence. The ECC, therefore, comprises of the actions and decisions taken by the applicants that can act as verifiable elements of these elements specified by Engineers Australia.

How to Write Engineering Competency Claims

Here are a few steps that are involved in the preparation of Engineering Competency Claims –

1. Since you need to provide clear evidence in the ECC, start by thinking of at least 6 major career episodes in which you have significantly made a contribution. For instance, you may refer to the engineering problems and activities in the Stage 2 Competency standards or you may consider your resume, any reports, proposals, specifications or achievements you have made in these career episodes.
2. Once you have the information about your major career episodes it is time to identify the competencies related to these episodes. so consider the 16 competency elements provided by Engineers Australia and take note of where you think you have applied these competencies. There can be more than one capability that has been utilized in one career episode. There would also be certain capabilities that have not been used at all. If this is the case then just start again and try to think of a career episode which includes all those leftover capabilities.
3. Now from these career episodes, you need to choose the work experiences that demonstrate your capabilities the best as your evidence of competence for assessment.

While writing your engineering competency claims there are certain points that you must consider –

1. Each claim you prepare should at maximum be of 700 words. It should in details explain how you capably practised the competency elements. ECCs having a word count of less than 500 can be considered insufficient by the assessor.
2. The assessor is interested in knowing what you have done in your career, how you have done that and why. So use narratives and always write the ECC in the first person.
3. You may use bullet points to mention the activities but you must make sure that the sentences make sense and are grammatically correct.
4. You can demonstrate the usage of more than one element in a single career episode. However, you should try to mention at least 5 career episodes covering all the elements.
5. Always keep in mind that you must have clarity about your writing. Make sure you are providing clear and concise information to the assessor.
6. Consider some engineering competency claims examples before writing down your own. This will give a clear idea of how you should proceed and what are the things you should focus upon.
7. Use strong career episodes if possible and do not leave anything for the assessor to assume. Not only low word count but a weak career episode can also lead to insufficient ECC.
8. You do not have to explain your project or how your team performed in that project but your projections, decisions and actions.

The Assessment Principles of ECC

After writing the claims you can assess them on your own whether they are in alignment with these principles or not.

1. Authenticity – You need to demonstrate your competencies and not the one that your team or co-workers possess
2. Validity – You do not have to present an imaginary situation but a valid experience
3. Reliability – You should be able to explain that you can, if required in future, rely on your solutions and outcomes. Nothing just happened as a coincidence
4. Current – Generally there are no time limits specified by Engineers Australia but it is expected from the applicants to provide career episodes of the last 8 years. If not so they must first communicate with their assessor about the acceptance of old evidence
5. Sufficiency – Your evidence must be sufficient to cover the competency elements so that the assessor can evaluate your capabilities easily

Engineering Competency Claims Examples

In the example given below, you may see how the applicant is able to explain their contribution to Engineering Activities in their field. The applicant is able to cover 3 competency elements together in this scenario.

Consider another example given below and see how an environmental engineer contributed to engineering activities by utilizing their Engineering Knowledge and Skills. This scenario covered 4 competencies in an elaborative manner. Similarly, you need to write down your career episodes and match them with the competency elements.