hæfnissviðum

Hæfnissvið, often translated as domains of competence, is a concept used to describe the areas in which an individual demonstrates the knowledge, skills, and attitudes required for a task, role, or learning process. In Icelandic usage, it functions as a framework for organizing and assessing what a person can do and what they still need to develop.

The term is widely used in education, training, and human resource development. In schooling and curricula, hæfnissvið help structure learning goals, design assessments, and guide instructional planning by specifying the competencies students should acquire. In the workplace, the concept supports personnel development, performance reviews, and recruitment by clarifying needed capabilities across different areas such as technical skills, communication, problem solving, teamwork, and ethical judgment.

Typical practice divides hæfnissvið into components such as knowledge (þekking), skills (færni), and attitudes or values (viðhorf/gildi). Some frameworks also include meta-competences, like learning to learn or adaptability, as cross-cutting domains. The approach emphasizes outcomes and real-world application rather than solely theoretical knowledge, encouraging explicit articulation of what is expected in each domain.

In texts, the form hæfnissviðum appears as the dative plural of hæfnissvið, used when referring to competence domains within a larger context, for example “í hæfnissviðum starfsnáms” or “miðað við hæfnissviðum verkefnisins.”

Overall, hæfnissvið provides a shared vocabulary for describing and developing essential capabilities across education and work settings.