In today's complex and ever-changing world, it has become obvious that even highly developed knowledge and skills are no longer sufficient to meet new challenges, situations and problems facing individuals, organisations and nations. This raises an enormous and potentially confusing issue for educators and trainers: how is it possible to generate and assess abilities to deal with challenges and problems unknown - or not even in existence - at the time when the learning takes place. The book builds on the experiences and insights of its expert contributors, all of whom have worked with, studied and analysed competences and how they are developed. Their collected work presents: comprehensive explanation and analysis of the concept and nature of competence; specific contexts of competence development, e.g. in the public sector or small business; and, competence development as a national strategy for building an up-to-date education and training system. With chapters from around the world, including the UK, USA, Canada, Australia, Scandinavia, this book illustrates in an engaging and convincing manner the importance and innovative nature of the concept of competences, resulting in a varied, differentiated and empathetic guide to the topic. It will appeal to educators, both in academic and management circles, as well as students and administrators of education.