Abstract
The article is affiliated to the demanded competence orientation in (academic) education and further education. After outlining the competence discourse in early childhood education, the article focuses on the description of a competence assessment method. This method tries to meet the requirements of the complexity given in work-related and interactional situations in early childhood education practice. By means of the instrument “Dilemma Situations”, practitioners and students describe, analyse and evaluate challenging and conflict-ridden situations from their own practice or given, standardized situations. Both types of situations can be evaluated by applying a standardized pattern and/or hermeneutic-reconstructive analysis methods. The results can serve as a basis for
feedback interviews and as a means to assess competence development in longitudinal studies. Thus, the competence development of both individuals and cohorts (e. g., study groups) can be surveyed and evaluated.