A report provides summaries of 10 papers presented at a conference about teacher competence and effectiveness. In the first session, two speakers, Nel Noddings and Edward R. Fagan, present an analysis of the prevailing rhetoric in educational discourse and practice. The second session provides historical perspectives on the use of the term "competence" in education generally and in the context of curricular thought and practice specifically, with papers by Henry C. Johnson, Jr., and Paul R. Klohr. In the third session, the speakers, David S. Palermo and William E. Doll, Jr., address issues surrounding the learning of competence and why the aspiration to acquire competence ultimately requires an understanding of the development of cognitive structures. Social, political, ideological, and ethical ramifications of certain conceptions of competence are examined in the fourth session by Michael W. Apple and Ted T. Aoki. In the final session, Kenneth R. Beittel and Max van Manen examine what individuals come to think and feel about acquiring and achieving "competence." (JM)