In France, the notion of competence began to be discussed in the early 1990s and was finally enforced in the Education Act of 23 April 2005. Since its emergence, this notion has been strongly opposed by a certain number of teachers, unions and researchers. To understand how competence-based education finally prevailed, I take into account the fundamentally polysemic nature of this notion. After pointing out its origins, I examine how its different meanings have been synthesised within the Common Core established in 2005. I then study the contradictions to which the implementation of this hybrid object has given rise, before analysing the new compromise that was found in the 2015 reform. To do this, I use the data from numerous archives and a series of interviews with the main actors of curriculum reforms in France since the 1980s.