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25 - On Education and Capabilities Expansion

from Part III - Issues in Public Policy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  11 November 2020

By
Melanie Walker
Edited by
Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti ,
Siddiqur Osmani  and
Mozaffar Qizilbash
Enrica Chiappero-Martinetti
Affiliation:
University of Pavia
Siddiqur Osmani
Affiliation:
Ulster University
Mozaffar Qizilbash
Affiliation:
University of York
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Summary

The capability to be educated is arguably crucial for human development everywhere. The corresponding opportunities, processes and outcomes are therefore of global and national significance for sustainable development and more equal societies. The chapter explores the intrinsic and instrumental ways in which education matters in the capability approach for a life with well-being and agency freedoms and achievements. It goes on to consider the articulation of structural arrangements in society with fairness and equality in education, including how intersecting conversion factors reveal the relationship of resources, individual opportunity and social enablements or constraints, and the significance of context in shaping capabilities. The chapter asks whether we should put capabilities or functionings, or both, in the evaluative space when looking at education, and briefly, if we need normatively to select some core capabilities to underpin quality and flourishing in and through capability-facing education. Human capital for economic growth, which currently dominates education policies globally and nationally, is then discussed as a particular challenge to capabilities. Finally, the chapter considers aspirations in order to illustrate how these different aspects might come together in the space of education.

Keywords

capability to be educatedconversion factorsequalitypolicyhuman capitalaspirations
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of the Capability Approach , pp. 505 - 522
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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