A human capabilities framework for evaluating student learning

Abstract

This paper proposes a human capabilities approach for evaluating student learning and the social and pedagogical arrangements that support equality in capabilities for all students. It outlines the focus on valuable beings and doings in the capability approach developed by Amartya Sen, and Martha Nussbaum's capabilities focus on human flourishing. For both, education is understood to include both intrinsic and instrumental aims and to be foundational to other important capabilities. A method for applying the capability approach to evaluating what students said about their own learning is suggested, and from this a list of valued functional capabilities is then outlined. The multi-dimensionality of the approach is emphasised and its relationship to economic opportunities and human security. Finally, generic graduate outcomes are considered but rejected as not being the same as capabilities.