Paper short abstract:

Keywords: sustainability, university, social justice, human development, capabilities, dignity

Paper long abstract:

In his speech at the opening ceremony of the HDCA conference 2023, special guest and author Georgi Gospodinov used the metaphor of the mythical Minotaur to describe ‘the vulnerable other’ – a misunderstood ‘monster’ to whom no voice has been given. Gospodinov’s argument was that the only way to restore justice is to hear the Minotaur’s story, to reclaim the human from behind the head of a bull, as an equal part of the ‘invisible web of fleeting and fragile beings in which we are a link’. Gospodinov reminds us, however, that as a link, humans are capable of causing suffering to self and others. Climate change has become a global crisis arising from Man’s insensitivity to the fragile and invisible web of life. The crisis demands attention from higher education, in the interests of sustaining the planet, the environment, people, society and individuals. Amidst the dominance of the global crisis, institutional and individual crises are also present when it comes to sustainability in/of the university.

This paper emerges from a research project on Sustainability Universities in South Africa (SUSA) using two university cases. The project sought to critically investigate what was happening in the university community when it comes to understanding and addressing the multiple challenges of sustainability and the future of the university. Using a tripartite conceptual framing of planetary consciousness, repair, and transformative/transgressive learning, the key purpose was to understand the opportunities and obstacles diverse stakeholders in the university face in advancing ecological and social justice. The focus was particularly on understanding the tensions between environmental, social and economic sustainability, and how these are taken up across the spaces of classroom, campus, community, (including the higher education system) in (re)imagining the future university community.

Empirical data was collected through interviews conducted with university management and focus group discussions held with academic staff, students and workers respectively. Analysis of the data shows that while all stakeholders acknowledge that sustainability essentially comprises ecological, social and economic dimensions, the different groups prioritise different dimensions when it comes to sustainability and their practices within the university. At management level, the key focus is on efficiency, and the ‘crisis’ lies in the economic sustainability of the institution and the unsustainability of government funding. Operationally, sustainability involves a technical approach to making environmental improvements while educational practice entails doing more of what is already being done well – all along cutting costs where possible. For academic staff, their concern lies primarily with social and environmental justice, repair of the past through transformative teaching and learning, and the importance of relationships in society, with the environment and with each other. Their ‘crisis’ lies in the realities of lack of resources, large classes and a very full curriculum. The priority for students is shaped by social dimensions to which environmental issues are secondary. The ‘crisis’ for the majority of students lies in meeting their basic needs and getting a degree as the means to a job to sustain themselves and their families into the future. The fourth group of stakeholders was the workers for whom the ‘crisis’ is personal and lies in a background of poverty and poor-quality education that sustains them in low-status work which they perceive as their only future.

This paper draws on data from the worker focus group at both universities. Workers are non-academic, non-administrative staff of the university, the often unseen/unheard individuals responsible for sustaining the university environment and enabling the well-being of other stakeholders to do their work. The paper presents the workers’ perceptions of the unfreedoms that come with the status of their job and the hierarchical structures of their employment. They spoke of lack of agency or freedom, and voiced their aspirations for trust, respect and dignity, ‘to be treated like a normal person would be treated’. They imagine a future university in which they can continue to take pride in their work but are no longer ashamed of themselves or embarrassed about their occupation. This paper speaks to the conference theme of ‘Education, rights, equalities and capabilities’. It reflects on the presence of vulnerable others in universities, individuals enshrouded in shame and hidden from view. It contributes to thinking about the importance of human development within sustainable development in higher education, and the need to recognise individual crises, often overshadowed by the demands of larger-scale crises, to expand capabilities and strengthen collective action in sustaining the vulnerable world around us.

Paper long abstract:

Education has been described as a means to attain human development (Nussbaum, 2011; Boni & Walker, 2016, UNDP, 2022). This position is a shift from previous human capital theory’s stance whose main focus was in establishing a direct link between education and economic development (Oketch, 2006). Over time, and with further attempt to explore what education can offer beyond economic benefits, education has been found to be a means through which people’s choices are widened and their wellbeing improved (see [UNDP, 2000). Focusing on education as a capability and its role in ensuring human development, Walker and Unterhalter (2007) emphasized on how availing education opportunity as a capability has the potential of expanding individuals’ freedoms to be and do what we value.

Drawing from these assertions, in this paper, I shed light on how the deprivation of education as a capability has become a source of furthering social inequalities and inequities especially in developing countries. These are countries that are characterised by high levels of poverty, with the majority of populations living below the prescribed minimum living standards. Among such populations, the priority is survival in meeting basic needs, and education is esteemed as a means of getting out of poverty and realising opportunities to do and become what individuals value. I therefore draw on lessons from the transitions that have occurred in public sectors including education dating back to the 1980’s IMF/World Bank imposition of the Structural Adjustment Programmes (SAPs) on developing countries. I explore how such transitions including neoliberal practices have culminated to further widening the gaps in accessing opportunities and constraining abilities to realise individual choices. I also argue that the widening of these gaps and constraining of opportunities have ultimately resulted in the reproduction of socio-economic inequalities from one generation to the next.

Using a qualitative approach and case study design of university education in Malawi, the study focused on the impact that policies emanating from the IMF/World Bank SAPs have over time impacted on the chances of attaining social equality and equity in education and achieving human development among the socio-economically marginalized groups. I use the capabilities approach to highlight conversion factors that manifest themselves in the quest to attain social equality and achievement of human development. Semi-structured interviews with students and university administrators in different generations were conducted to elucidate the changes that have occurred over time. Data that was generated was analysed thematically.

The findings show how the intervention of SAPs in the operations of public sectors in developing countries including the education sector continue to affect socio-economically marginalized groups. Such interventions resulted in cutbacks in government subsidies to secondary and tertiary education in favour of basic education and promotion of private providers of education as a service. Subsequently issues of quality, equality, access, and equity began to emerge. Access to tertiary education became more elitist in nature, with a significant proportion of the few that gain access from socio-economically marginalized backgrounds either dropping out from failure to meet the financial demands or on academic grounds resulting from a compromised pre-tertiary foundation. The paper thus advocates for a revisit of policies that touch on access to education as a capability if education would indeed be a means of widening choices and improving human wellbeing rather that propagating social inequalities and inequities especially in developing countries.

References

Boni, A., & Walker, M. (2016). Universities and global human development: Theoretical and empirical insights for social change. Routledge.

Nussbaum, M. C. (2011). Creating capabilities: The human development approach. Harvard University Press.

Oketch, M. O. (2006). Determinants of human capital formation and economic growth of African countries. Economics of Education Review, 25(5), 554-564.

United Nations Development Programme. (2000). Human development report 2000: Human rights and human development. Oxford University Press.

https://hdr.undp.org/content/human-development-report-2000

United Nations Development Programme. (2022). Uncertain times, unsettled lives: Shaping our future in a transforming world. New York

https://hdr.undp.org/data-center/human-development-index?_gl=1*1d5drh8*_ga*MTIwMTIzMDMyOS4xNzA2NjkxNDMx*_ga_3W7LPK0WP1*MTcwNjY5MTQzMS4xLjEuMTcwNjY5MTQzOS41Mi4wLjA.#/indicies/HDI

Paper short abstract:

This paper investigates the dynamics of gender inequalities in Brazil's labor market and higher education. Using panel data we show evidence of disparities in female participation in STEM and of gender-based occupational segregation by industry and educational attainment. The underrepresentation of women in STEM underscores the need for interventions to ensure equity and capability equality.

Paper long abstract:

Research Context:

In many countries, women have achieved higher levels of educational attainment compared to men in recent years, promising a more equitable future. Brazil exemplifies this trend, as women became the majority in higher education in the 1970’s. However, this progress has not translated into commensurate reductions in occupational segregation and wage disparities between genders. Recent literature shows that technology advancement increases the demand of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) professionals, an area where women have been traditionally underrepresented.

Methodology:

This paper investigates the dynamics of gender inequalities in Brazil's labor market and higher education, employing the Capability Approach to shed light on this multifaceted issue. Using comprehensive survey data from the National Household Sample Survey and from the Ministry of Education (2009-2019), our analysis reveals compelling insights into the evolving landscape of gender disparities in Brazil. We posit that while universal access to higher education expands opportunities and capabilities, it does not automatically mitigate disparities in other dimensions, such as employment or wages. Using survey data for the Brazilian labor market, our regression analysis shows evidence of gender-based occupational segregation by industry and educational attainment. We also investigate the presence of a gender gap in degree-related work within STEM occupations using a Probit model. Our findings contribute to unveil the multifaceted nature of gender-based inequalities in Brazil's labor market and higher education.

Analysis:

We find a significant disparity in female participation across academic fields, with a notable underrepresentation of women in STEM disciplines (ranging from 28% to 33% throughout the period). Although women constitute the majority (57%) of higher education students overall, they represent less than one-third of students in STEM. Conversely, women comprise over two-thirds of students in Education, Health, and Social Services, which are associated with lower wages. We discuss how gender stereotypes influencing the choice of academic fields contribute to the historical male dominance in STEM areas. Women in male-dominated fields often experience microaggressions, resulting in diminished well-being and constrained capabilities. Fostering their inclusion and engagement in these fields, thereby expanding their sense of belonging, holds promise for generating favorable outcomes in both the occupational sphere and broader societal contexts. Using survey data for the Brazilian labor market, our regression analysis shows evidence of gender-based occupational segregation by industry and educational attainment. We also investigate the presence of a gender gap in degree-related work within STEM occupations using a Probit model.

Conclusion:

Our paper introduces a novel contribution by linking educational data to detailed labor market data, and our findings unveil the multifaceted nature of gender-based inequalities in Brazil. By harnessing the capabilities approach, we've illuminated gaps in opportunities that persist despite the educational advancements of women. The underrepresentation of women in STEM fields underscores the need for targeted interventions to ensure equity and capability equality. We posit that while universal access to higher education expands opportunities and fosters a more equal distribution of capabilities, it does not automatically mitigate disparities in other dimensions, such as employment or wages. We underscore the paramount importance of designing and implementing policies and strategies that empower women in the pursuit of genuine gender equality and a more inclusive and equitable society. As we move forward, this research underscores the paramount importance of designing and implementing policies and strategies that empower women in the pursuit of genuine gender equality and a more inclusive and equitable society.

Paper short abstract:

This paper offers a tool that aids Gender Equality and Social Inclusion diagnosis which contributes to strengthening public schools by addressing the demand side problem based on children's valued educational capabilities. This evaluation framework is derived from Capability Approach and ensures the well-being of children in the realm of gender equality, equity, and social inclusion.

Paper long abstract:

A well-functioning school is generally assumed to bear the characteristics of institutional- well-being, by which we mean the institution’s contribution to the holistic well-being of its students and staff (teaching and non-teaching) while also cultivating a stimulating learning environment. This paper offers a helpful tool that aids Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) diagnosis which can potentially contribute to strengthening public schools by addressing the demand side problem based on the performance evaluation and ensuring the needs, the well-being of children in the realm of gender equality, equity, and social inclusion. Subsequently, evaluations based on this tool can be used as policy instruments to make decisions on supporting the demand side needs of public schools at the institutional level and harness GESI transformative programs and practices that cater to the individual needs of children.

This promising/ proven innovation, is a framework, and a diagnosis tool; an output of the Knowledge and Innovation Exchange (KIX) funded project titled “Effectiveness and Scalability of Programs for Children who are out of School and at Risk of Dropping Out in Bangladesh, Bhutan, and Nepal”. The innovation aimed to scale/promote children’s valued educational capabilities for GESI and harness safer schooling environments. This framework had four dimensions a) gender equality, b) equality, equity and d) social exclusion. In order to gain insights into the daily experiences of children in school life, this framework was adopted as a survey tool to better understand the children’s experiences in relation to gendered practices and socially inclusive practices.

This tool was operationalized to explore children’s valued educational capabilities, needs, and wants, which plays a crucial role in shaping their experiences of gender equality, equity, social inclusion, safety, and support within school settings. In the context of this research, the capability approach was employed as a theoretical framework that focused on children’s capabilities and freedoms within the public school environment. This approach is different from solely focusing on evaluative measures on children’s well-being based on resources or expenditures allocated to their access to public education. Instead, it takes into consideration what individual children are effectively able to do and become within a school environment. It emphasizes the importance of providing children with the opportunities and resources necessary to lead a life they value in schools. While policy, programs, projects, and activities are fundamentally rooted in various already tested approaches such as human capital, human rights, and basic needs approaches towards strengthening the education system for children’s well-being, our team reasoned to choose the ‘capability approach’ to gender-responsive and social inclusive education and safe schooling experiences for all children. The rationale behind our choice of the capability approach rests on the extensive literature and applications available from the works of Biggeri’s (2007) Children’s valued capabilities, Terzi (2007), and Crespo (2007) situating education in the human capabilities approach, Unterhalter (2007) work on gender equality, education, and the capability approach, and Walker's (2007) capability list for examining gender equality in education. The capability approach is an alternative but potential approach for action research work in education (Walker & Unterhalter, 2007) in contrast to human capital, human rights, and social exclusion approaches. Based on these literatures, this paper conceptualizes already existing concepts from the children’s capability list such as time autonomy, respect, play, emotions, sense, imagination and thought, participation, bodily integrity, mental and physical health, and relationships. In summary, we term it as indicators of ‘children flourishing.’ A GESI diagnosis tool derived from these concepts valued by children in their own voices and context is a more convincing evaluation tool of children’s well-being at individual and institutional levels. These concepts offer evaluative space for examining individuals and institutions. In our case, the focus is on children and their schools.

The diagnosis was conducted in 8 public schools, where 315 students of grades 3-8 participated in the survey. Based on this GESI survey, and the subsequent GESI analysis, instruments such as pamphlets, posters, and training sessions for female teachers were conducted to promote GESI and a supportive environment for students in 25 schools of two municipalities that covered 4000 students. This innovation represents a departure from the existing solutions, as it places a strong emphasis on the children themselves. It allows them to examine their own experiences and perspectives on GESI practices. The pamphlets and posters serve as valuable tools for sharing information on positive aspects of GESI through visual representations of the issues, while also being a cost-effective option. In fact, it only requires a quarter dollar to disseminate information for one year, per student. The figure clearly depicts the cost-effectiveness of this intervention as well.

In the process, the girls and boys were first made aware of their educational capabilities through the GESI campaign; secondly, the researchers diagnosed GESI in the selected schools to generate quality data. Thirdly, based on the diagnosis, the researchers focused on implementing in-school activities, programs, and policies to support GESI. Fourthly, the team worked on building the capacity of students and teachers to create teaching and learning environments for transformative GESI practices based on their valued educational capabilities. Throughout this process the researchers assessed the potential for scalability and identified the pathways to scale by mapping the scaling system, operationalizing the institution and adaptation tracker, and evaluating its optimality, sustainability, magnitude, and equity dimensions. This innovation provided support and enhanced gender-transformative and socially inclusive education, as well as safe, inclusive, and supportive schooling to the children attending the selected schools enabling them to access and develop their valued educational capabilities.

Keywords: Educational Capabilities, Gender Equality, Social Inclusion, Capability list, Well-being

Paper short abstract:

This paper explores the relationship between subjective assessment of the fairness of people’s educational opportunities and their active social engagement, and how this relationship is embedded in different social environments. It is inspired by the CA’s understanding of the opportunity aspect of freedom and the importance of fairness of opportunities and used European Social Survey datа.

Paper long abstract:

Unlike existing research which has focused mainly on the effects of educational attainment on active citizenship, the present paper aims to study the relationship of subjective assessment regarding the fairness of people’s educational opportunities and their active social engagement, and how this relationship is embedded in different social environments.

Theoretically, the analysis is inspired by the capability approach’s (CA) understanding of the opportunity aspect of freedom and the importance of fairness of opportunities and processes. More specifically, the CA perspective implies that the attained educational level and years of schooling are not a sufficient measure when it comes to education, but that educational inequalities have to be also considered. According to Sen (Drèze & Sen, 2002: 6): “[t]his crucial role of social opportunities is to expand the realm of human agency and freedom, both as an end in itself and as a means of further expansion of freedom ...”

Sen (2009: 296) also argues that any theory of justice “has to be alive to both fairness of the processes involved and to the equity and efficiency of the substantive opportunities that people can enjoy”. The vital importance of the fairness of educational opportunities reflects the fact that educational inequalities are among the most important determinants of economic disparities and differences in individual civic participation. According to the CA, unjust inequality relates more to freedom to achieve rather than actual achievements. As Sen (1992: 148) puts it: “[i]f the social arrangements are such that a responsible adult is given no less freedom (in terms of set comparisons) than others, but he still wastes the opportunities and ends up worse off than others, it is possible to argue that no unjust inequality may be involved”.

Based on the above understanding of the importance of social opportunities in individuals’ personal and social lives, the present paper shifts the focus from the relationship between educational attainment and active citizenship to that of subjective assessments regarding the fairness of opportunities that people have to receive the education that they strive for and their active social engagement.

Our theoretical considerations also include the view of active citizenship as a multidimensional and domain-specific phenomenon. Taking into account previous research, we define active citizenship as individuals’ engagement with and participation in the political sphere, civil society, workplaces, and community life in accordance with human rights and democratic values and for the benefit of broader society. This definition outlines that active citizenship means not only involvement and participation in different social spheres but also personal engagement with their development, inspired by democratic values as well as care for others and society as a whole. It also suggests that active citizens do not limit their actions only to the political and civic spheres but are actively concerned with the development of their community and workplaces, as well.

Acknowledging that the relationship between education and active citizenship does not take place in a vacuum (e.g. Hoskins et al., 2008), this paper addresses the following two research questions (RQs):

RQ1: How are subjective assessments of the fairness of people’s opportunities to achieve the level of education that they desire associated with their active citizenship?

RQ2: How is the association between subjective fairness assessments of educational opportunities and active citizenship embedded in different socioeconomic contexts?

Empirically, we have used data from the European Social Survey (ESS), conducted in 2018 (ESS Round 9: European Social Survey Round 9 Data, 2018), because they include a special rotating module on “Justice and fairness”. The data were analysed with linear regression modelling.

We developed a scale of active citizenship. To do so, we selected 19 items and mapped them to four domains: political, social, workplace, and democratic values. We have then standardized the initial variables by converting them into z-scores. We used the composite active citizenship scale and its domain subindices as dependent variables in our analyses.

Our main independent variable reflects subjective assessments of the fairness of educational opportunities. We included as control variables in the models: the highest level of education, the highest parents’ level of education, age, gender, and the employment status.

In order to study the social embeddedness of the relationship between subjective assessments of the fairness of educational opportunities and active citizenship, we have considered the differences between countries based on their welfare regime. Following more differentiated classifications (e.g. Bohle & Greskovits, 2012; Roosmaa & Saar, 2017), we have grouped the 29 European countries into eight welfare state regimes: liberal; social democratic; conservative; Mediterranean; post-socialist, neoliberal; post-socialist, embedded neoliberal; post-socialist, Balkan EU, and post-socialist, Balkan non-EU type.

Our findings show that a higher perceived unfairness of educational opportunities is associated with lower levels of active citizenship. They also reveal that there is not only a negative relationship between the perceived unfairness of people’s opportunities to receive a desired level of education and their active citizenship as a whole, but also with regard to its domains. Only in the case of the political domain there is no statistically significant relationship. It is important to be emphasized that the results show that the relationship between the subjective assessments of the fairness of educational opportunities with active citizenship differs by the welfare regime. For example, although the higher is the perceived unfairness the lower is one’s level of active citizenship if one lives in a country with socio-democratic regime, he or she has a higher level of active citizenship in comparison to people who live in a liberal country.

By investigating how the subjective assessment of people’s opportunities to obtain the level of education that they desire is associated with their active citizenship, our study broadens the very understanding of the ways and mechanisms through which education contributes to active citizenship. It also reveals the heuristic potential of the CA for understanding the importance of educational opportunities as a separate factor influencing people’s activities. Lastly, the analyses demonstrate the social embeddedness of the association between subjective assessments of the fairness of people’s opportunities to achieve a desired level of education and their active citizenship.

Paper short abstract:

There is still debate about whether employed women can challenge social and gender norms on their way to freedom in developing countries. Applying the capability approach, we explored how employment transforms social and gender norms. The findings revealed that the quota system in jobs for women greatly affects women's well-being implying that women's freedom is deeply rooted in existing norms.

Paper long abstract:

There is still debate about whether employed women can challenge social and gender norms on their way to freedom in developing countries. Applying the capability approach, this study explores how employment transforms social and gender norms. We conducted 35 in-depth interviews and 5 focus group discussions (FGDs) with female schoolteachers at Golapgonj Upazila under Sylhet district. The findings revealed that the quota system in jobs for women greatly affects women's well-being. All the participants have access to family decision-making in a nuclear family compared to a joint family. Social acceptance and respect for school-teaching jobs have enabled participants to freely visit schools to perform their duties. The female schoolteachers’ freedom of public mobility, visiting their father's house, controlling income, and receiving health care also have improved in the majority of cases. Despite that woman still faces unfreedom due to the prevailing patriarchal social and gender norms. Women's personal, social, and political lives are conditioned by these factors, for example, entering into employment, having a baby, property ownership, going alone in public (like visiting the market, meeting colleagues, or visiting doctors), and playing or watching an outdoor game. Internalized norm of oppression is evident from the interviews, for example, women feel secure if they ask for permission from the family’s head to visit outside. They do not ask for the father’s/husband’s property fearing the breakdown of kinships. The study implies that women's freedom is deeply rooted in existing norms that require intervention at multiple levels including personal, family, and community.

Paper short abstract:

Based on fieldwork at a free school, this study examined how the aspirations of vulnerable children who cannot attend mainstream schools in Japan are pluralistically enhanced. The results showed that children’s diverse aspirations developed as follows: 1) keeping school spaces aimless, 2) sharing out-of-school pain and a sense of belonging, and 3) reorganising school activities through dialogue.

Paper long abstract:

1. Introduction

Recently, the number of long-term school absentees at the compulsory education level in Japan has increased rapidly. Against this backdrop, there has been growing interest in alternative schools that accept children who cannot attend mainstream schools.

Many of these are known as ‘free schools’. Free schools in Japan refer to unauthorised small-scale schools that emerged in the 1980s to provide educational opportunities for vulnerable children who cannot attend standardised schools (futōkō children). As of 2010, there were an estimated 300 free schools operating in Japan, aiming to guarantee the right to learn and to foster aspirations among highly stigmatised school absentees from various backgrounds (Morita 2011).

However, little academic research has been conducted on the activities of free schools in Japan, especially from the perspective of the capability approach, and it remains unclear how these schools raise children’s aspirations. For instance, as discussed below, findings from previous research have drawn attention to the importance of developing diverse and changing aspirations (Hart 2012) not only focused on education but also on the need for rest and play, thus reconsidering the dangers of excessive education inhibiting children’s capabilities. However, previous studies have overlooked the conditions under which diverse aspirations are formed in alternative school settings. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate how children’s aspirations are multidimensionally enhanced in the daily activities of free schools in Japan.

2. Literature Review

Before moving on to the case study, we situate this paper’s discussion within the related literature. Since the 2010s, research using the capability approach in education has examined the relationship between aspirations and capabilities (Conradie and Robeyns 2013; Nussbaum 2016). More specifically, consideration has been given to how aspiration formation plays a fundamental role in the ‘capabilities lists’ of children or youths who have limited socio-economic resources or special needs.

Hart (2012) notes that for marginalised children, encounters with ‘significant others’ are particularly important when it comes to enhancing their aspirations as meta-capabilities. More recent research focusing on the daily lives of migrant youths has analysed the possibility that their ‘collective agency’ and aspirations to participate in education and public goods can be improved (Mkwananzi and Cin 2020). In all of these studies, it is possible to compensate for the lack of economic and cultural capital with social capital to ensure children’s participation rights and envisage social inclusion through education from a pluralistic perspective.

However, these studies have two shortcomings. First, much of the research has a narrow understanding of aspiration, considering it mainly in relation to the objectives of education, occupation, and community participation, thus overlooking multiple other meanings associated with aspiration (Hart 2012), including play or leisure. Second, many studies have not considered the possibility of discrepancies between educators and learners regarding aspiration-enhancing practices. Therefore, this study sought to analyse the relationship between capabilities, aspirations, and contexts to determine 1) under what conditions diverse aspirations can be enhanced and 2) how conflicts between educators and learners over aspiration formation may be overcome.

3. Methodology

To clarify these issues, field research was conducted at Free School A in Kyoto, Japan. Free school A was selected because it can be considered a suitable example for this study in terms of its emphasis on improving aspirations based on students’ peer relationships. The author has been conducting participant observations at this school as a volunteer staff member since November 2005. This study focuses on data from the three most recent years.

As of July 2023, the school had 19 students and three full-time teachers. The minimum enrolment period for students at the school is three months, and the maximum is four years. Their average age is 13.9 years.

The reasons these students do not attend mainstream schools are diverse, but typical examples include bullying experiences, developmental disabilities, and low academic achievement. Free School A has no specific entry requirements other than being in the compulsory school age range (6-15 years). The school receives no government funding, and tuition fees are high at $220 per month.

4. Discussion

The findings of this study are as follows. First, Free School A has neither a curriculum nor a test, and students may essentially do as they please, including reading manga, drawing pictures, playing card games, playing outdoors, cooking, studying, or doing nothing through their ‘free time’ (nonbiri-bi). Students participate in meetings with their teachers to decide on their activities. The significance of such ‘aimless’ activities is to realise children’s diverse aspirations by approving of children ‘as they are’ (arino-mama), especially those who have been marginalised in the mass schooling-centred system.

Second, because Free School A does not have a grade system, unlike mainstream education, it is attended to by children of different ages. However, students, even at different stages of development, are able to empathise with each other in that they face common ‘pains and difficulties’ (ikizurasa), and they have similar ‘voices‘ of being out of school, which can create a sense of belonging and enhance each other’s aspirations.

Third, if conflicts occur between students and teachers over how aspirations are formed, efforts are made to correct these discrepancies through meetings in terms of ‘fallibilism’ (shikō-sakugo) and the ‘reprofessionalisation’ of education. Teachers have also actively lobbied local educational authorities for financial support to alleviate students’ socioeconomic difficulties.

Techniques for respecting aspirational diversity demonstrate the potential for pluralistic human development in terms of flexible social inclusion.

Bibliography

Conradie, I. and Robeyns, I. (2013), ‘Aspirations and Human Development Interventions’, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 14(4), 559-80.

Hart, C. S. (2012), Aspirations, Education and Social Justice: Applying Sen and Bourdieu, London & New York: Bloomsbury Academic.

Mkwananzi, F. and Cin, F. M. (2020), ‘From Streets to Developing Aspirations: How Does Collective Agency for Education Change Marginalised Migrant Youths' Lives?’, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 21(4), 320-338.

Morita, J. (2011), ‘The Public Aspect of Alternative Schools’, Proceedings of the 3rd Next Generation Global Workshop, Kyoto University, 143-157.

Nussbaum M. C. (2016), ‘Introduction: Aspiration and the Capabilities List’, Journal of Human Development and Capabilities, 17(3), 301-8.

Paper short abstract:

Using the latest education round of household survey data, we investigate the role of social identity (gender and caste) and economic status of household in explaining the variations in access to professional higher education in India. Overall, our results show a significant gender and socioeconomic inequality in access to professional higher education in India.

Paper long abstract:

India has experienced a massive expansion of professional higher education (PHE) courses, particularly in the private sector. However, scant attention has been paid in exploring the socioeconomic contours in accessing PHE, particularly in recent years. Using the latest education round of household survey data, we investigate the role of social identity (gender and caste) and economic status of household in explaining the variations in access to PHE in India. Overall, our results show a significant gender and socioeconomic inequality in access to PHE in India. We find that male students have a significantly higher chance of accessing professional education than their female counterparts, and this pro-male preference is more pronounced for poor households. In addition, youth belonging to schedule caste and schedule tribe backgrounds are less likely to access PHE than forward caste students, and a considerable portion of this difference can

be removed by controls for households’ economic status. These findings are significant for the recently adopted National Education Policy 2020 that aims for making Indian higher education system egalitarian and inclusive.

Paper short abstract:

The recent curriculum reform in Mexico urges the reviving of indigenous languages and ways of learning, part of which well aligns with the learner-centred tenets. Framed by the capability approach and the comparative case study approach, the research examines how the links between learner-centred and indigenous pedagogies play out in the contemporary context of Mexico.

Paper long abstract:

This research compares possible conceptual overlaps between globally promoted learner-centred pedagogy, historically nurtured pedagogies and pedagogies valued by local educational stakeholders between three regions in Mexico. Learner-centred pedagogy is considered a ‘best practice’ by global aid agencies for various educational challenges around the world. The recent curriculum reform in Mexico – called La Nueva Escuela Mexicana (the New Mexican School: Secretary of Higher Education 2023) – urges the reviving of indigenous languages and ways of learning, part of which well aligns with the learner-centred tenets such as hands-on experiences, project-based learning and learner-autonomy (Bremner 2021; Schweisfurth 2013). The research examines how the links between learner-centred and indigenous pedagogies play out in the contemporary context of Mexico.

By utilising the capability approach (Sen, 1999, 2009; Nussbaum 2011; Robeyns 2017) and the comparative case study approach (Bartlett and Vavrus 2017) as the methodological and analytical frameworks, the research explores the relationships between learner-centred pedagogy, historically nurtured pedagogies, pedagogies conceived as valuable by various educational stakeholders – including primary pupils, teachers, head teachers, school supervisors and parents – in Mexico. The research questions include: (1) What are the educational experiences, practices, and capabilities that various educational stakeholders regard valuable in Mexico?; and (2) What do their narratives indicate about the value of indigenous pedagogies and learner-centred pedagogy in their perceptions of quality pedagogy? Through a mix of snowball and convenience sampling, 12 primary schools in three regions distinctive in terms of socioeconomic levels and indigenous inhabitant were visited. Semi-structured interviews with a total of 68 primary teachers, head teachers, school supervisors and parents and focus group discussions with 100 pupils inquired into what they value in and through education (Walker & Unterhalter 2007) and what kind of pedagogies they think are conducive to fostering the valued educational outcomes.

At the time of writing this abstract, the research is at the analysis stage using the thematic analysis approach. Preliminary findings indicate that some participants espoused the recent curriculum reform with its philosophical bases and pedagogical intentions. A parent expressed his backing for delving into the cultural roots of Mexico through activity-based and interactive learning. Another parent also endorsed her child’s being exposed to a variety of indigenous languages and cultures. One head teacher further emphasised the flexibility of the reform, which gives teachers to autonomously adapt the curriculum based on specific contexts and to make it relevant to pupils’ lives outside of school.

At the same time, some teachers expressed their confusion with too much freedom for curriculum adaptation on their side, condemning the lack of structure and guidance, as well as that of the authority’s responsibility. Another point of concern, according to a teacher, involved regional divide possibly enhanced by the curriculum reform. Mexico presents a diverse country with both indigenous and non-indigenous peoples spread across different regions. The findings indicate more endorsement of the reform in Southern states where more indigenous populations inhabit, whereas the participants from Nuevo Leon in the North, in which few indigenous peoples live, appeared to relatively cool off about the reform’s emphasis on indigenous knowledges, as articulated by a parent and a teacher. One of the head teachers from Nuevo Leon also pointed out the difficulty of introducing one unified curriculum in such a diverse country. While these participants in this research did not necessarily express the feeling of ‘reversed discrimination’ – where those who do not consider themselves belonging to indigenous communities may feel exclusion and discrimination (Cardozo 2012, p. 765) – the current reform possibly contributes to intensifying the divide between different ethnic and cultural groups in Mexico.

In sum, the research has begun to show mixed views toward the recent curriculum reform in Mexico which prioritises indigenous pedagogies and which well aligns with some of the learner-centred tenets. By the HDCA conference 2024, the researcher will further analyse the data with a hope to share more substantive findings at the conference.

Paper short abstract:

The action process focuses on creating an epistemic capability and aspirational Repertoire linked to the student’s internship experience in a master's degree Course (UNIPD, Italy). It was built by a participatory and deliberative process and refers to 5 dimensions: Inclusive human relations, innovative teaching, territorial connections, University ethics, Internship.

Paper long abstract:

There is no consensus about what a good university is, but a human development approach is also very relevant in educational policy and evaluation and can assist us to define and characterize a good university (Loorbach & Wittmayer, 2023). Therefore, a contextual capabilities repertoire can give stronger direction to university policies, practices, and projects contributing to avoiding crisis in the educational context (Velasco & Boni, 2020). The action process here presented (inspired by the project developed in the Universidad de Ibagué, Colombia in 2019, Velasco & Boni, 2020), received funding as part of the initiatives promoted by Padova University (UNIPD, Italy); it had as a goal creating an epistemic and aspirational capability Repertoire linked to the student’s internship experience in the Continuing Education and Management Master Degree. The internship is an environment in which students can put into practice the knowledge they have acquired in undergraduate studies and find practical relevance in what they studied. This also entails a critical questioning of what they have learned, a greater awareness of the limits of the contents of their studies and of the way things were taught, and interest in less explored issues that are closely linked to social justice. However, tensions can arise between the pro-public-good oriented perspectives of this programme and a more instrumental vision. The Repertoire of capabilities can contribute to serve as a substantial conceptual framework, embodying a shared vision that fosters collaboration and sharing. This epistemic and aspirational Repertoire is designed to facilitate concrete actions directed towards establishing flourishing connections, starting with aspirations that can enhance the well-being of all individuals involved in the internship process.

To ensure a high degree of ownership of the Repertoire, it was built following a participatory and deliberative process (Sen, 1999, 2006, 2009) that involved representatives of faculty members, students, administrative staff, service staff, directors, alumni, enterprises, and social organizations working with UNIPD. This deliberative process allowed us to proceed with a “systematic discovery of what gives “life” to a university‘s living system when it is most alive and most constructively capable in economic, ecological, connective, and human terms” (Cooperrider, 2010, p.xiii). The Repertoire went through different phases in its preparation, always respecting its contextual nature and its alignment with the key values of UNIPD. Photography and Horizons represent the first steps of the action process, described as follows:

Step 1, Photography: The aim was to focus on a search for the “best of what is” at the University to frame what can be understood as public good in education (Boni et al. 2019). This includes identifying areas of strength for the organization and factors that energize it (Cooperrider et al., 2008). The documents consulted for this purpose included the UNIPD Code of Ethics, UNIPD Statute, and Rules of the master’s degree program. Dimensions emerged from the analysis: connections (mutual, international, interdisciplinary, contextual), values (freedom, dignity, equity, inclusion), well-being (psychological, social, environmental), care (motivation, honesty, integrity).

Step 2, Horizons: The objective of this step was to build an initial consensual capabilities Repertoire by gathering the narratives and views of what is or should be valued by the UNIPD community, taking into account the university’s identity. 5 focus groups and a world cafè were carried out with internal university members differentiated by groups: faculty (10), students (15), administrative and service staff (12), executive leadership (5), students’ welfare (4)) and external partners that work with the university, enterprise and social organization representatives (4). Emerging dimensions were the following: valuable personal experiences at UNIPD, meaningful and valuable elements that constitute UNIPD identity at the personal and collective levels and the university’s contribution to the development of the Region and territory. A special focus was devoted to the internship experience as an opportunity for a real connection between academia and local reality. Data collected were analyzed using the Atlas.ti 7 software.

The findings of these two steps allow to design a Repertoire of epistemic and aspirational capabilities that could orient the choices and is aligned with the university ethos and the aim of giving coherence and directionality to the next decades of UNIPD trajectory. Its content is very contextual since it comes from the considerations of the entire university community. Finally, the Repertoire includes all the elements that the university community has reason to value. Each element is different, although there are relationships among them.

The Repertoire of epistemic capabilities refers to five main dimensions:

1. Inclusive human relations: promoting exchange, care, and dialogue within a welcoming environment, upholding principles of equity, respect, and freedom to generate a sense of belonging and foster personal and professional growth.

2. Innovative teaching: fostering the expression of free thoughts through technological, methodological, and social modalities crucial for learning, generating and connecting knowledge.

3. Territorial connections: collaboration with local entities supports community autonomy, increases well-being, and creates opportunities for bidirectional exchange between theory and practice, making education more concrete and relevant to the working context.

4. University ethics: University is seen as an institution rooted in society contributing to the future and innovation through fruitful exchanges with the community it belongs to, the training of future citizens who will inhabit it, and international solidarity.

5. Internship: it represents an opportunity to connect academic and territorial domains, facilitating skill development through practical experiences and constructive feedback, offering the possibility of mutual enrichment between interns and hosting organizations.

These dimensions reflect the University's holistic approach to promoting individual and collective well-being, professional growth, and social innovation.

Further steps imply the realization of the Design and Delivery steps. Specifically, Design includes: a) verification of the Repertoire of capabilities; b) identification of facilitators and barriers; c) configuration of courses (soft skills workshops, valorization of freedom of choice, seminars, cultural events, guided tours, meetings with significant witnesses). The Delivery step is devoted to the creation of a connective hub that brings together aspirations, operations, opportunities, and good practices on internship guidance, taking together an inspiring and transformative vision for the future and an experimental, learning-by-doing action approach to make the transformation work in practice.

Paper short abstract:

The contribution intends intends to propose a possible mutual fertilization between the sustainability paradigm and framework of capability approach. In this perspective the pedagogical issue becomes that to propose that culture of sustainability encouraging the development of capabilities through quality and inclusive education ,and supporting individuals in transitions to life

Paper long abstract:

Introduction

The unsustainability of the current model of social, environmental, economic and social development has long been evident.

The pandemic storm caused by Covid 19 has undoubtedly accelerated the awareness of the need for a paradigm shift towards a new model of sustainable development that must be multidimensional

In this perspective, in 2015 , the United Nations Agenda launched its challenge for sustainability with its 17 goals (SDGs) and 169 goals to be achieved by 2030. This way is definitely the idea that sustainability is just an environmental issue has been overcome and more integrated vision on different dimensions of substainable development takes place.

From this perspective, it is necessary to highlight how the SDGs are all crossed by the common thread of the educational dimension: education as a public good; as a factor in the fight against poverty; as an instrument of social inclusion; as a guarantee of the quality of learning outcomes, lifelong learning.

In this complex framework of shared responsibility between institutions, businesses and civil society, education is a transformative factor of primary importance, capable of forming critical consciences oriented towards the pursuit of the common good.

1.Thereotical framework

Faced with this scenario we can highlight how the theoretical framework of the approach to capacity (CA) is a reference of value to accompany the contemporary pedagogical reflection on sustainability

According to Giuditta Alessandrini (2019), the sustainability paradigm includes three dimensions related to CA: human development, social justice and environmental care.

Sustainability is in fact closely linked to the ability to guarantee conditions of human well-being (safety, health, education, democracy, participation, justice) equally distributed by class and gender. Crucial questions that inevitably bring us back to the concept of social justice proposed by Amartya Sen (1999, 1982), to the realization of which the whole of humanity is called.

Within CA, the focus on sustainability clearly emerges as a development process that can meet the needs of future generations without compromising those of future generations. Education is seen as an area of freedom and education for citizenship and of individual and collective responsibility.

The theme of human development can be considered as a substantial reference point to rethink educational practices from a generative perspective also in reference to new educational values centered on the inclusive dimension and the fight against inequalities.

In this perspective the pedagogical issue becomes that to propose that culture of sustainability encouraging the development of capabilities through quality and inclusive education (goal 4 of Agenda 2030) and supporting individuals in transitions to life and decent work (goal 8, Agenda 2030).

2.Reasearch issues

The aim of this contribution is to present the empirical results of two educational research in Italy.

The research is titled “Educational Pedagogical Skills for the Unborn” was developed thanks to the original collaboration of the Catholic University with the CAV (Life Help Center) of the Mangiagalli Clinic in Milan, and aims to collect some interesting information for the development of the first human capacity indicated by Nussabaum: life. In particular, we want to refer to the specific theme of the experience of motherhood in relation to the value/right of "unborn" life.

In this experiential perspective, we will describe the conceptual framework that considers the CA as a construct through which primary attention recalls the need to safeguard the dignity of each individual. It is from this foundational orientation that the research takes inspiration, focusing on the value of "life" as the first capability for human development (Nussbuam, 2012).

The methodological tool chosen for the development of the survey on educational skills is action research. It was used to enhance the experience of generativity and the protection of freedom of choice, despite the presence of different aspects of understanding the topic investigated.

The second research called “The Formativity of work based learning” (European Commission,2013) was carried out within a PhD program at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice, on experience of school- work alternation of students in the last three years of secondary school of two Technical and vocational Institutes.

The research project arises from the awareness that an education that integrates knowledge in the classroom and practical experiences at work can contribute to developing those skills (Nussbaum, 2012) capable of enabling students to have freedom in directing their lives and pursuing objectives as autonomous and responsible people.

For example, redesigning learning curricula that are increasingly interconnected to the themes ofthe care of environment and the value dimensions based on the ethics of responsibility.

Exploring the framework of capability approach and the effects on the learning of the students involved, we asked ourselves some research questions: how to design new learning curricula for the student to facilitate school-work transitions? How work -based learning can contribute to the growth of the student in terms of human development? How teachers can enable the learner’s agency?

The methodological approach was based on the standard canons of empirical research in the educational field, through the following tools: focus groups, semi-structured interviews and self-evaluation questionnaires.

Conclusion

As underlined by the UNESCO Report on Education for SDGs (2017) embarking on the path to sustainable development will require a profound transformation of the way we think and act.

To create a more sustainable world, citizens must become agents of change.

From the perspective of the capability approach (Sen,1999; Nussbaum,2010) the aim of global development, as well as that of good national policy, is to enable people to live a full and creative existence by developing their potential (human flourishing), organizing a meaningful life worthy of their equal dignity human. This means guaranteeing everyone the conditions that allow them to release and implement their capabilities to be not only actors but critical agents of change and to orient themselves towards development models that are based on the quality of people's lives.

This commitment requires a new educational responsibility closely related to the future safeguarding of democracy.

Paper short abstract:

This paper advances the notion of a capability for higher education (HE) outreach, based on an in-depth case study of a public HE college in Delhi, India. The paper argues that a formalised HE outreach culture can help rectify enduring hidden inequalities of HE access and choice. The paper engages with the notion of 'professional capabilities' to discuss faculty members' involvement in outreach.

Paper long abstract:

This paper builds on previous applications of the Capabilities Approach (CA) to higher education (HE) access (e.g. Walker & Mathebula, 2020; Wilson-Strydom, 2015) and ‘public-good professionalism’ (Walker & McLean, 2015), to advance the notion of a capability for HE outreach, considering the potential of faculty members (FMs) in HE institutions (HEIs) to engage in outreach practices that enable prospective students from disadvantaged communities to become more informed about HE. The term ‘HE outreach’ refers to activities occurring before formal enrolment into HE, which may include taster days which host prospective students at HEIs, and school visits by alumni and/or FMs (Harrison & Waller, 2017). HE outreach is particularly targeted at prospective students from socio-economically disadvantaged backgrounds, where often there is limited history of HE access in previous generations. Importantly, HE outreach has the potential to tackle enduring hidden inequalities in HE access across caste, class, ethnicity and gender, inequalities which are belied by enrolment statistics that point to HE massification and enhanced equality of access; this is pertinent in relation to the context of study for this paper, namely India (Henderson, Sabharwal & Thomas, 2022).

The focus thus far in capabilities analyses of HE has largely been on understanding students’ capabilities, with FMs positioned as having the potential to expand students’ capabilities, but often failing to do so (Loots & Walker, 2015; Mutanga & Walker, 2019). FMs’ own capabilities have scarcely been considered; where this work has been undertaken it is in relation to other topics, such as sustainability (Ndubuka & Rey-Marmonier, 2019; Nussey et al., 2022) or service learning (Mtawa & Wilson-Strydom, 2018). This paper on the notion of a capability for HE outreach therefore makes a contribution to CA analyses of HE access and the role of FMs within HE more generally.

In India, many young people from socio-economically disadvantaged groups are making HE choices based on incomplete knowledge (Sahu et al., 2017; Stewart et al., 2022). Affirmative action is strongly in place in the public sector in India (Hasan & Nussbaum, 2012), but in order to avail of affirmative action, a prospective student must be informed about choices in relation to HE and the application process. In India, there is a very strong ethos of ‘community outreach’, where HEIs engage with local communities, through e.g. clean-up programmes, but the mission of this form of outreach is not to guide and inform about HE; within the public sector there is currently little HE outreach activity happening in an official capacity, although there is a proven appetite for this work (Stewart et al., 2023). It is noteworthy that the 2020 National Education Policy (MHRD, 2020) does refer to HE outreach as an imperative for the future development of HE. HE outreach activities are not currently formalised as part of a FM’s duties, for instance in the Academic Performance Indicator (API) score which is used for academic promotion. Arguably, a formalised HE outreach culture in Indian HE, at least in the public sector, could contribute to tackling enduring inequalities of HE access and choice.

In this paper, we explore existing HE outreach practices (though often occurring informally and not labelled as such) and how these practices were explained by FMs. The body of work by Walker and McLean (e.g. Walker, 2012; Walker & McLean, 2015) on professional education and public-good professionalism is helpful in developing an HE outreach capability. While this work focuses on professional university education (e.g. social work), there is applicability to FMs in HEIs, where academics too can be conceived as ‘professionals who support the capability expansion of their clients by exercising their professional capabilities as public-good functionings’ (Walker & McLean, 2015:63). The notion of a professional capability for HE outreach is particularly salient because an orientation towards HE outreach is arguably an ethical and vocational orientation towards social justice.

The empirical base of this paper is an in-depth case study of a government college (i.e. public-funded HEI) in Delhi that is nested within a four-year research project, ‘Widening Access to Higher Education in India: Institutional Approaches’ (www.warwick.ac.uk/wahei). The government college was selected based on its peripheral location in Delhi, meaning it is favoured by students from disadvantaged groups. Ethical approval was granted by the appropriate University committee. The case study included several methods and participant groups; for this paper the data considered are as follows: semi-structured interviews with the Principal and four FMs; six-week solicited diary study and post-diary interviews with the interviewed FMs; a questionnaire survey with FMs (N=59).

Our case study shows that there is an active but informal practice of HE outreach occurring, with 93.3% of FMs (survey) stating they had guided prospective undergraduate student/s on their HE-related choices. The HE outreach capability can be divided into micro-level functionings. The most common functionings identified in our survey were to guide prospective students on choice of HEI and on choice of course/subject. The study revealed that FMs were consulted for HE-related advice in their personal networks; for instance, Athene* (interview) recounted that she had assisted her father’s gardener’s daughters on their HE choices. The study showed that motivations to engage in HE outreach included ‘a sense of social responsibility’ (Victor*, diary entry 1), with FMs voluntarily acting as ‘capability expanders’ (Walker & McLean, 2015). The survey identified that the greatest constraint that FMs face in terms of formalising their HE outreach activities is the funding resource constraints (see also Demb & Wade, 2012; Johnson et al., 2019).

Our study shows that, even in the absence of a formalised HE outreach culture in public HEIs in India, FMs are ‘exercising their professional capabilities as public-good functionings’ (Walker & McLean, 2015:63), by serving as sources of HE-related guidance and information in their local communities. This practice is supplementing the dearth of formal information and guidance on HE choices for young people in disadvantaged communities. There is therefore an argument for mapping FMs’ role in HE outreach using a capabilities lens, to consider the support and resources that are needed to develop FMs’ capability.

*Pseudonym.

Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to identify how practitioners in specific adult education institution perceive adult learners —as vulnerable individuals, potential actors, and/or aspirational individuals. This involves understanding how practitioners envision adult learners and how the concrete opportunity structure either supports or hinders this vision.

Paper long abstract:

This contribution investigates what representations of the adult learner underpin the regional second-chance education system in the French-speaking part of Belgium.

Historically, in European societies, adult education has addressed societal challenges, emphasizing skill development and citizen socialization (Milana, 2012). But the objectives of adult education have evolved over time. Initially they mostly focused on improving societal outcomes and fostering individual emancipation (Biesta, 2005, 2006). Since the 1980s, under the influence of structural unemployment and dominant neoliberal perspectives, employability has been increasingly prioritized over civic and democratic goals (Bussi, 2016; Milana, 2012; Vargas, 2017). This shift has been analyzed by several researchers looking at the European (e.g. Barros, 2012; Bélanger, 2005; Biesta, 2005; Bussi, 2022; Jarvis, 2004; Mikulec, 2018; Milana & Tarozzi, 2021), national (for instance Belzer and Kim 2018, Glanton 2023), and macro-regional level adult education policy initiatives and programs (for instance in the Nordic countries, Nilsson and Nyström, 2013).

The emphasis shift from emancipation to employability does not prevent both objectives from remaining interconnected and relevant, especially for vulnerable groups facing limited skills or unstable work histories (Peters & Ensink, 2015). This coexistence is present in most education systems, yet to a different degree, and it translates into specific opportunity structures—defined as all the possibilities of individual choice influenced by the structural and institutional characteristics specific to a society (Hefler, 2013) – underpinned by specific ideas of the adult learner.

This research contributes to the extant literature by investigating what representations of the adult learner dominate among practitioners in the second-chance adult educational system in French-speaking Belgium, known as Enseignement de promotion sociale.

We use the Capability Approach (CA; Sen, 1985, 2009; Nussbaum & Sen, 1993), combined with Bonvin and Laruffa’s (2018) CA-based anthropological conception of individuals as analytical framework. This framework allows grasping the emancipatory potential the opportunity structure and evaluating the adult learner representation against the theoretical conceptions of “receivers” (vulnerable beings), “doers” (capable of contributing to society), and “judges” (capable of making decisions and expressing needs).

Hence, this paper aims to identify how practitioners in specific adult education institution perceive adult learners —as vulnerable individuals, potential actors, and/or aspirational individuals. This involves understanding how practitioners envision adult learners and how the concrete opportunity structure either supports or hinders this vision.

The Enseignement de promotion sociale (EPS), the largest adult education institution in French-speaking Belgium, is a particularly relevant as it exemplifies the double objective of adult education: the promotion of both emancipation and employability. EPS offers general and vocational education that enables low skill adults who dropped out from compulsory school to enroll in a program leading to a secondary school diploma (Vanderavero, 2024).

To understand how practitioners envision adult learners in EPS and the opportunity structure available to them, we conducted 37 semi-structured interviews between November 2023 and January 2024 with a variety of professionals (e.g. principals, secretaries, teachers, educators, etc.) from four EPS schools selected on the basis of their membership to one of the school networks ( An educational network is a result of the historical evolution of the Belgian education system, and brings together several schools based on similar characteristics. In French-speaking Belgium, three main networks are present: schools dependent on a central body representing the public authorities, schools linked to decentralized public authorities, and subsidized free schools, generally linked to the Catholic Church) and provinces (the 4 provinces in French-speaking Belgium with the highest student’s enrollment). Interviews were analyzed with a computer-assisted program (NVivo).

Initial findings show that the “receiver” conception of adult learners is particularly present in professionals’ discourses. EPS practitioners endeavor to address most of the students' vulnerabilities by implementing pedagogical and organizational strategies. However, some vulnerabilities are not taken into account (e.g. the prohibition on veils in schools). Practitioners also conceive the adult learners as a “doer”, i.e. an active agent in the context of the training., even though most professionals consider adult learners as merely students. Finally professionals interviewed seem less inclined to conceive adult learners as “judges”, i.e. as political beings with aspirations, values and desires (Bonvin and Laruffa, 2018: 506). Only in one school this judge conception of the adult learner seems to be reflected in the organizational arrangements, where its organization seems to revolve around student participation in their training environment. Elements of the judge's conception can be more easily observed in the pedagogical methods employed by most teachers. For example, in their curriculum, teachers encourage students to think critically and express their own ideas and values, which are associated with the capability for voice. However, many teachers tend to solely link students' aspirations to employment which restricts the capability to aspire, limiting it to the emancipation as autonomization.

The added value of this contribution lies on the empirical application of Bonvin and Laruffa’s, the focus on the understudied field of Enseignement of Promotion Sociale and the qualitative analysis of adult learner representations.

Paper short abstract:

High quality data are crucial to achieving SDG4 on education. Data on gender and education raises issues of rights, needs and capabilities. The paper reports on initiatives in Indonesia and Kenya using the Accountability for Gender Equality in Education (AGEE) Framework and associated critical processes of participatory reflection to identify data gaps on gender equality in and through education.

Paper long abstract:

High quality data are crucial to achieving Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4 on inclusive quality education and lifelong learning. This is particularly imperative to understand inequalities and leave no one behind. Thinking about gender and education raises issues associated with rights, needs and capabilities. Although sex-disaggregated data have long been collected through official statistics, such as administrative data on schools or examination results, and is a key feature of household surveys considering levels of poverty or learning, the inequalities associated with gender cannot be simply understood by gender disparities.

Through its mandate to monitor SDG 4, UNESCO has supported countries to assemble and use high quality data on gender equality in and through education and highlighted areas where wider conceptualisations and more inclusive processes are needed. A number of UNESCO resources have considerably widened the scope of how to think about gender data in relation to education. These include: the Global Education Monitoring (GEM) Reports, published since 2002, and GEM gender reports, published since 2012, databases including the World Inequality Database on Education (WIDE), Scoping Progress in Education (SCOPE), and Profiles Enhancing Education Reviews (PEER) Visualizing Indicators of Education for the World (VIEW) which enable a review of key trends with an equity and gender lens. This range of data can be used by all stakeholders to think about trends in relation to data on gender and education, and what to consider in learning from past crises and preparing for those in the future.

The Transforming Education Summit Call to Action on Gender Equality and Girls’ and Women’s Empowerment in and through Education (2002) called for “data systems to better collect and understand the intersections between gender and other intersecting characteristics such as minority status or disability that intersect and lead to marginalization, inequality and learning poverty, and use data to take targeted action to leave no one behind.” To track action in this and related areas, UNESCO and UNICEF have established a multistakeholder Global Platform and a Global Accountability Dashboard to monitor government responses – with the aim to stimulate action and accountability. Yet there is need to fill data gaps and improve quality at country-level, and to begin reflection on how experiences of crisis can be used to identify additional data needed to plan to prevent deepening inequalities.

This paper reports on initiatives in Indonesia and Kenya using the Accountability for Gender Equality in Education (AGEE) Framework (www.gendereddata.org), and its associated critical processes of participatory reflection, to identify data gaps on gender equality in and through education. The AGEE Framework, which draws on the Capability Approach and ideas about human development and participation, provides a distinctive perspective to understand gender equality in education and through education and to support for girls’ needs, rights and capabilities.

The paper considers for each country some of the reasons for missing data at the national-level, challenges with approaches to planning for the collection and analysis of new data, and plans to address this. The paper draws on country-level collaborations geared to cross-sectoral dialogue and reflection amongst stakeholders from key government ministries and civil society. Working with women’s rights and gender equality activists in communities, AGEE dashboards facilitate inclusive policy dialogue associated with particular forms of marginalisation. In reflecting on the reasons for missing data in each country, solutions on the way forward will be presented.

This paper will expand understanding of approaches to collect and use data that spotlight how and why particular girls and boys remain marginalised, excluded and subject to discrimination. These insights will contribute to work to overcome persistent intersectional inequalities in and through education and help build a richer community of practice to scale up action aimed at achieving the SDG 4 goals and targets and supporting discussions regarding a post SDG framework.

Paper short abstract:

More than 75% of the over 2 million children with disabilities in India do not go to school, many being bound to homes. For those enrolled in school, their education requires significant improvement. Governments want to improve but lack the expertise. Based on Perkins’ 194 years of expertise on ground, it has built Model Programs in schools through capacity building ensuring every child can learn.

Paper long abstract:

Introduction

More than 75% of the over 2 million children with disabilities in India do not go to school, many being bound to homes. Those enrolled in school are in programs needing significant improvement. Many local governments and schools want to do better but there is little capacity and expertise among educators and service providers around where to start, and how to provide inclusive, quality education for the children.

Children with disabilities in India are ready to learn. By supporting existing schools to become model programs, Perkins shows that it is possible to deliver quality education to these children. Model programs acquire and demonstrate best practices in helping children with disabilities learn.

Model Programs in India: transforming schools for inclusive education

Mumbai

Perkins India in partnership with Pratham and the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) is working in 3 government schools with attached Urban Resource Centres (URCs). The schools are inclusive schools with the goal of mainstreaming children with disabilities into the regular classrooms. The URCs have been built for additional educational and therapeutic interventions for children with disabilities.

Gujarat

Perkins India in partnership with the Blind Peoples Association (BPA), is working in 3 schools in the rural areas of Gujarat. We are working with 1 inclusive school, 1 special school and 1 daycare centre attached to a regular school.

Rajasthan

Perkins India in partnership with the Piramal Foundation, is working in an inclusive school in Bagar, Rajasthan. This school works on best practices to integrate children with disabilities in the regular classroom using concepts of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).

Model of Change

Perkins’ Model School approach is fundamentally linked to the concepts of evolution and change. Schools now are asking for flexibility to incorporate social changes (Anijovich, 2007) such as recent heightened awareness around inclusion, diversity, equity, and access.

The Model School concept is related to each school’s response to current societal and community issues. It is developed based on each school’s needs, responding to local conditions. When in practice, this model contributes to the unique experiences and cultures of different schools. Identifying common ground, defining a process cements the Model School concept as the axis of change, ensuring a sustained process.

Some countries in Latin America have successfully implemented the Change Model and have showcased tremendous results. An example is illustrated below:

In the case of a school in Mendoza, Argentina, a state-managed special education school serving as a regional school primarily for students from the San Martín Area provides support to ninety students who are part of inclusive education processes.

Through the Change Model, the school has seen use of inclusive activities with aids, including multimedia resources, devices for augmentative communication, and calendars. Families have re-engaged in their children's learning processes while teachers are considering person-centred planning for some students, recognizing the need for increased collaboration with families and a deeper understanding of the student.

Model Program Process

In order for a school to become a Model Program, integration of the Perkins Quality Improvement process and Perkins International Academy (PIA) teacher training is required. Piloting and supporting established local school programs to model best practices, will be a replicable approach to reach children throughout India.

Perkins International Academy

PIA, is a three-part standard curriculum centred on the diversity and life experiences of a child with disabilities, with a focus on developing the skills practitioners need to include these children in health and education services.

Perkins Quality Improvement- tool and assessment to quality education

In Latin America, Europe and Asia, measurable improvements in the quality of education for children with disabilities through the Perkins Quality Improvement process has been achieved. It is an evidence-based performance benchmarking tool driving program quality which was developed ten years ago.

The quality improvement framework includes a set of over 40 quality indicators used to evaluate, enhance, and implement technical assistance. These are categorized into seven domain areas as detailed below:

Knowledge About Student: Formal and non-formal assessments of the student are implemented and tracked regularly so teachers can respond to inclusive teaching methods.

Planning, Activities, and Content: Teachers implement a child-centred approach wherein educational practices are individualised, flexible, respectful of, and responsive to each student.

Organising the Education Environment: Adapted and accessible environments and materials are in place maximizing learning.

Program Management: Program administration promotes the allocation of resources, supports children’s right to education, and teachers’ professional development.

Staff Engagement: Teachers’ specialised knowledge for addressing children's needs through collaborative work and family engagement.

Student Engagement: Learners with disabilities have access to the school curriculum (academic or functional) on an equal basis with others.

Family Support: Families are included, supported, and empowered as partners in the education of their children.

Conclusion

In practice, through a sustained collaboration with schools, the goal is for the Model School to be seen as an organization committed to flexible and dynamic transformation. The quest for improvement is the Model School’s core translating into a state of constant revision and change. The Model School does not aspire to reach a definitive state or goal, but rather is continuously evolving and searching for enhancement.

Guaranteeing equal opportunities requires broad recognition of inclusion as a basic human right. Improving the educational environment for Children with Disabilities means maintaining an attitude of ongoing monitoring , self-reflection, and implementing practices promoting autonomy and independence.

References

(1839). Seventh annual report of the trustees of the New-England Institution for the Education of the Blind to the Corporation (p.3). Lewis.

(1841). Ninth annual report of the trustees of the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind to the Corporation. (p.4). Eastburn.

Jacobs, L., Perera, M.C., Tango-Limketkai, A. (2018). A home visiting teacher’s manual. Seeing Is Believing Project / Perkins School for the Blind. https://perkinsglobalcommunity.org/asia/resources/home-visiting-manual-for-teachers-of-children-with-multiple-disabilities-and-visual-impairment/

McCarthy, M.L. & deWit, N.C.I. (2017). Getting ready for braille! Perkins School for the Blind.

Perkins School for the Blind Annual Reports.

Vazquez, M.A. (2022). Development of a New Model to generate changes in teacher practices and student learning.

Paper short abstract:

This abstract aims to highlight the school violence pandemic in Kenyan and South African schools, its implications on academic achievement and general well-being of learners and families. The proposal also provides probable solutions to the pandemic. UNESCO (2023) estimated that about 246 million children and adolescents encounter school violence or bullying every year.

Paper long abstract:

This proposal aims to highlight the school violence pandemic in Kenyan and South African schools, its implications on academic achievement and general well-being of learners and families. The proposal also provides probable solutions to the pandemic. In tandem, UNESCO (2023) estimated that about 246 million children and adolescents encounter school violence or bullying every year. According to UNESCO’s conceptual framework of school violence, the three main categories of school violence are as follows; physical violence (fights, physical attacks); Sexual violence (sexual harassment, rape, and attempted rape, sharing of sexualised images and texts) and psychological violence (bullying, verbal abuse, coercion, social exclusion, and emotional abuse). In tracing the roots of school violence in former colonies, Fanon (2008) argues that education itself is used as a tool of administering psychological violence and domination whose aim is to destroy the identity and pride of colonised people. Other identified factors that contribute to school violence include embedded political differences, sexual discrimination, competition for resources, intolerance to cultural diversity. Classmates, teachers, and prefects have been identified as main perpetrators of the vice. School violence has serious implications on learners, parents, schools, and the community. Learners suffer from loss of concentration; poor academic performance; bunking of classes; mental health and depression. Gender inequality is also exacerbated especially in cases where gender and sexual discrimination is the cause of the violence.

Using secondary literature, data and excerpts from media reports, the proposal looks at cases of school violence in Kenya and South Africa. I argue that school violence crisis disturbs the peace of the school and communities. An education environment that is encouraging and warm enables learning and learners to thrive. It is beneficial for learners, they feel comfortable, wanted, valued, accepted, secure, loved, cared, and trusted. Reay (2022) observes that a socially just education system is premised on the good education that upholds the democratic rights of all. It seeks to value and enhance children’s well-being and their intellectual growth. However, a learning environment that is characterised by violence, behavior that is anti-social, uncivil and peace disturbing is unjust. When schools turn into battle grounds, learners carry crude weapons such as guns, knives, pangas, pepper sprays, screwdrivers, and bats instead of books and pens (Mhlongo, 2017). Child trends (2015) observes that high school males are most likely than females to carry a weapon.

Kenyan public secondary schools have experienced a lot of unrest and school vandalism. The situation is very worrisome because, other than the distraction of school property, it has also caused loss of lives of innocent learners. Despite the great loss, very few perpetrators have been charged for arson or murder (Opere et.al, 2019). Schools are forced to deal with loss of teaching and learning time and rebuilding destroyed infrastructure. The loss of teaching and learning time thus has implications for the overall development and acquisition of targeted skills within stipulated time. South Africa’s case is equally unique, and fluid when it comes to school violence. Exacerbated by historical imbalances, gangsterism and high levels of femicide and Gender Based Violence (GBV), girls and boys are not safe in schools. Disturbing cases of violence and vandalism have been recorded in primary and secondary schools (Castella, 2022; Ncontsa and Shumba, 2013). School stabbings are the most dominant forms of violence in South Africa. Cases of rape and attempted rape of girls by fellow learners and teachers have also been recorded. In 2019, school stabbings resulted into death of learners between January and June across several provinces in South Africa. Teachers and school principals have also experienced violence from rogue learners in form of stoning and stabbing.

In concluding, and while recognizing the importance of maintaining a peaceful learning environment for equitable access to education and development of capabilities, I suggest a four-pronged approach to address the school violence impasse. Primarily, interventions that are premised on social justice in upholding the right to education and life as sacrosanct are key. These rights are guaranteed in the Bill of rights in both countries (Rawls,1991). Interventions that recognize the important role education plays in human development and bolstering of individual and societal wellbeing will encapsulate ideas from a capabilities approach (Sen, 2005; Nussbaum, 2011). Introducing peace keeping and building mechanism is important in maintaining law and order in schools. Peace making advocates for zero tolerance to violence in schools. It is concerned with identifying transformative mechanisms of addressing school violence such as dialoguing and mediation as forms of restorative justice. Peace building looks at proactive measures such as cooperative problem solving between teachers and learners (Galtung, 1969, 2018; Buber, 1970). Practicing the ideas of Ubuntu is reminiscent of communalism and ethics of care for one another. It is my view that if Ubuntu- (I am Because We Are) was to be at the centre of the education project, it is probable that the scourge of school violence will be experienced minimally.

Key Words: school violence, implications, solutions

Buber, M. (1970). I and Thou (Vol. 243). Simon and Schuster.

Castelli, A. (2022). Liberation through violence in Fanon's The Wretched of the Earth: Historical and contemporary criticisms. Peace & Change, 47(4), 325-340.

Fanon, F. (2008). Concerning violence (p. 32ff). London: Penguin.

Galtung, J. (1969). Violence, peace, and peace research. Journal of peace research, 6(3), 167-191.

Galtung, J. (2018). Violence, peace, and peace research. Organicom, 15(28), 33-56

https://www.ungei.org/what-we-do/school-related-gender-based-violence

Khumalo, S. S. (2019). Implications of School Violence in South Africa on Socially Just Education. e-BANGI Journal, 16(8).

Ncontsa, V. N., & Shumba, A. (2013). The nature causes and effects of school violence in South African high schools. South African journal of education, 33(3), 1-15.

Nussbaum, M. C. (2011). Creating capabilities: The human development approach. Harvard University Press.

Opere, O. A., Kamere, I., & Wawire, V. (2019). School violence as a cause of non-peaceful coexistence in public secondary schools in Nairobi, Kenya. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 7(09), 130.

Rawls, J. (1991). Justice as fairness: Political not metaphysical. In Equality and Liberty: Analyzing Rawls and Nozick (pp. 145-173). London: Palgrave Macmillan UK

Paper short abstract:

The paper relates an activity developed with a group of elderly Brazilian ladies in the UK. The Open University for Third Age Students (UNATI) at State University of Maringa was designed to promote integration between the city's aging community and the university. Thus, it enhances culture, wellbeing, social and political formation, guaranteeing them the right to education and citizenship.

Paper long abstract:

Capability Approach (CA) theories enhance opportunities and freedoms that individuals have to achieve beings and doings they see as valuable, focusing on human flourishing, rather than economic gain, as a measurement for individual wellbeing (Sen, 1912). The current paper relates an activity developed with a group of elderly Brazilian ladies from 60 to 82 years old, undertaken in the UK. The Open University for Third Age Students (UNATI) is part of the State University of Maringa (UEM) projects and it was created in 2010 and designed to promote integration between the city's aging community and the university. The program enhances culture, well-being, social and political formation, guaranteeing the elderly students the right to education and citizenship. University teachers from all departments are invited to teach subjects that might interest the students. Currently, thirty-three subject matters from different areas such as language, health, well-being, psychology, and others, are being offered for more than 570 people. English Classes have been offered presentially since 2008, except during the Covid-19 pandemic, when they went online. There are four English classes with 25 students each. Most students are female and all are retired. Most of them have academic degrees in different areas, such as law, education, economics, etc. However, for others, it is the first time they attend classes in a university. By getting enrolled in the program courses, they will improve social relations, learn new skills, and become part of a larger social community. Thus, social inclusion and equity are fundamental principles of social justice; in this sense, the courses ensure social inclusion and equity to this group of people as part of the university which gives them the opportunity to participate fully in meaningful ways in society. Their motivation to learn English varies, some have children living in English language countries, some see English classes as the opportunity to be in touch with new cultures, language, and travelling. Thus, in 2023, fourteen female students from the English classes spent 10 days in the UK visiting historical places, learning about British culture, and experiencing traveling abroad for the first time. The group age was between 63 and 82, and based on the activities done during the trip and the reports of the students involved, the aim of this paper is to discuss several Capability Approach concepts such as freedom, gender equality, female empowerment, human flourishing and wellbeing, in order to analyse the beings and doings of the student's experience as part of the ladies in Pink in the UK. Consequently, the UNATI and the public university in Brazil programs are placing an important role in the process of promoting social inclusion, equity, human wellbeing and capabilities at the heart of the transformations envisaged by the 2030 Agenda established in the Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR) 2019.

Paper short abstract:

This paper aims to show the relevance and applicability of Sen's Capabilities Approach to doctoral education by bringing to the forefront not only the individual functionings and capabilities but also the institutional context.

Paper long abstract:

Doctoral education programs contribute to the growth of a nation by enhancing research and innovation capabilities, creating a future workforce, and driving economic growth. It also contributes to the individual's personal development. According to (Friedrich-Nel & Kinnon, 2017), the goals of doctoral education are threefold: to help the doctoral student produce a good quality thesis that adds to the existing knowledge base; to develop the doctoral student into a future researcher with the required attributes and research skills; to provide the academic community with an active contributing member. These goals translate into the development of key doctoral graduate attributes, as outlined by Senekal et al. (2022): knowledge, research skills, communication, organizational, managerial and interpersonal skills, higher-order thinking abilities, and active citizenship.

To achieve these goals and to form the ‘capabilities’ and ‘achievable functionings' as described by Sen, doctoral scholars need to be provided with genuine opportunities (Walker, 2010). A multitude of factors such as institutional policies, research culture, infrastructure, financial resources, along with the quality of supervision from faculty advisors shape the opportunities and quality of the educational environment for doctoral scholars. Unfortunately, there is a big difference between the quality of doctoral programs based on these very aspects. Such disparities hinder progress and development in doctoral graduate capability and potential contribution. In India, there are significant differences in the types of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The broad classification is – Central Universities, State Universities, Private Universities, Deemed Universities, Institutes of National Importance, and Open Universities. Further, the differences lie in the level of their access to resources, levels of autonomy, and even funding. Few institutions, such as institutes of national importance, are the recipients of the major share of research funding. This leaves the majority of HEIs struggling to obtain basic equipment and resources, including access to journals - an essential requirement for research.

HEIs also have distinct cultures, which are difficult to define because of their complexity and dynamicity. Previous research shows that doctoral education is seen to be more influenced by the disciplinary or departmental culture rather than the over-arching institutional culture (Golde, 2005). Culture, especially for doctoral scholars, manifests through their socialisation within the institutional setting, with peers, and with faculty members (Bragg (1976). According to Nambiar (2010), the downside of institutional culture is that it can restrict the growth of capabilities. Drawing on Nambiar’s observation, we can say that institutional cultures hold the potential to hinder the development of doctoral students' capabilities.

In my research, I focus on the doctoral journey of students pursuing PhD in Management in India. My study aims to shed light on the complexities, challenges, practices, support structures, and the research environment that is navigated by doctoral scholars within different institutional setups. It also aims to understand how the context-specific issues in Indian HEIs foster or hamper the progress of doctoral scholars. This paper aims to show the relevance and applicability of Sen's Capabilities Approach to doctoral education by bringing to the forefront not only the individual functionings and capabilities but also the institutional context.

While Sen's work on the Capability Approach offers a rich framework for understanding individual well-being and agency, its focus on welfare economics and ethics does not directly address the role of institutions in shaping those capabilities (Nambiar, 2010). Therefore, my interest in looking at this study from the lens of the Capabilities Approach is twofold. Firstly, by extending the capability approach to the role of institutions, we can understand how policies both at the UGC level and institution level, impact scholars' opportunities for success. Secondly, I attempt to create a framework for institutions that allows them to evaluate their current practices and create or support an environment where doctoral scholars can ‘thrive’, develop their capabilities and achieve their full potential.

Keywords: Doctoral Education, Doctoral Journey, Management Scholars, Indian Higher Education Institutions, Capabilities Approach

Paper short abstract:

Pope Francis' 'Laudato Sì' is an invaluable document for educational practitioners. The Encyclical suggests a new paradigm for educators - Integral Ecology, according to which everything is connected, everything is interdependent - which shares a lot with the Capability Approach. They both aim at Human Development, Equality and Justice for human beings and for the Enviroment.

Paper long abstract:

Pope Francis' 'Laudato Sì' is an invaluable document for educational practitioners. The Encyclical suggests a new paradigm for educators.

The encyclical proposes the theme of integral ecology: what does integral mean? It means that it invests the totality of existence insofar as everything is connected, everything is interdependent.

It announces the crisis of anthropocentrism understood as man at the centre of the universe: at the centre is not man, but the relationship between man and his neighbour, man and the environment, man and God for believers; these are the three fundamental relationships of existence, interdependent on each other.

The encyclical proposes 7 goals that are not intended to replace the 2030 Agenda, but rather to complement it in light of the construct of integral ecology.

They are:

1. Response to the cry of the earth

2. Answer the cry of the poor

3. Ecological economy

4. Adoption of sustainable lifestyles

5. Ecological education

6. Ecological spirituality

7. Resilience and community enhancement

Together with the objectives, the encyclical proposes 7 ecological virtues:

1. Sobriety

2. Simplicity

3. Humility

4. Solidarity

5. Gratuity

6. Justice

7. Love

There is a responsibility of man towards Nature, towards the Neighbour (and towards God for believers) that man can decide to assume if he/she converts ecologically; it implies an existential posture marked by respect and care for the relationship with Nature, with the Neighbour and with God for believers.

According to the capability approach, virtues are chosen by the subject according to the kind of life they want to live. They foster human development insofar as they give self-determined direction to one’s life.

Justice for the poor and justice for the earth are two faces of the same coin and correspond the the same goal of the human development paradigm.

Ecological conversion in fact challenges the spiritual dimension of existence, beyond religions and beliefs. Spirituality, among many definitions, is the awareness that there is Something greater than ourselves, which has preceded us in our existence : it is God for the believer, it is nature for the non-believer.

But the task before us is a common one : what shape to give to the future of our planet.

Ecological conversion makes man no longer the centre of the universe, no longer the owner of the earth: we own nothing, that is the revolutionary aspect. The earth has been given to us as stewards, not as owners, and our responsibility is to return it as undamaged as possible, if not better than we received it.

The ecological approach is both a social and an economic approach: man's responsibility is also towards his neighbour, considering past behaviour that has caused poverty, inequality, exclusion.

The encyclical invites man not only to contemplate nature, therefore, but to act: there is an ethical imperative to transform ideas into action.

Change also comes through education, which is invested by the integral ecology paradigm in quantitative and qualitative terms.

Quantitatively, there are new disciplines, there are new skills to work on: green skills, ecological virtues to deal with the digital and ecological transition underway.

On a qualitative level, the way of doing education would also radically change.

Four are the fundamental points of this educational revolution:

1. Interdisciplinarity.

If everything is connected, if everything is interdependent, so are the disciplines: in reality outside the classroom, there is no mathematics, there is no history, there is no geography as separate sectors of existence, but there is life, which is also made up of mathematics, history, geography.

2. Experiential learning: ecological conversion imposes a re-learning of the world from a different perspective, which necessarily passes through the subject's experience of the world. Experiential learning corresponds to this process of revising one's worldview.

3. Social learning: If everything is interconnected, learning is also interdependent in that man learns within a context. The crisis of anthropocentrism also implies a move away from the individualistic view of learning towards a contextualised, situated, social view.

4. Self-learning: changing the world according to this perspective entrusts the subject with the acceptance of his responsibility towards others, towards the world, towards God. This responsibility also involves learning: the subject, acting out personal agency, also takes responsibility for his or her own learning according to directions of meaning and personal values: the educational model that best corresponds to this process is self-directed learning or self-learning.

Putting in connection Integral Ecology and Capability Approach means to highlight some common directions:

1. Learning is always in context; the learner is always within a life context which determines individual opportunities and functioning.

2. Human Development depends on Environmental Development too, source of each and every resource which allows human existence: being man and nature bonded together, the cure of the one implies the care of the other and vice-versa.

3. Man has the freedom of making value-oriented choices, i.e. life choices which determine own life’s direction. Values are essential for the Integral Ecology, as only by assuming values people would take care of their neighbour and of the planet; values are essential for the Capability Approach, as they are expression of the freedom of making life choices.

4. The relationship man-nature implies an informal learning: man learns the world in the world, by living and experimenting. Capabilities and functioning emerge from informal learning.

5. The subject is responsible for own learning: self-learning corresponds to the Integral Ecology vision (responsibility towards oneself, the neighbour, the planet) and to the Capability Approach vision (self-directed learning according to own assumptions, beliefs, values).

Through a mixed method research - quantitive and qualitative - aim of this paper is to investigate this new way of educating, focusing on common directions of Integral Ecology and Capability Approach.

Paper short abstract:

This presentation shares the development and execution of a dynamic helical model of the Capability Approach. The Model was developed to create a pedagogical framework that addresses the development of Higher Education curricula and student experiences in Western liberal economies. Participants gain access to the practical and accessible framework, templates, and published student works.

Paper long abstract:

Proposal

In this presentation, participants learn to use a helical model of the Capability Approach (CA) as a normative pedagogical framework in Higher Education (HE).

The presentation begins with the foundational pedagogical structure of learning to be, learning to know, learning to live together, and learning to do (Delors, Mufti, Amagi, Carneiro, Chung & Geremek, 1996). The structure is a dynamic helix strengthening each iteration and encircles a sampling of wicked problems (Head & Alford, 2015). Next, participants see the integration of the framework for university courses, a nationally-funded campus-wide sustainability project, and for experiential learning activities for student researchers. The presentation demonstrates a CA model that identifies the "connections between people, their social relations, and their social embedment" (Robeyns, 2017).

Developing a Pedagogical Framework Development in the Age of Outcomes-Based Education

Governments in Western liberal economies envision funding for HE based on human capital theory (Wheelahan, 2019). To enact the strategy, governments use learning outcomes for "quality assurance, to modernize curriculum for societal interests, and to apply government and market influence upon the curriculum" (Brunet, 2022a; Ministry of Colleges and Universities, n.d.). In the 1960s, understanding HE in terms of human capital theory was descriptive. In the 1980s, human capital theory rationales for HE were normative. In the 2000s, governments viewed human capital theory as a prescriptive strategy for HE (Naidoo, 2003; Wheelahan, 2011). Simultaneously, there was also a shift in influential economies such as the United States, where the US Budget went from a significant focus on funding public goods at a scale of 75% in the 60s to 25% today (Carney, 2021). The models are increasingly individualistic.

This paper demonstrates how a helical model for the CA addresses the pedagogical challenges created by human capital theory in HE. Additionally, the model integrates the CA to address Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigeneity, sustainability (financial, environmental, and generational) and recognition of the anthropocene (Boni & Walker, 2013, Nussbaum 2023). For example, the helical model at the second stage of development shifts to ontology, knowledge economy, network theory, and reflective practice. The third iteration of the model examines habitus, ecology of epistemologies, Ubuntu/Rangatira, and the examined life (Battiste, 2002; Bruns; Brunet 2023; Delors, Mufti, Amagi, Carneiro, Chung, & Geremek, 1996; Gade, 2011; Hart, 2012, 2019; Kolb & Kolb, 2017; Nicholson, Spiller & Pio, 2019; Peters, 2004, 2010; Nussbaum, 2010, 2011, 2019, 2023; Sen, 2001, 2007; Shiva, 2019; Slaughter, 2014; Susskind & Susskind, 2015; United Nations Development Programme, 2020; Walker, 2008, 2015, 2024; Walker & McLean, 2013; Vaugh & Walker, 2012; Unterhalter, 2020; Wheelahan, 2012). After the model is shared, the presentation contextualizes its application for university courses, a campus-wide project about sustainability, and undergraduate research student curriculum.

University Courses

In 2015, the author restructured special topics courses centred upon project management activities for liberal arts students. One course iteration supported a curriculum for students planning the African Diaspora Youth Conference (ADYC). The existing project had not previously provided course credit for students conducting their work. Students completed semi-structured coursework while organizing and executing the annual conference. Students learned about human rights through Nussbaum's Central Capabilities in the course. In another iteration, students learned about the housing crisis from subject matter experts and local politicians (Brunet, 2022b). In the course, students situated themselves through a LinkedIn assignment to explore their positionality and connect with peers (learning to be and learning to live together). Next, students learned about the CA through course readings (Alkire & Deneulin, 2009; Nussbaum, 2011), attending the online HDCA conference, and volunteering personal experiences to facilitate a multi-dimensional understanding of the human experience. Students also created structured reflections mapping their experiences on the terms of the helical model of the CA (learning to be, learning to know, learning to live together, and learning to do).

The developed strategy became part of a successful application for the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Connections (SSHRC) grant titled UWill Discover Sustainable Futures Project.

UWill Discover Sustainable Futures Project

In 2023, the author was awarded funding from the institution's Office of Vice President of Research and Innovation and the SSHRC of Canada to launch a year-long project where students learned about sustainable futures. A central piece of the proposal was the infrastructure used for training (based on the CA) and the United Nations Sustainability Development Goals. In learning to be, students completed an introductory speech exercise to explore their positionality and networked among their peers. In learning to know, over 200 students authored structured presentations about the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. In learning to live together, students worked in groups to learn about leadership on the commons (Singh, Joy Thompson, and Curran, 2021). In learning to do, they created interactive pedagogical opportunities for students, organized a conference, participated in a writing retreat (Wiebe, Pratt, & Noël, 2023), and published the UWill Discover Journal. As a part of the conference, the author created structured reflections for student research assistants, enabling them to present the work they conducted with their advisors.

Experiential Learning Activities for Undergraduate Student Researchers

The University of Windsor in Ontario, Canada, created the Outstanding Scholars program for high-achieving academic students who complete six paid research placements during their undergraduate studies. Understanding the voice of student research assistants is critical in creating space for their work and their being and becoming journeys (Martinez Vargas, 2022). In learning to be, students situate themselves within research projects by completing an introductory speech assignment. In learning to know and learning to live together, students share a mind map of their connections with people, places, skills acquired, and knowledge networks. In learning to do, students share a structured reflection using Kolb's Learning Cycle (Kolb & Kolb, 2017). As part of the learning cycle exercise, students access various CA concepts to frame their experiences (Brunet, Shaban, and Gonçalves, 2020). Students decide how, where, when and if the reflections are shared.

Further Development

This session refutes offering a conclusion to decolonize outcomes-based education.

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Wheelahan, L. (2012). Why knowledge matters in curriculum: A social realist argument. Routledge.

Wheelahan, L. (2019). Competence and Vocational Education. In David Guile and Lorna Unwin (Eds), The Wiley Handbook of Vocational Education and Training, First Edition Knowledge, John Wiley & Sons. (pp. 97 – 112).

Wiebe, N. G., Pratt, H. L., & Noël, N. (2023). Writing Retreats: Creating a Community of Practice for Academics Across Disciplines. Journal of Research Administration, 54(1), 37-65.

Paper short abstract:

This paper critically analyses National Education Policy 2020 (MHRD, 2020) to understand how capability is conceived and operationlised. In the specific context of massification and democratisation of access to higher education, the paper argues that the neglect of education's role in expanding capability poses challenges to achieving equity goals and upholding the intrinsic values of education.

Paper long abstract:

Research Context

Affirmative action policies in India opened the doors of higher education to previously under-represented castes and communities. While social group inequality persists, India could achieve progress in expanding access to the masses. While facilitating access is a prerequisite, access is not an end in itself. Making education equitable implies translating progress made in access to quality participation and success. This paper critically analyses National Education Policy 2020 (MHRD, 2020) to understand how notion of capability (Sen, 2000;2009; Walker, 2005 ) is conceived in India's first education policy in the 21st century.

Globally, policy reforms in higher education place heavy emphasis on promoting competencies. Competencies are increasingly defined in terms of capacities to function per the economic production requirement (Lozano et al, 2012). Proxies for higher education quality and relevance are often labour market outcomes and wages. Competency-based education is thus primarily concerned with the instrumental values of education. The purpose of education is narrowly confined to preparing the workforce. Therefore, education policies have become a subset of the economic policies. This instrumentality in conceiving education contrasts with education's civilisational ethos and emancipatory potential.

The moral evaluative framework of development and human well-being offered by Amartya Sen (Sen, 2000; 2009) upholds the intrinsic values of education without negating the productive (economic) roles of individuals and the acquisition of competencies and skills. In contrast to competencies measured by external benchmarks, capability is internal to individuals. The Capability Approach (CA) focuses on autonomy one can enjoy, and opportunities one can choose from a combination of alternative functioning. Education is critical for expanding such capability sets (Walker & Unterhalter, 2007).

Methodology

The empirical base of the paper is discourse analysis of NEP 2020. The paper follows discourse analysis in order to understand use of languages and frameworks used to make sense of policy problem and propose policy prescriptions.

Analysis and findings

NEP 2020 has used the word capability in its ordinary sense and as a skill to be possessed by students and teachers. The word capability appeared 14 times in the entire document. Capability was narrowly defined as competency and skill. In the introduction, NEP states, "With various dramatic scientific and technological advances, such as the rise of big data, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, many unskilled jobs worldwide may be taken over by machines, while the need for a skilled workforce, particularly involving mathematics, computer science, and data science, in conjunction with multidisciplinary abilities across the sciences, social sciences, and humanities, will be increasingly in greater demand".

Analysis of the policy also reveals that the language of flexibility and choices serves the purpose of individualisation of inequalities (Gillies, 2005). While massification demands more public funding and support for the education of disadvantaged social groups, many of the provisions in the policy can act as exclusionary and disempowering measures. For instance, the choice to exit and entry, granting students to acquire credits from multiple sources and allowing students to study two full-time study programmes simultaneously. All these exacerbate capability deprivation faced by students from marginalised groups. Providing flexibility without resources does not offer the freedom to choose. It further leads to capability deprivation than capability expansion.

Conclusion

The policy text loosely uses the word capability as capacity or competency. It could be teacher and student competencies. Language competency and heavy emphasis on education's role in workforce preparation overlook the agential aspects of education as a means for expanding capabilities. An alternative narrative of competencies goes well with the changing nature of the welfare state. Distributive and redistributive dimension of policy appears to be missing in the loosely defined narrative of competency. More freedom and choice at the cost of capability expansion may fail to keep the lofty promise that NEP 2020 i.e ensuring equitable quality of education for all and inclusive human development.

Paper short abstract:

The current study explores the issue of social justice in Indian higher education using ethnographic method in the Bihar, India. The study finds that the policy of social justice is partially able to provide benefits the most disadvantaged beneficiary groups and students are able to exercise their agency in self formation in higher education within structural constraints.

Paper long abstract:

The current study explores the issue of social justice in Indian higher education using ethnographic method in the Bihar, India. The issue of Social justice in Indian higher education is most controversial and challenging as India adopted the representative model of social justice in education, employment and in legislative assemblies. Weisskopf (2004) calls Indian affirmative action policy as world’s largest policy for social justice in higher education as it ensures percentage of quotas for the beneficiary groups as per their proportion of population. In the above background the current paper critically examines the Indian affirmative action policy in the context of capabilities approach. The study uses qualitative methodology for the current research work and ethnography method has been used for data collection in an Indian state Bihar. Bihar is consistently standing at the bottom of most of the human development indicators amongst the Indian state. The rationale of the method was to understand the experiences of former untouchables in higher education and how the policies of positive discrimination, individuals and institutions interface in everyday interactions and how these students are able to do and to be in higher education in Bihar, India.

The study finds that the issue of social justice is deeply entrenched in Indian constitutions. The issue of social justice is mere on paper and rules based what Amartya Sen calls it ‘Niti’ based not ‘Nayay’ based and it is truly reflected in higher education as well in Indian context in general and Bihar in particular. The study finds that the goals of the higher education institutions are still not just in either of policy perspective or in everyday functioning. The study also finds that the policy of social justice is partially able to provide benefits the most disadvantaged beneficiary groups located in different hierarchy within the Scheduled castes or former untouchables groups. The study finds that the even if the students are able to enter into the higher education institutions their ability to attend classes and other academic activities and sustain in the cities becomes highly vulnerable and most of the students experiences urban marginality beyond of policy in higher education and institutional policies. It is interesting to finds that students are able to exercise their agency in self formation and higher education has potential to develop human capabilities. The finding suggests that Indian policy of positive discrimination needs strengthening of reservation policy and beyond of it. There is need to strengthening capabilities of the individuals from disadvantaged groups students in higher education at different levels.

Key Words: Higher Education, Social Justice, Capability, Policy of Positive discrimination

Paper short abstract:

The traditional curriculum in English Literature in post-colonial India relied heavily on Eurocentric approaches. Through a critical review of literature, drawing on Talbot’s approach (2023), this paper argues how these problems complicate decolonisation. Decolonizing the English Literature curriculum may realise its full potential by transcending the boundaries of essentialism, nation and group.

Paper long abstract:

The traditional curriculum in English Literature in post-colonial India relied heavily on Eurocentric approaches. In historicizing the discipline, it was only in the late twentieth century that calls to decentre the Anglocentric' canon’ of a liberal humanist education was felt across the landscape of English Literary Studies across India with the canon wars. In a multi-ethnic, multi-lingual post-colonial India, fraught with socio-political, cultural and religious hierarchies, the task of negotiating with the yoke of coloniality must be combined with the human capabilities approach to address complex issues of social justice in the country.

It is only in recent times that curriculum and pedagogy (a specific subset of the decolonisation project in academia) have been taken up in conversations around decolonisation in higher education, hitherto reserved only to the level of research methods and disciplinary theories (Sanchez 2018, as cited in Shahjahan, 2022). As movements across the globe to ‘de’ colonise educational institutions in erstwhile colonies began in the recent decade (primarily as student movements in the Global North and South), it became urgent to examine the very nature of the knowledge that is produced and perpetuated through the curriculum in higher education.

In former white settler colonies, the task of academic decolonisation has run its trajectory in contrast to the way it has shaped up in India. Even though there have been subsequent revisions in the curriculum of English Literary Studies across India to address its erstwhile Anglocentric character in the post-colonial context, the politics of inclusion and exclusion in curriculum design and implementation in the present context are being carried out in a context rife with ideological battles around the concept of decolonisation. In such a complex scenario, the purpose of decolonising the curriculum risks being counterproductive to its tangible aim of achieving educational justice. Hence, it may be helpful to investigate curriculum decolonisation through the human capabilities approach. This may offer a fresh insight into realising the aims of decolonising the English Literature curriculum in post-colonial India.

This paper draws on Talbot (2023), who argues for multiple intellectual commitments within decolonisation and the potential of curriculum decolonisation to foreground ‘openness and criticality’ for transformative change in education. This paper argues that the same can be realised by being mindful of an overfocus on inclusion approaches. Categorised under decolonisation are various positionalities of knowledge within the curriculum, which are problematic when viewed from the lens of the capabilities approach. Focusing on the reification of knowledge, which Talbot (2023) defines as the knowledge which becomes ‘the concrete possession of groups’, and “essentialism (in which certain cultures or groups are constructed as sharing some common, binding attribute)” (Talbot, 2023). Spivak’s (1983) concept of strategic essentialism is useful here to understand how curricular decolonisation can be rendered uncritical in the post-colonial Indian context.

Through a critical review of literature, drawing on Talbot’s approach (2023), this paper argues how these problems complicate decolonizing the curriculum complemented with the aims of the capability approach in India. Decolonizing the English Literature curriculum may realise its full potential only when we can transcend the boundaries of essentialism, nation and group.

Paper short abstract:

This case study discusses reorganizing a degree program from an outcomes-based paradigm to an opportunity-based framework using the capability approach. Preliminary results show the capability approach is a viable framework for normative reconsideration of processes and missions of degree programs. This works informs use of the CA in localized, small scale applications.

Paper long abstract:

Context: As faculty of engineering degree programs in private liberal-arts universities in the United States the authors are structurally insulated from many immediate crises, but at the leading edge of other, more slowly evolving ones. These slow-motion crises are occurring in the education systems of many developing countries and can be classified as crises of economics, related to the cost and received value of a degree; crises of equity from ongoing and systemic disparities in educational outcomes; and crises of organization arising from contested visions of the purpose of higher education. While lacking the urgency of current water, food, energy, and climate crises, they are no less important since education is both a core capability and functioning for living a life one values.

Methodology: To address these persistent and systemic issues this paper reports on an ongoing conceptual reorganization of a degree program using the capability approach. The reorganization entails shifting from the dominant outcomes-based paradigm of engineering education in the United States to an opportunity-based framework that prioritizes student development over human capital. We report on efforts over a two-year time frame to adapt the capability approach to the degree programs in a single engineering department. While much of the application of the capability approach in education has focused on the systemic or macro-scale, in this work we have adopted an ecological metaphor to work across scales, drawing from prior macro-scale work to inform change efforts at micro-scale of a single degree program. Several parallel efforts were required to align the program to a more capability informed model.

One was to identify and articulate sets of capabilities across educational scales for a variety of stakeholders, following processes recommended by established capabilities scholars (Robeyns 2017, Walker 2008, Mathebula 2018). A set of potential capabilities were developed by drawing from multiple internal and external influencers of the program. These lists were then iteratively refined based on faculty feedback, ethnographic observations, and case studies before being vetted by student stakeholders using a Q-method approach (Simpson 2018). Another was to find ways to directly engage students with the capabilities-driven transformation structural changes to the curriculum were implemented to elicit reflection. Finally to ground these efforts in prior student developmental work in engineering education, we revised a model of the capabilities approach that integrates social cognitive career theory (SCCT) (Lent et al. 2002). This model integrated existing educational outcomes with capabilities and functionings, explicating their relationships. The model also emphasized various pedagogical processes used in the degree program and connected them to student development in engineering using social cognitive career theory. Data collection involved modifications to previously validated instruments.

Analysis: These development efforts are at a stage where data is still emerging, but has shown the viability of a capability approach as a tool for reconsideration of processes and mission of degree programs. As in other domains where the capability approach has been applied, many of the results emerge from the process itself as normative questions are fore-fronted and addressed in a democratic fashion. As a case study in micro-scale application of the capability approach, this paper shows the viability of this framework to engender and assess the highly multidimensional effects the capability approach can have on student learning and well-being in higher education degree programs.

Paper short abstract:

There is little research on international students within India higher education. This study proposes to take a critical conceptual and methodological consideration while researching with international students to study their motivations and experiences of studying in Indian higher educational institutions. It aims to add to the scant research literature for informed policymaking in the future.

Paper long abstract:

Though India has historically been home to exemplary centres of learning, such as Takshashila (Taxila) in the 5th century BC and Nalanda in the first to fourth centuries AD, it is now better known for sending students to the developed world rather than receiving international students. According to the All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE, 2020), India attracts approximately 49,000 international students annually, accounting for less than 1% of global International Student Mobility (ISM). Internationalization of Higher Education as a strategic policy to attract international students is a relatively new phenomenon in India.

The NEP 2020 and the guidelines on ‘Internationalization of Higher Education’ by UGC envision ‘internationalization at home’ to enhance the number of international students in India and restore its role as a Vishwa Guru. The contemporary discourse on internationalisation is primarily situated in a Western context, and the increased mobility of international students for revenue generation has been the main agenda globally. The majority of theoretical and empirical research on internationalisation is conducted through a Western-centric lens.

In contrast to the Western discourse on internationalisation, this study intends to conceptualise internationalisation through contextual lenses, in particular decolonialization, regionalization, and South-South cooperation. It intends to answer: how internationalisation is conceptualised in India? What are the broad objectives of internationalisation in India? Do Indian institutions have the same goals of internationalisation as those pursued by the West? What are the major non-westernised approaches to internationalisation and how are they different from India’s approach to internationalisation? Are these objectives and approaches in line with the motivations and experiences of international students in India?

Unlike looking at international students solely through the lens of human capital, this study proposes to also study international student motivations and experiences through the lens of human capability drawing on Sen's (1960) argument when he stated: "I would like to comment on the connection as well as contrast between two distinct but related areas of investigation in understanding the processes of economic and social development: the accumulation of “human capital” and the expansion of “human capability.” The former concentrates on the agency of human beings - through skill and knowledge as well as effort - in augmenting production possibilities. The latter focuses on the ability of human beings to lead lives they have reason to value and to enhance the substantive choices they have. The two perspectives cannot but be related since both are concerned with the role of human beings, and in particular with the actual abilities that they achieve and acquire" (p.159).

Drawing on this conceptual framework and a critical methodological concern while researching with international students (Mittelmeier, Lomer, & Unkule 2023), we propose to conduct a mixed method study with a community-based participatory approach (Tandon, Hall, Lepore & Singh, 2016). Hence, we will be recruiting international students as field investigators from the North, South, East and Western regions of India to co-design and conduct the surveys. Thereafter, in consultation with the field investigators we will recruit few international students for in-depth qualitative interviews. The study proposes to conduct a primary survey in 10 states and approximately 100 universities in India to probe the research questions. Informed consent will be sought through this survey to be contacted at a later stage for in-person interviews. We will identify 5 international students from each region, i.e. around 20 students for conducting in-depth qualitative interviews to delve deep into the motivations and experiences of these students. First of its kind of national level study on international students, this study will provide a comprehensive understanding about the motivations of international students and their experiences in India to guide evidence-based policymaking in the future.

Paper short abstract:

This paper conceptualises the dialogue and bargaining capabilities of young women and girls within the households in rural India, as they navigate the marriage -education trade-offs. The empirical basis of the paper also includes the statistical analysis undertaken to examine the cessation of early marriage associated with enhanced access to formal education for girls.

Paper long abstract:

This paper proposes to develop insights into the marriage-education trade-offs in the lives of girls and young women through a mixed-methods study based in the state of Bihar, India. Education is a core capability, enhancing many other capabilities and well-being freedoms of individuals (Walker and Unterhalter, 2007; Robeyns, 2003). This study builds on the intersections between dialogue and capability approach (DeJaeghere, 2012) on the one hand and voice within an intra household bargaining framework (Agarwal, 1997) on the other. Girls and young women in traditional agrarian societies undertake negotiations and strike bargains in exercising educational choices within households in the event of familial and community pressures to marry early. This paper deploys the ‘three faces of agency’ (Kabeer, 2020) to conceptualise enhancement of the bargaining capabilities attained by women within the household in the larger backdrop of state led campaigns promoting girls’ education.

Invoking Kandiyoti’s (2005) empirically grounded understanding of patriarchal systems, the paper attempts to problematise the dominant narrative on early marriage that highlights the shrinking of the opportunities and the capabilities set for the young women who are married before attaining the legal age (Wodon, 2016). Kandiyoti coined the term patriarchal bargain to address the contest, redefining and renegotiation undertaken by men and women for systems with set ‘rules of the game’. Scholarship on intrahousehold bargaining ( Agarwal, 1997; Katz, 1997) similarly focuses on understanding the gendered relations within the household that takes the form of multiple interwoven spheres of cooperation, non-cooperation and bargaining about the redistribution of resources, rights and responsibilities. Although the bargaining exercise is undertaken within the household it is conceptualised to work in interaction with the shifting gender relations in the world beyond the household, namely market, community and State.

First, the paper undertakes a regression analysis using a novel dataset to examine the decline in the early marriage practice associated with an increase in the attainment of schooling for girls. The Cycle to Empowerment (CTEP), 2016 dataset was created under the aegis of International Growth Centre, India to study the long-term impacts of the one-time in-kind transfer in the lives of the young girls who received the bicycles in Bihar. This dataset overcomes the co-residency bias present in the household survey data collection undertaken in South Asian societies, in that the dataset includes demographic, educational and occupational details of the married daughters of the households, who are ordinarily excluded from the household surveys on account of the customary practice of patrilocality (wife residing with the husband and his family instead of her own natal family). Analysis of the quantitative data (n=1200 households) presents evidence of cessation in the practice of early marriage with enhanced access to formal education for girls. This development has to be contextualised in view of the concerted state policy in Bihar focussed on girl’s education (Karthik and Prakash, 2017) and women’s empowerment (Government of Bihar, 2015; Sanyal et al. 2015).

Extending on Amartya Sen’s (1990) analysis of gender and cooperative conflicts, Agarwal (1997) elaborates on the permeation of the shifting gender progressive norms in the community and state action in the bargaining exercise within the household. In addition to the quantitative analysis, I employ insights from fieldwork undertaken in two districts of Bihar. This analysis uses field observations and semi-structured interviews with girls (N = 42), key informants in the communities (such as teachers in government schools, educators, medical and local government functionaries in government centres) about the changing norms of educational access for girls led by state campaigns. The provincial government in Bihar has consistently promoted girls’ education at the elementary, secondary and post-secondary levels of schooling (Bora, 2023). The state’s support of gender-progressive policies, the paper argues, has strengthened the voice of girls and the young women in the households and communities. This strengthened voice is visible in many forms, for instance as the broadening limits of what is now included within the domain of contestation within the household, which hitherto remained uncontested. As one of the participants in the field, Meenu remarked on setting a pre-condition of completing her secondary school before marriage and migration to another village to live with her husband. This display of greater autonomy and agency by women in a traditional society, however, may not entirely align with the acceptable gender scripts. The resultant backlash to strengthened voice could manifest as a reimposition of the ‘rules of the game’, wherein freedom to continue schooling is contingent on ‘good’ behaviour and imposition of varying degrees of unfreedom and penalties in the event of transgressions. For instance, Preeti explains her decision to enrol in a course in Humanities stream in a private college (when a science degree was her first choice), in an effort to negotiate and convince her parents to permit her to access higher education.

The findings from the quantitative and qualitative analysis are interwoven in the paper to empirically describe and conceptualise the see-saw act balancing the decision to continue schooling against the practice of early marriage. This decision -making undertaken by the girls along with their families forms the basis of the study to sharpen an understanding of strengthened bargaining capability of young women in a transitioning agrarian society in rural India.

Paper short abstract:

The paper argues that the acute occupational segregation in the form of intense feminization of certain jobs (allocative discrimination) is a critical reason of high gendered wage gap. It aims to problematize the concept of (frustrated) freedom and argues that the precarious labour market outcomes are continuously reshaping the capabilities, aspiration and agency of educated females in India.

Paper long abstract:

Research Context:

Sen (1999, 2014) in his Capability Approach argued that paid employment is a critical functioning for emancipation of women as it enhances individual’s capabilities. However, this functioning mirrors to a large extent the gender inequality in domestic work and nonmarket care activities (Robeyns, 2003). In India, gender inequality is one of the most pervasive and enduring forms of inequalities – and the labour market is not an exception. Inequalities and discrimination stemming from patriarchal social norms are evident in the form of low labour force participation, insecure employment, and discriminatory wages.

Wage discrimination has been defined as the gap that remains in earnings across groups after accounting for all observable characteristics (Blau and Kahn, 2000). Wage gaps, not favouring females, are an issue that both developed and developing countries are grappling with, nonetheless with varied intensity. The fact that women earn less than men gave rise to discussions in the industrialised countries in the 1970s. Since then, the gender pay gap has been extensively studied (theoretically and empirically) in the literature of labour economics and sociology.

A recent report by World Economic Forum on Gender wage gap highlights that, globally females earn 77% of wages of their male counterparts; for India it is even lower at 73%. Further, India is observing a secular fall in the female labour force participation rate (FLPR) in recent years, despite robust economic growth, fall in fertility rates, and improvement in females’ educational levels. National Sample Survey (NSS) data of India highlights that higher education doesn’t successfully translate into better labour market outcomes in terms of FLPR. In 2018-19, the FLPR for graduates was only 29.2%. These precarious trends have received much attention, some arguing that the plunge in FLPR is due to rise in females’ educational aspiration. However, the recent NSS data (2020-21) reports that in India 51.7% young women (15-29 years) are neither in education and training nor in any kind of employment; among males, this figure is much lower at 15.4%. The low female labor force participation is coupled with gaping wage discrimination in the labor market the extent of which has shown an upward trend. Literature has highlighted that societal gendered norm along with of occupational segregation play pivotal roles towards wage gaps, favouring males. One can predict that these outcomes have severe adverse impact on shaping women agency, aspiration and freedom.

With very few Indian studies capturing the gamut of these issues which showcases a telling situation has shaped the rationale for the present study.

It has two parts – the first part attempts to unpack the reasons behind falling FLPR and measure the Wage gaps (through wage decomposition for entire distribution and at the average) across gender (male/female) to estimate the exact nature and extent of discrimination. It further attempts to understand whether higher education qualification mitigates the wage gap or ensure equitable employment outcomes? Do women face “glass ceiling” or “sticky floor” in India? What is the extent of allocative discrimination or occupational segregation?

The second part of this study aims to problematize the concept of (frustrated) freedom (Sen 1999, Victor et.al. 2013) in context of labour market discrimination against women. It attempts to understand how the gendered norms within the family and adverse labour market outcomes impact women’s freedom by creating a situation of frustrated freedom for them.

Methodology

This part of the study relies on the methods of quantile wage decomposition (Machado and Mata 2005) and average wage decomposition (Blinder Oaxaca 1973) to ascertain the extent of unexplained component (discrimination) in wage gaps between males and females.

The overall and local Occupational Segregation is measured by using the method proposed by Alonso-Villar and Del Rio (2010).

Analysis and conclusion

The results suggest, even with similar endowment, graduate females are paid much less (21% to 34%) than their male counterparts. The extent of this discrimination has grown over time- from 70 percent in 2011-12 to 85 percent in 2017-18 which has been arrived at using two cross sectional national level unit data (National Sample Survey 2011 and Periodic Labour Force Survey 2017). This has happened despite several policies and rhetoric of women empowerment. Using Mutual Information index and Multi group index of dissimilarity for occupational segregation, the paper further argues that the acute occupational segregation in the form of intense feminization of certain jobs (allocative discrimination) is a critical reason of high wage gap. Also, while the females in white collar jobs face ‘glass ceiling’, at the low-end precarious jobs most females encounter ‘sticky floor’ effect in India.

Following Nussbaum (1999) the study ascertains that freedom and preferences are not exogenous, rather often they are constructed by structural conditions like social tradition of privilege and subordination. The study thus argues that the precarious labour market outcomes are continuously shaping and reshaping the capabilities, aspiration and agency of higher educated females in India, thereby affecting their future life choices and wellbeing.

Key words: Higher Education, Labour market discrimination, Capability, Frustrated Freedom, Indian females

Paper short abstract:

This paper analyses the exceptional case of Delhi’s recent reforms in the context of the overall lacklustre performance of India's government school system. More specifically, it investigates how teacher development, primarily in the format of in-service teacher training, was emphasised as an important component of a comprehensive solution to the deficits of education delivery.

Paper long abstract:

Despite remarkable achievements on universalising basic education, India’s progress on raising student outcomes has been much slower and uneven. Whereas government schools in many states are reported to be struggling with lacklustre performance, Delhi managed to turn around its government schools into performing consistently better than their counterparts in the private sector through a series of reforms since 2015. A distinctive feature and underlying thread of these reforms is a commitment to support teachers. This paper seeks to analyse the exceptional case of Delhi’s recent reforms through a design perspective.

Drawing primarily on existing secondary sources and supplemented by expert interviews, the paper investigates how teacher development, primarily in the format of in-service teacher training, was emphasised as an important component of a comprehensive solution to the deficits of education delivery in the government sector. It shows that in designing and implementing this solution, not only has the state government designated a substantial amount of financial resource, but it also sought to invigorate school-level learning communities through mentoring programmes and harness the contributions from the non-governmental sector. Such efforts were welcomed by the teachers who were meant to be supported, although some of the training delivery was still commented as dissonant with teachers’ needs and preferences and inconclusive towards enhancing their professional capacity.

Delhi’s pioneering experience of supporting teachers to achieve educational improvement can generate valuable lessons for other states attempting to pursue the same while moving beyond the traditional accountability-tightening approach. However, direct “copy and paste” is likely to falter without paying attention to the policy capacity that the Delhi government has possessed and accumulated along the reform journey.

The paper is proposed to be organised as follows. The opening section reviews India’s overall track record in the basic education sector over the past few decades, which serves to highlight Delhi as an exceptional case and introduce how this case will be analysed in this paper. The next section gives an overview of Delhi’s educational reforms since the incumbent AAP government was in power, with a specific focus on how supporting teachers was conceived as a vital means of getting schools to work better. Section III offers an in-depth analysis of the promise and pitfalls of the design and delivery of its teacher-supporting reforms, to be followed by a critical discussion of how Delhi’s lessons can be learned by other states. Section V concludes.

Paper short abstract:

The research explores the educational crisis in the US educational infrastructure and uses the capability approach to establish an educational wealth model for human development in education. It aims to challenge the deficit discourse that portrays the underprivileged at risk and promotes achievement.

Paper long abstract:

Addressing Crisis in US Compulsory Education.

Francesca Polito

Within the realm of US education research and policy, it is common to employ a deficit discourse that portrays the poor as being at risk in terms of their educational outcomes rather than recognizing their potential for achievement. This rhetoric further degrades the underprivileged by providing minimum educational standards in response to what policymakers identify as conditions of educational poverty that require no explanation of their origins but simply exist as conditions and are legitimized as such. Although efforts to separate the conditions of educational poverty from the underlying reasons for educational poverty have been dealt with at great length, disregard for the underlying reasons, in any sense, attempts to deny their existence. The presence of strong correlations between generational poverty and the intergenerational nature of educational poverty suggests the existence of underlying factors that contribute to the perpetuation of this issue. It further implies that educational poverty is not simply an isolated condition that materializes with no cause, but rather fundamental problems rooted in the structure and policies of the educational infrastructure. Moreover, the act of dissociating educational poverty from opportunity in education can be seen as a form of aporophobia. This perspective denies the idea that individuals who experience educational poverty do so primarily due to a lack of educational opportunities. Instead, it shifts the focus onto the individual, suggesting that they are the problem and need to be addressed through some form of intervention that meets a minimum standard. The concept of minimum standards can be viewed as a social construct that perpetuates discrimination against marginalized communities, particularly the poor, by those in positions of power. In contemporary society, the discourse about minimum standards is frequently presented within the context of compensation or welfare. However, it is important to recognize that minimum standards can perpetuate and deepen the divide between the poor and the wealthy. This occurs through the implementation of lower standards that restrict the ability of the poor to improve their living conditions and rise above their current circumstances.

The persistence of educational poverty across generations is not entirely unexpected given that the US compulsory, free education system was originally created to cater to the underprivileged who could not afford private education. The main objective of this system was to ensure free and equal access to education (Educational Poverty | ASSITEJ International, n.d.). As such, the progression and pervasiveness of economic poverty and educational poverty are highly reflective of each other (Kober & Rentner, 2020) and illustrative of minimal standards meant to meet minimal objectives. Societal growth, however, is contingent upon its population's ability to adapt and undergo change. Yet, in order to achieve this objective, it is imperative for individuals to possess a diverse range of approaches, engage in advancements, and undergo transformative changes reflective of changing economies. While education plays a crucial role in fostering and enabling societal transformation and advancement, it must reflect economic progression and seek to sustain economic success for all of its citizens (Tuomi, 2011).

Educational poverty, as defined by UNESCO, occurs when individuals are denied their basic right to adequate educational opportunities (UNESCO, 2010). This includes the ability to gain knowledge, develop a sense of self, build social connections, and acquire the skills needed to succeed in changing societies. These conditions restrict the chance for emotional development, social interaction, and self-exploration, all of which are essential for individuals to gain knowledge about themselves and the world (Educational Poverty | ASSITEJ International, n.d.). Definitions of educational poverty can vary and are often difficult to define because, by definition, standards and conditions of poverty are often measured against something (Checchi, 2003). We can define standards as certificates of merit one holds (Allmendinger, 1999), or in terms of skills and competencies one needs to participate in economies and social societies (Allmendinger and Leibfriend, 2003). As Chechhi points out, measures and the standards on which we base them are difficult to define because they shift with perspective, noting that we can measure educational poverty in relation to time, merit, skill, region, and domain (Checchi, 2003). The problem is, that each perspective is fraught with its own complications in defining a standard, and even if a standard were to be defined, those standards fail in relation to other perspectives and also more demonstratively in relation to time. A common standard measure of education is literacy. However, minimum literacy standards don’t necessarily correlate with increasing an individual's opportunity for sustainable job attainment or economic, social, or personal well-being, today or in the future. Many argue that minimum standards of knowledge are unsustainable because they are continuously outpaced by technological advances and shifting societies. Hence, at the very least, any minimum must be defined by sustainable measures. Perhaps in using the reasoning put forth by Rowles, that societies should “avoid the region where the marginal contributions of those better off to the well-being of the less favored are negative.” (Rawls, 1999), we can adopt a new perspective that seeks to establish, positive maximums over negative marginals and in doing so define educational wealth standards that must be obtained rather than educational poverty standards that must be marginally overcome. By doing so, we define the conditions that make one educationally wealthy, i.e., rich with capability, and by that standard measure anything less, as educational poverty. By defining educational wealth as a standard, might we avoid the adversities of shifting perspectives associated with minimum standards? Sen's reasoning suggests that we look at the functioning space rather than the commodity space and in this respect, measure capability failure (Sen, 1992). This research aims to explore the educational crisis that exists in the US educational infrastructure and how the capability approach, as a theoretical framework, may be used to establish an educational wealth model for human development in education in the US.

References

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Allmendinger, J., & Leibfried, S. (2003). Education and the welfare state: The four worlds of competence production. Journal of European Social Policy, 13(1), 63–81. https://doi.org/10.1177/0958928703013001047

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Educational Poverty | ASSITEJ International. (n.d.). Retrieved April 26, 2023, from https://www.assitej-international.org/en/2018/12/educational-poverty/

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