Sen and the art of educational maintenance: evidencing a capability, as opposed to an effectiveness, approach to schooling
Sen and the art of educational maintenance: evidencing a capability, as opposed to an effectiveness, approach to schooling
There are few more widely applied terms in common parlance than ‘capability’. It is used (inaccurately) to represent everything from the aspiration to provide opportunity to notions of innate academic ability, with everything in between claiming apostolic succession to Amartya Sen, who (with apologies to Aristotle) first developed the concept. This paper attempts to warrant an adaptation of Sen’s capability theory to schooling and schooling policy, and to proof his concepts in the new setting using research involving 100 pupils from 5 English secondary schools and a schedule of questions derived from the capability literature. The findings suggest that a capability approach can provide an alternative to the dominant Benthamite school effectiveness paradigm, and can offer a sound theoretical framework for understanding better the assumed relationship between schooling and well-being.
Sen, capability, School effectiveness
283-296
Kelly, Anthony
1facbd39-0f75-49ee-9d58-d56b74c6debd
2012
Kelly, Anthony
1facbd39-0f75-49ee-9d58-d56b74c6debd
Kelly, Anthony
(2012)
Sen and the art of educational maintenance: evidencing a capability, as opposed to an effectiveness, approach to schooling.
Cambridge Journal of Education, 42 (3), .
(doi:10.1080/0305764x.2012.706255).
Abstract
There are few more widely applied terms in common parlance than ‘capability’. It is used (inaccurately) to represent everything from the aspiration to provide opportunity to notions of innate academic ability, with everything in between claiming apostolic succession to Amartya Sen, who (with apologies to Aristotle) first developed the concept. This paper attempts to warrant an adaptation of Sen’s capability theory to schooling and schooling policy, and to proof his concepts in the new setting using research involving 100 pupils from 5 English secondary schools and a schedule of questions derived from the capability literature. The findings suggest that a capability approach can provide an alternative to the dominant Benthamite school effectiveness paradigm, and can offer a sound theoretical framework for understanding better the assumed relationship between schooling and well-being.
Text
Kelly2012Sen_and_the_art_of_educ_mntnce.pdf
- Accepted Manuscript
More information
Published date: 2012
Keywords:
Sen, capability, School effectiveness
Organisations:
Leadership School Improve &Effectiveness
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Local EPrints ID: 340456
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/340456
ISSN: 0305-764X
PURE UUID: 0043c095-dbd4-4a53-9a2c-d910d28fd2b4
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Date deposited: 25 Jun 2012 08:38
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:14
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