The Human Capability approach and Education for Sustainable Development: Making the Abstract Real
Anna Maria Hoffmann, UNICEF, and Aline Bory-Adams, UNESCO
Abstract
Considering that the capability approach looks at development in respect to improving people’s capabilities to function and freedom of choice, this paper argues that the task of developing the capabilities of individuals is essentially an educational issue. Consequently, education can be seen as the primary agent of transformation towards sustainable development, as reaffirmed at the Johannesburg Summit. However, for education to fully enhance freedom and development it is required that the learning needs of all are met through equitable access to an education of such quality that it leads to learning outcomes that ultimately enhance individual freedom.
The paper presents the vision of education for sustainable development, an education that aims to help people of all ages better understand the world in which they live, addressing the complexity and interconnectedness of problems such as poverty, wasteful consumption, environmental degradation, urban decay, population growth, health, conflict and the violation of human rights that threaten our future. To meet such a challenge, and specifically in order to developing the knowledge and skills needed for a sustainable future as well as changes in values, behavior, and lifestyles, education need to emphasize a holistic, interdisciplinary approach. The paper, therefore, lays out in more detail, how learning for sustainable development has to be seen, not as a course, a school subject or a university discipline, but as one aspect of the organization of a quality learning process. It looks at ways to transmit and acquire life skills as a basis for human capabilities, and how education for sustainable development increases people’s capabilities to transform their visions for society into reality. It looks at underlying values of education for sustainable development, and need to reorient education systems, policies and practices in order to empower everyone, young and old, to make decisions and act in culturally appropriate and locally relevant ways to redress the problems that threaten our common future.
The article also discusses possible ways in which the human capability approach can be used as a vehicle to strengthen the vision of the Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (DESD) 2005-2014 and how integration of sustainable development into education systems at all levels can promote a world where everyone has the opportunity to benefit from education and learn the values, behavior and lifestyles required for a sustainable future and for positive societal transformation.
The Human Capability approach and Education for Sustainable Development: Making the Abstract Real
We stand at a critical moment in Earth’s history, a time when humanity must choose its future. As the world becomes increasingly interdependent and fragile, the future at once holds great peril and great promise. To move forward we must recognize that in the midst of a magnificent diversity of cultures and life forms we are one human family and one Earth community with a common destiny. We must join together to bring forth a sustainable global society founded on respect for nature, universal human rights, economic justice, and a culture of peace. Towards this end, it is imperative that we, the peoples of Earth, declare our responsibility to one another, to the greater community of life, and to future generations. (Preamble, The Earth Charter, 2000)
LEARNING AND SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
In years back, and still nowadays in indigenous societies, the thread which tied people to the land, the water, plants and animals was very apparent and strong. The notion that all participated to the same on going lifecycle is very much embedded into such societies beliefs and cultures. Respect for the earth and its inhabitants as well as for the sky, was passed on from generations to generations via indirect and direct teaching/learning processes.
With the ever growing organizational complexity of societies and that of people’s relations among themselves but also to their environment, learning has also increased in complexity and has become more and more fragmented. Colonization, industrialization and globalization have brought major changes in the ways in which we relate to our physical environment as well as in our education finalities. Why we learn, what we learn and how we learn have acquired different meanings. Separating knowledge into distinct compartments has not only minimized the interdependency of the various domains of learning but has also occulted the impact that the newly acquired knowledge and resulting behaviours have on our surrounding world. The recent Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis report states that as a result 60 % of the ecosystem services that support life on Earth are being degraded (UNESCO 2005a). Humanity over the last 50 years has caused ecosystems to change more rapidly and extensively than in any other period of history (UNESCO, 2005).
The fact that we live in a non sustainable manner that threatens the planet and human well being has been brought to the attention of governments and of the international community at large long ago. However, the need to critically review our vision of the world, our living strategies but also our learning purposes (G?teborg, 2004) remains illusory for many including in the education sphere. While other conferences (1968; 1987) have alerted the world of the dangers of unsustainable lifestyles, it is the Rio Earth Summit (1992) which through Agenda 21 proposed an action programme for the 21st century of which UNESCO is the task manager for its chapters 35 (Sciences) and 36 (Education). It was the same concern for changing our unsustainable lifestyles which prompted the World Summit for Sustainable Development to outline in 2002, four principles for achieving sustainable development, Recognition of the Challenge; The indivisibility of human dignity; collective responsibility; constructive partnership and acting with determination and to request the UN General Assembly to institute a UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development (2005-2014), thus acknowledging the central role of education in shaping our future(s).
The opening of the Rio Declaration stating that “Human beings are at the centre of concerns for sustainable development.” reflects the change in the concept of development, moving from a more limited view based on economic growth towards a broader view of human well-being. Within the capability approach, Amartya Sen presents a multifaceted view of well-being in terms of capabilities being related to the possibilities and the choices that a person has to achieve valuable human functionings (Sen 2000). By considering the individual as a person having the ability to act, to think and to communicate with others, this approach also indicates that a person’s well-being is dependent on his or her agency to pursue personally valued goals. This notion of agency is central in the capability approach, recognizing that in order for a person to take action he/she has to be the principal agent responsible for the present and future events of his/her life, to be “someone who acts and brings about change, and whose achievements can be judged in terms of her/his own values and objectives” (Sen, 2000). Which education can contribute to achieve this aim and how, is still widely debated.
The increased importance of the notion of agency can also be found in the field of education. Already the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989) states that the education should be directed to “The development of the child’s personality, talents and mental and physical abilities to their fullest potential.” Agenda 21 of the Rio Earth Summit clearly underlines the critical importance of education to address sustainability and the potential of education as a tool to empower people to acquire the capabilities required to face the economic, social and environmental challenges of our futures. The Dakar World Education Forum in 2000 also took the clear position that all human beings have “the human right to benefit from an education that will meet their basic learning needs in the best and fullest sense of the term, an education that includes learning to know, to do, to live together and to be”. Such education clearly has its foundations in the findings from the Report to UNESCO of the International Commission on Education for the Twenty-first Century (Delors et al. 1996). The Commission was asked to develop an authoritative vision on the future of education, and interestingly, the Commission formulated this vision not so much in terms of education but in terms of learning and of learning outcomes. The report stresses the importance of enhancing inner capacities in order to meet the challenges of education, through four pillars:
· ? Learning to know which refers to the use of knowledge. Learning to know is important for the “recognition of the challenge” as it relates to cognitive life skills, such as critical thinking, problem solving and decision-making skills (UNICEF 2005a).
· Lea rning to be is close to the concept of “power” or “agency” developed by Sen as a person’s “ability to form goals, commitments, values etc.” (Sen 1987). Learning to be fosters the “indivisibility of human dignity” as it relates to self-management life skills related to self awareness, self esteem and self confidence, for managing feelings and stress, and coping skills (UNICEF 2005a).
· Learning to live together is essential for “collective responsibility and constructive partnership” and relates to interpersonal and social life skills such as Communication skills, Negotiation skills, Refusal skills, Assertiveness skills, Interpersonal skills, Co-operation skills, and Empathy skills (UNICEF 2005a).
· Learning to do is linked to “determined action”, and refers to practical skills.
The four pillars of education offer a conceptual basis for sustainable human development that not only combines practical skills and psycho-social life skills as described by a number of international agencies including UNESCO and UNICEF (WHO 2003), but also covers the four principles for achieving sustainable development enunciated at the World Summit for Sustainable Development in 2002.
THE CAPABILITY APPROACH AND EDUCATION FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT : Making the abstract real?
According to the capability approach, human capability is the “substantive freedom of people to lead the lives they have reason to value and enhance the real choices they have” (Sen 1999). Education is valuable as an end of development in itself, and has been identified by Sen as a capability to meet basic needs (Sen 1992). Education can in this respect be seen either as facilities or arrangements that enable freedom, as well as a “hard” set of outcomes, i.e. capabilities as particular skills acquired (Unterhalter and Brighouse 2003). In other words, for education to fully enhance freedom and development it is required that the learning needs of all are met through equitable access to an education of such quality that it leads to learning outcomes that ultimately enhance individual freedoms to be and to do (Bakhshi, Hoffmann and Radja 2003).
With respect to the capability approach, education must therefore be seen as a human right not only in terms of access and completion, but also in terms of learning outcomes. Firstly, although the right to equitable access to education is legally recognized in a vast majority of countries, access to education is still not an entitlement for a large number of people. The capability approach relates to this question as “a person’s right to something must be coupled with another agent’s duty to provide that first person with that something”, (Sen 1999).Therefore, for education to become a true human right, it has to be seen as a concept that starches beyond legislation and conventions signed by countries to include the accountability of its provision. Secondly, “While quality is impossible without access, access without quality is often meaningless to those for whom access is made possible” (UNESCO 2003). Quality education must relate to an effective application of all forms of knowledge by individuals functioning independently and in relation to others, in order to help people to see themselves as the main actors in building their own future and the future of society. In terms of the capability approach, quality education could be seen to provide valuable opportunities to lead the kind of lives they want to lead, to do what they want to do and to be the person they want to be (I. Robeyns 2005).
The life skills learning outcomes needed to know, be, and live together are directly related to the capability set or opportunity set, ie the “potential functionings” or capabilities of the individual. The practical skills of learning to do, can either be seen as related to the individual’s basic capability, ie the basic actions that are necessary for survival and to avoid or escape poverty, or if seen more broadly as the ultimate combined action linked to “achieved functionings” (See Fig.1), ie what people are able to do or be.
Fig. 1. Potential links between a life skills approach to education and the Capabilities Approach.
Practical skills + Life skills Exercised values and
(of learning to do) (of learning to know, be and behaviour
live together) “Freedoms”
Basic capability + Capability or Opportunity Set Achieved Functionings
The capability approach as concerns education is thus larger in scope than the human capital approach which narrows down the contribution of education to a limited range of indirect livelihood skills mainly related to production and income generation. However, whilst addressing life skills would be meaningless if the practical skills for basic survival and livelihood were not taken into account, stopping at the level of basic needs would be insufficient to enhance freedom and advance sustainable development. Education needs to focus on sharing knowledge, attitudes, values and skills throughout a lifetime of learning in such a way that it encourages sustainable livelihoods and supports citizens to live sustainable lives.
In this respect we need to step back from the current fragmented learning, from the distinction between what is being taught in various learning environments or specific disciplines, and look more at the interdependency of the various domains of learning and the impact of newly acquired knowledge and resulting behaviours have on our surrounding world. This growing awareness puts pride of place on an education geared to tapping each individual's talents and potential, and developing learners' personalities in order to improve their lives and transform societies now and in the future (Dakar Framework for Action 2000). It highlights the importance of learning outcomes in particular as concerns those life skills that will enable us to learn and use knowledge, to develop reasoning and analytical strengths, to manage emotions and to live with and relate to others. Education in the sense of learning outcomes is therefore foundational to other capabilities, either indirectly through general basic education or directly through specific life skills education. Having skills provided by basic education, such as being able to read and write, can be considered as an indirect means to unlock and protect other capabilities, but setting capabilities as a goal of educational process, implies addressing the human resource needs of the society. It also addresses the development needs and aspirations of the individuals, their ability to think and reason, build up self-respect, as well as respect for others, think ahead and plan their future.