The Capability Approach as a Normative Framework of Educational Measurement

Abstract

Both educational scholars and the public have long criticized using students’ subject-based learning outcomes as a proxy for the success of educational institutions and systems. Such criticisms, however, rarely yielded fruitful discussions on what alternative metrics ought to be used. In this project, I first motivate utilizing the Capability Approach, a normative framework of measurement initially conceived in development economics, and illustrate that test scores, much like GDP and GNP, serve as insufficient proxies for the success of education since they rely on an overly narrow and simplistic notion of what we mean by “educational success.” Second, I address the concern, raised by some prominent political philosophers, that the very notion of capabilities, which assumes individual agency and autonomy, is not suitable to discuss issues pertaining to children by examining the case of children’s autonomy regarding their choice of gender pronoun. Third, borrowing insights from contemporary debates on the aims of education among philosophers of education, I argue that the aim(s) of education — either flourishing or autonomy — ought to foreground a more holistic notion of educational success and measurement.