The Capability Approach and Research on Children: Capability Approach and Children’s Issues

Biggeri, Mario; Ballet, Jérôme; Comim, Flávio

doi:10.1007/978-90-481-9219-9_6

Cited by 17 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 22 publications

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“…In a similar vein, we suggest that the definition of child growth should not be restricted to physical growth but should rather be expanded to incorporate parental, societal, and other dimensions. The capability approach has been widely applied in studies of child poverty (Biggeri & Mehrotra, 2011;Schweiger & Graf, 2015;Yousefzadeh Daal Faghati & Gossmann, 2016), well-being (Biggeri, Ballet, & Comim, 2011;Fegter & Richter, 2014), and education (Biggeri & Santi, 2012). In child growth, however, the capability approach has not been applied, and this paper aims to explore how a capability approach to child growth could be developed.…”

Section: Towards a Capability Approach To Child Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a capability approach to child growth: A theoretical framework

Haisma

Yousefzadeh

Hensbroek

2017

Maternal & Child Nutrition

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Child malnutrition is an important cause of under-5 mortality and morbidity around the globe. Despite the partial success of (inter)national efforts to reduce child mortality, under-5 mortality rates continue to be high. The multidimensional approaches of the Sustainable Development Goals may suggest new directions for rethinking strategies for reducing child mortality and malnutrition. We propose a theoretical framework for developing a "capability" approach to child growth. The current child growth monitoring practices are based on 2 assumptions: (a) that anthropometric and motor development measures are the appropriate indicators; and (b) that child growth can be assessed using a single universal standard that is applicable around the world. These practices may be further advanced by applying a capability approach to child growth, whereby growth is redefined as the achievement of certain capabilities (of society, parents, and children). This framework is similar to the multidimensional approach to societal development presented in the seminal work of Amartya Sen. To identify the dimensions of healthy child growth, we draw upon theories from the social sciences and evolutionary biology. Conceptually, we consider growth as a plural space and propose assessing growth by means of a child growth matrix in which the context is embedded in the assessment. This approach will better address the diversities and the inequalities in child growth. Such a multidimensional measure will have implications for interventions and policy, including prevention and counselling, and could have an impact on child malnutrition and mortality.

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Section: Towards a Capability Approach To Child Growthmentioning

confidence: 99%

Towards a capability approach to child growth: A theoretical framework

Haisma

Yousefzadeh

Hensbroek

2017

Maternal & Child Nutrition

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“…The issue faced by the EdQual Leadership & Management Project (see below) in the context of the Capabilities Approach, one that pervades much of the discussion related to the CA and education, focused upon the extent to which the improvement activities could be seen to have an impact upon the learning of the pupils themselves, as well as upon the adult school leaders who were operating in this area. The debate about young children and the Capabilities Approach is a lively one (Biggeri et al, 2010;Clark & Eisenhuth, 2010;Dejaeghere & Lee, 2011) but it is helpful in this context to take account of the concerns that writers such as Macleod (2010) have expressed. The argument here is that 'childhood is a special phase of life to which it is difficult to extend the agency assumption.…”

Section: The Capability Approach and Educationmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As such, then, an analysis of the process of working with these primary school headteachers in ways which sought to surface their capabilities and convert them into functionings draws attention to an issue which lies at the core of the debates surrounding the implications for action and practice of the Capabilities Approach-how can the individual's desire for personal autonomy and space in which to make choices about things they have reason to value be related to a concern for the implications for others of the choices which that individual might make? This question is especially sharpened when the issues concern the relationship between the Capabilities Approach and young children (Biggeri et al, 2010). The central focus of the L&M Project was upon the development of school leaders so as to enable them to bring about changes in their schools which could improve the potential for learning of pupils.…”

Section: The Edqual Leadership and Management Projectmentioning

confidence: 99%

Educational leadership and the Capabilities Approach: evidence from Ghana

Fertig

2012

Cambridge Journal of Education

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School leaders play a central role in affecting the educational development of the young people for whom they have responsibility. This is especially the case where school leaders are operating in challenging low-income environments. This paper argues that a focus on Sen's notions of individual agency and freedom are a necessary but not a sufficient factor in the conversion of capabilities into functionings for these school leaders. This is done through using the Capabilities Approach as a lens through which to carry out a retrospective analysis and evaluation of the activities of a group of primary school headteachers in Ghana involved in a UK Government-funded project focused on education quality. The paper argues that headteachers with the capability of initiating change in the education process in their schools are unlikely to act in this way unless they feel that they have permission to do so. It is also important that headtachers feel that they are working within a context and an environment where acting in ways which aim to improve pupil learning is seen as central to their role. This kind of supportive context for school leaders (and for other educational practitioners) cannot be divorced from a policy environment which sanctions such activities, and, hence, it is argued that such a context is crucial to policy developments which seek to establish and sustain the core capabilities which are at the heart of Nussbaum's (2011) essentialist approach. The paper also brings to the foreground the tensions that exist between the notion of individuals being free to make choices about what they have reason to value, on the one hand, and the implications that these choices have for the freedoms of other individuals with whom they are connected to make such choices. Finally, it is argued in the paper that the action research approach used in the Leadership & Management Project in Ghana, allied to a positive policy context, provides both the sensitivity to context and a practice-oriented focus which can enable school leaders to bring about the conversion of their individual capabilities into functionings.

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“…Within development and the economics of social issues, however, there is a growing literature on the capability approach and its application to understanding the needs and growth of children -see, for example, a particularly interesting review by Biggeri et al (2010). Much of this work has tended in the past to use qualitative methods or methods that rely on the use of latent variables.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The development and happiness of very young children

Anand

Roope

2016

Soc Choice Welf

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The paper demonstrates how Sen's (1985) alternative approach to welfare economics can be used to shed light on the wellbeing of very young children. More specifically, we estimate versions of the three key relations from his framework using data from the German Socio-Economic Panel (GSOEP) Survey. Our primary models provide evidence that skills are related to involvement in cognate activities with a parent, indicating a behavioural relationship between capabilities and activities which is not explicit in Sen's original set-up, but is key to the development and happiness of young children. A second set of models indicates that the daily activities of very young children are related to household income but that in some cases the association with parenting inputs is stronger. Thirdly, we report happiness regressions for the children which seem to suggest that shopping and reading are valued but that their distribution is limited in some cases -probably either by household income or parental education. Across the piece, we find that the number of siblings is negatively related to activity involvement with parents, as hypothesised by Becker, but positively related to everyday, motor and social skills. Combined with evidence from other studies, we conclude that the capability approach provides a useful framework for understanding the economics of wellbeing across the entire life course.

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The Capability Approach and Research on Children: Capability Approach and Children’s Issues

Cited by 17 publications

References 22 publications

Towards a capability approach to child growth: A theoretical framework

Towards a capability approach to child growth: A theoretical framework

Educational leadership and the Capabilities Approach: evidence from Ghana

The development and happiness of very young children

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