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Geography Education's Potential and the Capability Approach pp 99–130Cite as

Palgrave Macmillan

The ‘Capabilities Approach’ to Geography Education

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Abstract

The capabilities approach has been used in welfare economics to express ‘freedoms’ that people have to live lives in the ways they choose, and how this measure of individual freedom is an alternative to more tangible measures such as wealth. Some writers have tried to ‘define’ a list of universal capabilities whilst developing capability theories. When applied to curriculum thinking, the capabilities approach expresses the ways education can enable in young people the ‘capabilities’ to lead meaningful lives, and to make informed choices in life, rather than seeing the success of education by instrumental measures such as exam grades. Lists of educational capabilities for various subject areas have emerged. ‘GeoCapabilities’ expresses the role the powerful knowledge of geography plays in affording young people ‘capabilities’ through their education. Examples of what this actually looks like in schools are illustrated through vignettes of powerful knowledge in the geography classroom.

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  1. Worcester Park, Surrey, UK

    Richard Bustin

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  1. Richard Bustin
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Bustin, R. (2019). The ‘Capabilities Approach’ to Geography Education. In: Geography Education's Potential and the Capability Approach. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25642-5_4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-25642-5_4

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  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-25641-8

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-25642-5

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