A capabilities-friendly conceptualisation of flourishing in and through education
Abstract
This article explores what it means to flourish in and through education and why we should position such flourishing as an issue of morality. We draw on the capabilities approach (CA) advanced by Amartya Sen and Martha Nussbaum and locate the argument in the practical context of higher education (HE) in unequal societies. We use qualitative data from year one of a three-year longitudinal study exploring student agency and well-being at a South African university to consider flourishing in and through education. Using the CA concepts of well-being, agency, practical reason and affiliation, we argue that the CA provides a philosophical grounding that takes account of both personal and relational flourishing and morality. Flourishing in education requires consideration of the well-being and agency of students. Flourishing through education draws attention to the role of education in promoting well-being and flourishing beyond its walls by fostering a social and moral consciousness among students.
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An education that deepens the axiological foundations of democracy in a deliberative sense, from dialogic and cooperative methodologies, promotes the development of citizens as free agents capable of determining their own lives, conversing about the common good, and pursuing self-realization or personal and social flourishing.
“Based on the UNESCO report (2021), and in response to the post-democratic crisis, in this article we advocate for citizen education that deepens, from dialogic and cooperative methodologies, the axiological foundations of democracy in a deliberative sense, and that promotes the development of citizens as free agents capable of determining their own lives, of conversing about the common good, and”
From Civic education in a new post-democratic context: The need to revitalize a dialogic and cooperative pedagogy for global citizenship (2025) · cites this paper as Wilson-Strydom & Walker, 2015
Cites
Subjective well-being. The science of happiness and a proposal for a national index
Diener, E. (2000) · American Psychologist · doi:10.1037/0003-066x.55.1.34 · Cited by 7,121 · see citing works
Grit: perseverance and passion for long-term goals
Duckworth, A. L., Peterson, C., Matthews, M. D., & Kelly, D. R. (2007) · Journal of Personality and Social Psychology · doi:10.1037/0022-3514.92.6.1087 · Cited by 6,911 · see citing works
Women and Human Development: The Capabilities Approach
Nussbaum, M. C. (2000) · Cambridge University Press · doi:10.1017/cbo9780511841286 · Cited by 6,103 · cited 5× · see citing works
“…engage in critical reflection about the planning of one’s life’; (2) Affiliation—being able to live with and towards others … having the social bases for self-respect and non-humiliation; being able to be treated as a dignified being whose worth is equal to that of others…’ (Nussbaum, 2000, p. 79).”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialCreating Capabilities: The Human Development Approach
Nussbaum, M. C. (2011) · doi:10.4159/harvard.9780674061200 · Cited by 5,664 · see citing works
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Gozálvez, V., & Calandín, J. G. (2025) · PROSPECTS · doi:10.1007/s11125-025-09741-z · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Wilson-Strydom, M., & Walker, M.
- Affiliations
- University of the Free State (ZA)
- ORCID
- Walker, Melanie
- Venue
- Journal of Moral Education
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2015-07-03
- Volume
- 44
- Issue
- 3
- Pages
- 310-324
- ISSN
- 0305-7240 (ISSN-L)
- 1465-3877
- OpenAlex
- W1872978118
- Cited by
- 89
- References
- 4
- Citations by year
- 2026: 8 · 2025: 17 · 2024: 8 · 2023: 6 · 2022: 7 · 2021: 3 · 2020: 6 · 2019: 11 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 9 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 1
- FWCI
- 54.44
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Journal of Moral Education (publishedVersion)
- Funders
- South African National Research Foundation (South African Research Chairs Initiative, Thuthuka Grant 87922)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Philosophy › Education, Philosophy, and Society
- Social Sciences › Education › Values and Moral Education
- Social Sciences › Education › Educational Philosophies and Pedagogies
- Keywords
- eudaimonia, capability approach, Amartya Sen, Martha Nussbaum, student agency, student well-being, higher education, moral consciousness, practical reason, affiliation, inequality, South African universities
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