Developing Practice Capability

Developing Practice Capability: Transforming Workplace Learning explores a Crucible Model for Professional Development as a means for better understanding workplace learning as a place for capability development.

Globally, universities are the subject of public debate and disagreement about their private benefits or public good, and the key policy vehicle for driving human capital development for competitive knowledge economies. Yet what is increasingly lost in the disagreements about who should pay for university education is a more expansive imaginary which risks being lost in reductionist contemporary education policy. This is compounded by the influences on practices of students as consumers, of a university education as a private benefit and not a public good, of human capital outcomes over other graduate qualities, and of unfettered markets in education. Policy reductionism comes from a narrow vision of the activities, products, and objectives of the University and a blinkered vision of what is a knowledge society. Human Development and Capabilities, therefore, imaginatively applies a theoretical framework to universities as institutions and social practices from human development and the capability approach, attempting to show how universities might advance equalities rather than necessarily widen them, and how they can contribute to a sustainable and democratic society. Picking through the capability approach for human development, in relation to Universities, this book highlights and explores three main ideas: theoretical insights to advance thinking about human development and higher education Policy implications for the responsibilities and potential contributions of universities in a period of significant global change Operationalising a New Imaginary This fresh take on the work and purpose of the University is essential reading for anyone interested in university education, capability approach and human development; particularly postgraduates, University policy makers, researchers and academics in the field of higher education.

This book provides a unique laboratory of ‘capabilities in practice’ in the Asia-Pacific region. It explores the application of the capability approach in development practice and public policy from a multidisciplinary perspective by bringing together scholars and practitioners from a wide range of disciplinary backgrounds, including development studies, health policy, political science, political theory, political economy, architecture, indigenous studies, urban planning and communication technologies. The first part of the book provides a foundational theoretical framework to introduce the empirical applications of the capability theory in different areas of development practice and public policy in the Asia-Pacific region. This part discusses thorny issues in capability theory and raises the potential for capability theory to lead to new ways of thinking about old problems. The second part discusses the application of the capability approach to intransigent problems of marginalisation and the articulation of public policy in New Zealand and Australia. In particular, this part focuses on the potential implications that a capability-based approach can have on the well-being of indigenous peoples in both countries, as well as children, older renters, and urban dwellers in Australia. The third part elucidates how capability theory is being applied by researchers in the Asia-Pacific region to local issues in developing countries such as Samoa, Vanuatu, Papua New Guinea and Sri Lanka. In doing so, it provides original content to the world market in capability theory by focussing on this often-neglected area of scholarship. As a whole, this volume offers a unique and innovative scrutiny of a multifaceted capability-based analysis of development practice and public policy. The scope and breadth of this volume advance the application of the capability approach and offer an indispensable resource to scholars, researchers, policy makers and policy practitioners interested in the theoretical insights and practical implications of the capability approach.

This book develops a philosophical framework for selecting goals for development purposes. This inclusive and democratic framework integrates a variety of resources including philosophical theory, empirical analysis, stakeholder deliberations, local knowledge, and advice from development experts. The author contends that we must provide good reasons and arguments in order to justify a particular development agenda. That is, we need to ask why we choose certain kinds of development goals over others, why we include certain agents in the selection process and not others, and why we select goals through one method rather than another. In response to these questions, the author argues that development should aim at expanding people’s capabilities and functionings. Capabilities and functionings—capabilities that have been realized—tell us what people are actually able to do and be with their resources, goods, and formal freedoms. He advances the view that local stakeholders should have more authority in deciding what a development agenda looks like. This claim to local authority in development can be interpreted both as a claim to political authority and expert authority. Finally, the author argues that ad hoc, foundational, procedural, and mixed (multi-stage) methods need to be synthesized in order to select the best capabilities and functionings for development. The Capability Approach in Practice provides a philosophical and systematic approach to setting development agendas. It is an important contribution to the literature on the capability approach and development ethics, which will appeal to a broad range of scholars within philosophy and development studies.

What Talent Development Professionals Should Know and Do to Be Successful The talent development field is deep and wide, encompassing the efforts that foster learning and employee development to drive organizational performance, productivity, and results. Major societal forces and business changes require talent development professionals across all industries to adopt new approaches and upgrade skills to keep pace and grow. Capabilities for Talent Development presents the new ATD Capability Model, a powerful framework to guide the profession in what practitioners need to know and do to develop themselves, others, and their organizations. ATD’s research shows that the future of work will require talent development professionals to leverage interpersonal skills, along with their professional expertise, to work as a true business partner to achieve organizational goals. As organizations respond to trends in business, science, and technology—such as artificial intelligence and automation, brain-based learning, new ways to enlist skilled talent brought on by the gig economy, and other factors—professionals must develop their knowledge and skills from three domains of practice: Building Personal Capability Developing Professional Capability Impacting Organizational Capability Capabilities for Talent Development offers an in-depth look at the Model and its components, drawing from the research behind it. Inside are application tips for individuals, educators, and organizations, as well as examples and interviews with thought leaders that describe an exciting future ahead for the talent development field. The ATD Capability Model is future-oriented and can help you personalize your development needs. Grow your career as you grow your knowledge and skills in talent development.

The question of whether we can foster growth and innovation while promoting individual freedoms poses a challenge for everyone studying and working on innovation and development policies. Whilst innovation literature is largely dominated by a focus on efficiency, development literature tends to focus on equality and pays less attention to mechanisms fostering economic and social change. This book aims to move beyond these barriers and to identify development policies that foster both efficiency and equality, exploring the connection between innovation policies and the improvement of individual freedoms. Capabilities, Innovation and Economic Growth argues that we can answer these questions by focusing on the relation between Amartya Sen's human development approach and the Neo-Schumpeterian analysis of innovation systems. After considering the connections between the two schools of thought and the way they enrich each other's perspectives, chapters go on to show how policy can support virtuous circles in which innovation, human development and economic growth interact and mutually reinforce each other. This is undertaken through the descriptive analysis and the empirical testing of a sample of nations and European regions. The volume concludes with an exploration of the contribution that the capabilities approach can give to the design of innovation policy, and with the analysis of macroeconomic policies favorable to innovation and human development. This will be essential reading for: students and academic economists interested in development, growth and innovation; policy makers and officers in charge of defining development and innovation plans at national and regional level; and consultants and managers in development agencies implementing innovation and development projects.

This book explores the linkages between Amartya Sen’s Capability Approach and participatory forms of development – especially those associated with critical pedagogy and empowerment from the bottom-up. It shows how the capability approach and the participatory movement can complement and reinforce each other helping to ensure that democratic principles are respected and become the foundation for sustainable human development. The Capability Approach provides guiding principles for protecting the transformative roots of participation (safeguarding ownership, accountability and empowerment), while participation delivers vital methods for making the Capability Approach operational. Divided into three overlapping parts that focus on concepts, methods and applications, this work draws on diverse fieldwork experiences to unpack power relations, address adaptive preferences, explore individual and collective agency, consider new partnerships for development, and develop innovative concepts.

This book explores the potential of participatory research and the capability approach to transform understandings of higher education. The editors and contributors illuminate the importance of epistemic in/justice as a foundation to a reflexive, inclusive and decolonial approach to knowledge, as well as its importance to democratic life and participation in higher education. Drawing together eight global case studies, the authors argue for an ecology of knowledge that expands epistemic capabilities in higher education through teaching, research and policy making. Moreover, the chapters illustrate how these epistemic capabilities can be marginalised by both institutions and structural and historical factors; as well as the potential for possibilities when spaces are opened for genuine participation and designed for a plurality of voices. This book will appeal to scholars of social justice and participatory research as well as ongoing debates around decolonising the academy.