Low-Income Students, Human Development and Higher Education in South Africa : : Opportunities, Obstacles and Outcomes.

• Author: Walker, Melanie.
• TeilnehmendeR: McLean, Monica.; Mathebula, Mikateko.
• Place / Publishing House: Oxford : : African Minds,, 2022.; ©2022.
• Year of Publication: 2022
• Edition: 1st ed.
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (214 pages)

"This book explores learning outcomes for low-income rural and township youth at five South African universities. The book is framed as a contribution to southern and Africa-centred scholarship, adapting Amartya Sen's capability approach and a framework of key concepts: capabilities, functionings, context, conversion factors, poverty and agency to investigate opportunities and obstacles to achieved student outcomes. This approach allows a reimagining of 'inclusive learning outcomes' to encompass the multi-dimensional value of a university education and a plurality of valued cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes for students from low-income backgrounds whose experiences are strongly shaped by hardship. Based on capability theorising and student voices, the book proposes for policy and practice a set of contextual higher education capability domains and corresponding functionings orientated to more justice and more equality for each person to have the opportunities to be and to do what they have reason to value. The book concludes that sufficient material resources are necessary to get into university and flourish while there; the benefits of a university education should be rich and multi-dimensional so that they can result in functionings in all areas of life as well as work and future study; the inequalities and exclusion of the labour market and pathways to further study must be addressed by wider economic and social policies for 'inclusive learning outcomes' to be meaningful; and that universities ought to be doing more to enable black working-class students to participate and succeed."-- Back cover

Table of Contents

Cover -- Title page -- Copyright page -- Contents -- About the authors -- Acknowledgements -- CHAPTER 1 - Raising 'learning outcomes' for inclusive higher education: The Miratho Project -- Rationale for pursuing the human development capability approach (CA) -- Methodology and methods of data generation -- Note on data analysis -- The longitudinal life-history interviews -- Participatory research -- Student survey -- Ethical conduct of the research -- Use of secondary datasets -- Capability-based learning outcomes in the Miratho Matrix -- Conclusion -- CHAPTER 2 - Capabilities and functionings: Reconceptualising learning outcomes -- Part 1: The capability approach, poverty and higher education -- Poverty reduction and the capability approach -- Higher education and the capability approach -- Part 2: Problematising 'learning outcomes' for inclusive higher education -- The politics of learning outcomes -- Measurement challenges -- Part 3: Learning outcomes as capability-based key functionings -- Learning outcomes at the level of teaching sessions and modules -- Learning outcomes at the level of programmes and institutions -- Conclusion -- CHAPTER 3 - A challenging context and intersectional conversion factors -- Objective conversion factors: Society and economy -- Objective conversion factors: University -- Foregrounding poverty -- Brief commentary on the hardship numbers -- Poverty and well-being of university students -- Subjective conversion factors emerging from life-history interviews -- Conclusion -- CHAPTER 4 - The Miratho Capabilitarian Matrix: Evaluating individual achievements and institutional arrangements -- Step one: A principled method -- Step two: Identifying capability domains and key functionings -- Epistemic contribution domain -- Ubuntu domain -- Practical reason domain -- Navigation domain -- Narrative domain.

Emotional balance domain -- Inclusion and participation domain -- Future work or study -- Step three: Miratho Matrix -- Conclusion -- CHAPTER 5 - Opportunities and obstacles in achieving higher education access -- Material conversion factors: Money/funding -- Educational conversion factors: Schooling -- Environmental conversion factors: Geography and community -- Geography -- Community -- Social conversion factors: Information and extended family and significant others -- Information -- Extended families and significant others -- Personal conversion factors: Attitudes, values and characteristics -- Conclusion -- CHAPTER 6 - Possibilities for student transformation through capability-enhancing university participation -- Part 1: Academic participation -- Material conversion factors and students' engagement in processes of learning -- Environmental conversion factors and students' experiences of university -- Social conversion factors and students' experiences of being at university -- Educational conversion factors -- Part 2: Non-academic participation -- Personal conversion factors and students' engagement in extra-curricular activities -- Conclusion: Conversion factors for university participation -- Summary of findings about capabilities for participation -- CHAPTER 7 - Pathways for moving on from university -- Part 1: Different pathways for moving on from university for Miratho students -- Further study pathway -- Employment pathway -- No pathway: Studies completed but unemployed -- Part 2: How conversion factors influenced moving-on pathways -- Educational conversion factors and their effect on labour market opportunities -- Material conversion factors and their influence on moving on -- Social conversion factors and their effects on moving on -- Environmental conversion factors and moving on -- Personal conversion factors and students' moving on.

Conclusion -- CHAPTER 8 - Five students' life histories: Conversion factors, functionings and inequality -- Mashudu: Metro -- Life before university -- University access -- University participation -- Moving on from university -- Sonto: City -- Life before university -- University access -- University participation -- Moving on from university -- Aphiwe: Provincial -- Life before university -- University access -- University participation -- Moving on from university -- Madoda: Rural -- Life before university -- University access -- University participation -- Moving on from university -- Rimisa: Country -- Life before university -- University access -- University participation -- Moving on from university -- What these five life histories tell us about low-income university students -- Conclusion -- CHAPTER 9 - Access, participation and moving on for low-income youth -- Changing the informational basis for justice judgements -- Practical operationalisation of ideas -- Summary of findings -- Challenges and change -- Concluding thoughts -- Appendix A. Conversion factor tables for Ntando -- Appendix B. Ideas for the measurement of capability domains and functionings -- References -- Index -- Back cover.