Functionings and capabilities. The CA employs a specific set of terms to assess people’s lives. The use of language such as ‘capability’ and ‘functioning’ is used to describe how people ‘actually live their lives’ with greater realism than is found in rival approaches. Simply put, ‘a functioning is an achievement whereas a capability is the ability to achieve’ (1987, p.36). The term ‘functioning’ describes the achievements that people value in life; ‘the various things a person may value doing or being’ (Sen 1999, p.75). This can include basic achievements such as being well fed or literate, and more complex achievements, such as belonging to a community or having self-respect (p.75). As Xxx puts it, ‘living may be seen as consisting of a set of interrelated ‘functionings’, consisting of beings and doings,’ which ‘are constitutive of a person’s being, and an evaluation of well-being has to take the form of an assessment of these elements’ (p.75). In other words, we can partially assess the wellbeing of a person by asking whether or not they have achieved those things they value in life. Sen notes that the concept of functionings has ‘distinctly Aristotelian roots’, identifying a correspondence between his position that wellbeing can be assessed in terms of human action and Xxxxxxxxx’s view that the good life is ‘one of activity or functioning that leads to human flourishing’ (2004, p.39 ff.3). As such, both perspectives hold that an ‘an impoverished life is one without the freedom to undertake important activities that a person has reason to choose’ (Sen 2000, p.4). In this study, the kinds of functionings we might be interested in are those achievements that students have reason to value. In general, this will relate to the achievement of being prepared for life after school. However, this will be made up of more tangible achievements. Most clearly, this might relate to academic achievements. A student might value achieving high academic grades for a variety of reasons, including gaining a deeper understanding of their subjects, improving their chances of gaining a university place, affirming their self-respect, or increasing their esteem in the community. A student’s wellbeing might also be connected to achieving a broader range of functionings in school including realising their social, personal, emotional, political, or religious goals. The life of a student and their participation in the school community makes a great range of functionings possible, and this study takes the view th...
