*4.6. Generating a Capabilities List*

Hannon [33] adapts a "top-down and bottom-up" approach to developing a capability list for low-SES student progression to post-secondary education from Wilson-Strydom's 2016 paper with a similar focus in South Africa [56]. Firstly, it proposes an ideal theoretical list [51], which combines the literature on access, widening participation and education policy with the body of research on using the capability approach in education (top-down).

• Stage one: developing an ideal theoretical capabilities list (top-down approach).

The development of a capabilities list for low-SES students' preparation for higher education progression began with a review of the literature on educational disadvantage, widening access and participation, social justice theories, theories of social and cultural reproduction and theories of critical pedagogy. These were considered in the context of the growing body of literature related to the capability approach and its usefulness in exploring education and, specifically, widening participation.

• Stage two: participatory-list development through qualitative longitudinal research.

This involved an empirical approach to the development of the list by interrogating its usefulness with young people in the four case-study schools. This engages with Sen's concern that it is critical to have a participatory process with those involved in the development of their own capability set. This research therefore involved young people in the discussion and development of the capability list for higher education progression through

a qualitative-longitudinal research approach and specifically focused on their engagement with the TA21 programme. Student interviews and focus groups were designed with the ideal theoretical capability list in mind, and they involved discussions with the students of "valued doings and beings", to explore the development of capabilities relevant to education and their ability to convert these to valued functionings. The capabilities that emerged frequently in thematic analysis are not all-encompassing of the young people's lives; they are focused on the impact of the TA21 programme, as that is the focus of the evaluative lens of this study.

Having adapted Wilson-Strydom's [56] "top down/bottom up" approach, it is proposed that there are five key capabilities which students develop through their engagement in this university-to-school partnership programme. These capabilities are enriching student ability to make informed choices about their future, to feel more autonomous as young adults, to build trusted networks of relationships across their communities and to engage constructively with their own "identities in flux" to refine and embellish their hopes for the future. The capabilities emerging through this application of the capability approach are defined in Table 5 below:


**Table 5.** A pragmatic capabilities list to prepare low-SES students to aspire towards higher education [25,33].
