Circles of Capacities: A Framework for Understanding Flourishing Livelihoods and Supporting Employability

In a world of deepening inequalities, it has become important to reflexively address questions concerning the relationship between learning, livelihoods, and living. In higher education, the concept of employability animates discussion of this relationship and produces considerable debate on the capacities needed by graduates in order to successfully transition to the world of work. This report sets out a robust practical approach for understanding human capacities in relation to learning, livelihoods, and living, and locates employability within the broader frame of human flourishing. It treats capacities both narrowly, focussing on a person’s capacity to achieve and maintain a meaningful vocation in the present complex world (livelihoods), and broadly, elaborating the capacities necessary for achieving and
maintaining a flourishing life (living). In these terms, the report integrates livelihoods
and living as core themes that need to be addressed by universities as we reflect on
good learning and the goals of and for our graduates.