Introduction

Does Education Matter? is the title of Alison Wolf 's book, that challenges the idea that education and economic growth are two sides of the same coin; the present chapter answers the same question in the positive by claiming that education and LCs are two sides of the same coin. Children spend up to a dozen years in formal education settings during which time the prospects for their future lives are largely determined for good or for bad. The chapter reviews the current state of preschool, primary and secondary education in Australia. Students in these institutions are aged from about 3 to 17 or 18 years so that most are considered children. The significance of the label is that adults, primarily parents and teachers, are obliged to make important life decisions on their behalf until they officially become adults at 18.

The bulk of the chapter is an account of the current system of education in Australia and issues relating to the enhancement of students’ wellbeing and LCs. Australia's school system is underpinned by human capital theory (HCT) whereby the goal of schooling is concerned with producing socialised citizens and good workers via an age- based, staged process of learning from preschool to higher education. HCT is one of three models of education proposed by Ingrid Robeyns. She argues that HCT is not a satisfactory model for education as it is based on narrow economic and instrumental values. The other models – the rights discourse and the capability approach (CA) – have more to offer particularly in combination. She argues that education policy should aim at enhancing people's capabilities (as understood by Sen and Nussbaum mentioned elsewhere in the text) while rights discourses are useful only when they contribute to the expansion of individual capabilities.

For many educators, however, a good education is about inspiring students to be lifelong learners; to be curious about the world; to build character and life skills; and for the philosopher Marta Nussbaum, it is about the cultivation of values, most of which I suggest later in the chapter, are best cultivated in the home.

There are as many definitions of education as there are experts, and thus it is beyond the scope of this chapter to engage with the best of these – with one exception – that originated in the late nineteenth century.