Reframing education 5.0 through capability theory: A framework for human-centered digital learning

Industry 5.0 has reoriented technology-driven transformation around human-centricity, sustainability, and resilience, complementing rather than replacing Industry 4.0, with direct implications for education. Existing accounts of the resulting “Education 5.0” paradigm remain largely descriptive, synthesising a dispersed literature without an explicit theoretical mechanism or a transparent, auditable procedure for deriving the constructs they propose. This paper addresses both gaps. First, it anchors the Education 4.0-to-5.0 transition within the capability approach, using capability expansion, not technology adoption, as the mechanism linking Industry 5.0’s human-centric, sustainable, and resilient logic to curricular practice, and specifies the boundary conditions under which the framework should, and should not, be expected to hold. Second, it derives an integrative five-pillar curriculum framework - human-centric pedagogy, resilient and lifelong learning ecosystems, sustainability-embedded curricula, well-being and leadership development, and creativity through human–AI co-creation - through an explicit three-step synthesis procedure that traces each pillar to recurring literature constructs, reported as an auditable construct crosswalk rather than asserted as self-evident. Third, it formalises the framework as a computable model: an Education 5.0 Readiness Index (ER5.0I), built from Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) pillar weights, and an Industry 5.0–Education 5.0 Alignment Coefficient (IEAC), computed as cosine similarity between pillar-emphasis vectors. All numeric weights and scores are explicitly labelled as illustrative placeholders demonstrating the model’s mechanics, not empirical findings; the paper specifies the Delphi/AHP expert-panel protocol, a candidate measurement instrument, a single-institution pilot case study, and the psychometric (CFA/SEM) validation route required before the framework can be treated as measurement rather than illustration. The paper closes with theoretical and practical implications and a concrete research agenda - including a proposed Scopus/Web of Science search strategy - for validating the framework advanced here.