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THIS PAPER ADDRESSES THE QUESTION, who were the people who were buried at the early medieval North Sea emporia? Conclusions about the mercantile character of the North Sea emporia are often based on portable material culture. In recognition of the fact that it is difficult to draw conclusions about the identities of people based on finds assemblages, two pilot projects have been completed that involved bioarchaeological analyses of cemetery populations associated with these sites. The first of these, the Investigating the Dead in Early Medieval Domburg project, undertook multi-disciplinary analyses of the (very small) surviving burial population from the mostly destroyed sites in the Domburg area (Netherlands), combining isotope analysis, radiocarbon dating, biological anthropology, dendrochronology, and provenancing and study of previous use of coffin wood. The second, the Medieval Migrants of the North Sea World project, inventoried available isotopic evidence for human remains from emporia sites in England, the Netherlands and Scandinavia, alongside contextual archaeological information. This paper presents both projects, providing the detailed information from Domburg in its wider, international context, and highlighting the need for a comprehensive research agenda to fill current gaps in our understanding of early medieval emporia populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Following the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 across the world in 2020, millions of people were reduced in their mobility to hinder the spread of the disease. The lockdown was particularly difficult for older adults, who were deemed 'vulnerable' because many felt unsafe leaving the house and often forced to self-isolate. In this paper, we interpret the lockdowns as a period of prolonged stillness: breaks from everyday practices, including withdrawnness, inefficiency, and retreat. We extend ideas of stillness by integrating the capability approach, which shows how the opportunities and challenges that arise from moments of stillness are dependent on a combination of individual agency and the role of structural or contextual factors. Using the accounts of thirty-eight older adults in the Netherlands and England, we show how the COVID-19 lockdowns established and encouraged different types of stillness which had differing impacts upon the older adults' lives. The effect of the prolonged stillness on these different areas of everyday life is based on individual agency and contextual factors, such as choosing to volunteer or having an adequate internet connection. Thus, our findings contribute to discussions around active ageing and demonstrate that slowing down, and spending more time at home, can provide respite from an otherwise active everyday life. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the context of globalising higher education (HE) policies, there is an increasing interest among scholars in detecting patterns of policy change, including the rate and magnitude of policy change and the direction of change (convergence or divergence) This paper adds to that literature by comparing the pattern of policy change and by providing theory-based explanations for HE policy change. The national quality assurance (QA) policies for universities in England and the Netherlands were compared (1985–2005) based on an analytical framework drawing on new institutionalism. Key findings were that both QA systems moved in the direction of an extrinsic QA orientation, but the differences between the two systems were larger in 2005 and in 1985. The degree of policy change in England was more incremental, the Dutch case showing rather radical change in 2002. These dissimilarities can be ascribed to the different policy change mechanism: bricolage and translation. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper reports some of the findings from a four-year funded comparative research project into state policy on separate schools for religious minorities in England and the Netherlands. The project focuses on two religious groups—evangelical Christians and Muslims. In both countries there has been a recent growth in the number of schools run by both religious groups. In the Netherlands there are now more than 30 Muslim schools fully-funded by the state, while in England there is a larger number, but only four are state-funded. The majority are fee paying private schools. Similarly, in both countries there has been a recent growth in the number of schools run by evangelical Christians. In the Netherlands these schools are again fully funded by the state while, in England, none of about 60 evangelical Christian schools is funded. This paper presents a framework for the comparison and evaluation of policies on separate religious schools, and discusses some of the wider implications of the differences between the policies of the two countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: There is a growing consensus worldwide that palliative care needs to be both more inclusive of conditions other than cancer and to improve. This paper explores some common challenges currently faced by professionals providing palliative care for patients with either cancer or dementia across five countries. Method: One focus group (n = 7) and 67 interviews were conducted in 2012 across five countries: England, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands and Norway, with professionals from dementia, cancer and palliative care settings. Results: The interviews revealed five common challenges faced across the five countries: communication difficulties (between services; and between professionals, and patients and their families); the variable extent of structural/functional integration of services; the difficulties in funding of palliative care services; problematic processes of care (boundaries, definitions, knowledge, skills and inclusiveness) and, finally, time constraints. Conclusion: These are not problems distinct to palliative care, but they may have different origins and explanations compared to other areas of health care. This paper explored deeper themes hidden behind a discourse about barriers and facilitators to improving care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In an attempt to promote efficiency and consumer choice, many governments in Europe have in recent years required social housing organisations to be more market-orientated and competitive. Competition, however, is being discussed and implemented without any detailed examination of what is meant by the term 'competition' outside a conventional 'market', as is the case in social housing. It is not clear what exactly is meant by competition and this paper therefore focuses on the question of how competition can be operationalised and how it can be measured in practice. This paper concentrates on social housing in England and the Netherlands: two countries where competition in social housing is an issue. These two countries also have different social housing models. For both countries, we build on an evaluative framework based on the economic concepts of rivalry, risk and choice and then analyse the data to establish whether competition can be measured in a convincing way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper provides the outcomes of two small-scale sets of interviews carried out in the Netherlands and in England on views about and interpretations of the work-based route for young people. In the light of current revival of interest in work-based learning for young people, and in particular the apprenticeship model in England, I was particularly interested in the issue of parity of esteem between the work-based route and other routes. Whereas in the Netherlands the focus for the development of Vocational Education and Training (VET) is on the full-time vocational route, which has a reasonably high status, England has opted for the apprenticeship route to be the development tool for high quality VET. The paper explores what we can learn about our own experiences in England in the light of what is happening elsewhere (Raffe, 1998; Raffe et al ., 1999). It becomes clear from the data obtained that policy development in the Netherlands aims to increase the status of work-based learning through incorporating the route into the full-time route and providing end qualifications that can be achieved through either a full-time college-based route or through a work-based learning route. The modern apprenticeship route or work-based learning route as such has not a high status, contrary to what is sometimes claimed to be the case. In England, the aim of policymakers is to create a work-based learning route, which is considered to be a high quality route, and is comparable to the general/academic route. The paper shows that there are various reasons as to why this attempt might fail. Both countries aim to provide a 'ladder' or 'column' of opportunities in VET. The research shows that very few young people in fact move up a ladder, but rather move into work-based learning or apprenticeships at certain points on the continuum, and subsequently move sideways into general or theoretical provision in order to be able to progress higher up. Target groups for work-based learning are different at the lower end from those at levels 3, 4 and 5. Very few participants in either country move from level 1 up to level 4 through participation in a work-based route, and it may therefore be appropriate to talk about the provision of a climbing framework, where young people move backwards and forwards and sideways, rather than about a ladder of opportunities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The management of Natura 2000 sites faces several challenges. Responsible authorities need to achieve specific conservation objectives and they need to balance these objectives with social and economic interests. A study of two cases, one in England and one in the Netherlands, shows that the initial choices about the organisation of a deliberative planning process can create a solid basis for further co-operation. This paper contributes to the knowledge about the design and consequences of deliberative planning processes. It shows how a specific process design can strengthen the possibilities to develop social capital, trust and reciprocity, but also how it can result in a deliberative quicksand, characterised by ongoing discussions and even conflicts between the various stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Recent decades have seen a growing 'pluralisation' of policing providers and authorisers in liberal democracies (Crawford 2003, Johnston and Shearing 2003). Some have interpreted this as part of a major transformation of policing in western liberal democracies that reflects fundamental shifts in the nature of governance (Bayley and Shearing 1996, 2001). Others have stressed continuities with the recent history of policing and the persistence of significant national and local differences in policing structures (Jones and Newburn 2002, Ferret 2004). These discussions have some parallels with wider debates about convergence and divergence in penality and the ways in which structural and cultural shifts influence policy developments across different societies (Garland 2001). We here examine recent changes in policing within two EU countries - Britain and the Netherlands. This paper discusses areas of similarity and difference in plural policing developments, and speculates about what factors might explain these. There is evidence of structural and cultural shifts working to shape policing in similar ways, but also of the mediating influence of distinctive national and local political institutions and cultures. These particular contexts provide possibilities for the resistance and re-shaping of global forces, as well as provide a framework for the emergence of distinct policy innovations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports findings about placement questions relevant to disability in education. It is part of a larger international study of the perspectives of 132 education practitioners and administrators in England, the USA and The Netherlands to several dilemmas of difference. Participants were interviewed about their perspectives to a presented placement dilemma about the consequences of having inclusive/separate placements for children with more severe disabilities/special educational needs. The data are presented in quantitative terms (degrees of recognition and resolution of dilemma) and qualitative terms (reasons, justifications and suggested resolutions). The findings show the continued recognition of this dilemma and commonalities in the resolution of the dilemma across the countries. Variations in responses to the dilemmas that relate to national differences are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents the findings from a survey of over 400 young people in metropolitan areas in the Netherlands and England concerning their views on identity and school history. The research explored pupils’ ideas about which facets of history were of interest to them, what history they believed should be taught in schools, and their views on the purposes of school history and history in general. The coding of the data made it possible to delineate between those from different ethnic minority backgrounds, boys and girls, age and level of education and first or second generation of migration. The study revealed significant differences between young people's ideas about history and identity, and those advanced by politicians and policy makers in the Netherlands, England and elsewhere. The concluding section of the paper considers the implications of the findings for policy makers in the field of history education in schools. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article enquires about why some countries have specialised their further education provision more than others, focusing on three types of specialisation: by subject, by geographical area and by age group. The article proposes an analytical framework to understand the drivers for further education provider specialisation, based on four variables: inputs to the further education system, regulatory framework, demand and supporting clusters. It then applies this framework to review the experience of Germany, New Zealand and the Netherlands in recent years. Drawing on this review, the last section of the paper provides some lessons for England and issues for further debate. It is concluded that the model proposed helps to explain the evolution of provider specialisation in the countries covered and that the UK's current specialisation profile suggests that greater efforts should be made to increase geographical specialisation, whereas action in stimulating further specialisation by subject and age group should be subject to caveats. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper the function of protected nature in rural living environments is discussed in relation to residential choice, appreciation of the residential environment and rural development policy. In five case studies a comparison is made between the situation of protected natural areas in the Netherlands, England and Spain. The research results show that protected natural areas are an increasingly popular endogenous quality of rural regions as they have the ability to influence the residential choice and satisfaction of households. Therefore, they have not only become an important driving factor in the attraction of residential and other consumption-orientated activities towards rural areas but also need to be considered in policy formulation. After all, choices have to be made when different functions need to be combined in rural areas. Different activities may have both positive and negative effects on each other and regulatory measures are needed to tune their co-existence. For a sustainable and balanced development of rural areas it is therefore very important to create basic conditions that will make the combination of activities possible within the specific national and regional contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]