Search

This is a report of the "European Educational Research Journal" (EERJ) Roundtable that sought to describe what national educational research programmes are doing, how they are working together, and how they might contribute to the developing European Educational Research Space. The Roundtable was an opportunity for one large consortium of national programmes to explain their intentions and create an opportunity for dialogue. Researchers from six national research programmes (United Kingdom, Finland, Sweden, Netherlands, Norway and France) have been working closely to develop a cooperative decision-making system; web-based knowledge-sharing; cooperative analyses of best practice; joint examination of common policy problems and opportunities; and pilot implementation of new approaches to research training and dissemination. The discussion, chaired by Martin Lawn ("EERJ" Editor), was introduced by short contributions from Andrew Pollard (University of Cambridge), Kirsti Klette (University of Oslo) and Hannele Niemi (University of Helsinki). A response was given by Filip Dochy (University of Leuven), President of the European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction (EARLI). There appeared to be almost universal agreement that the educational research community needs to pay greater attention to internationalisation of research processes. To this end, the collaboration of national research programmes did offer one way of achieving this through progressive interaction between partners and their associated research communities.

Knowledge-based and innovative bioeconomy is a cornerstone for achieving the goals of the European Green Deal. Due to its comprehensive coverage, bioeconomy performance is challenging to assess unambiguously. This paper presents the results of a cross-country comparison of 22 EU countries applying the Complex Bioeconomy Sustainability Index for 2012–2018. Results were compared with results of the TOPSIS multi-criteria decision-making method on national bioeconomy strategies in Finland, France, Spain, Italy, Ireland, and Latvia. The research aims to combine a quantitative assessment of bioeconomy output indicators with a qualitative evaluation of bioeconomy strategies of EU Member States. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronological thinking is an indispensable tool to structure a historical narrative and to give meaning to a sequence of events. It is not a natural skill, so the conscious inclusion of tasks stimulating that skill in teaching is crucial. It is important to appropriately test students' chronological skills by means of well--constructed examination tasks administered at the conclusion of subsequent stages of education. The authors discuss tasks that assess chronological thinking included in contemporary exam papers in Finland, France, the Netherlands, Russia, the USA and the United Kingdom. The tasks included in Polish arts and humanities exam papers at the lower secondary school level in the years 2002-2011 and the first history paper (2012) are then analysed. The final section presents the results of a survey to test the chronological thinking of lower secondary school students carried out by the Educational Research Institute. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Forty-six interviews of French and Finnish Junior High School teachers clearly show a strong will to link professional commitment to common progressive values. However, the interviewees have to adjust these political or philosophical views when confronted with the reality of their professional everyday life and to the development of widely broadcast educational debates, like the ones about the recent reforms concerning the Junior High School level in both France and Finland, conducted at the time of the interviews (2016 and 2017). These adjustments, linked either to the circumstances or to practical realities, challenge the internal coherence of their ethical choices. This paper shows that the reference principles and the practical implications of such choices are not asserted as sharply in France as in Finland. It highlights the unequal ability of the teachers of both countries to make sense of their professional experience and to appropriate the terms of the debates on the evolution of teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Aim: The goal of this paper is to analyze the COVID-19 policies of 10 European countries, including Sweden, Finland, Norway, Italy, France, Germany, Poland, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Hungary, with a time-series policy analysis tool. Subject and methods: The results of the COVID-19 policy analysis are based on a single time-series indicator, or daily population mortality rate: the number of COVID-19 daily cumulative deaths divided by the population in millions. The lower the score, the better the policy. Although many experts believe that the COVID-19 policy outcome analysis is premature, time series analysis is an excellent analysis that can provide information on the progress and transition of policy outcomes. In other words, the proposed time series analysis tool allows policymakers to identify and quantify when mistakes were made during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic. Results: The COVID-19 policy analysis discovered many useful facts. Sweden failed due to the herd immunity approach. Hungary made a fundamental mistake in COVID-19 tactics. Countries such as Sweden, Hungary, Belgium, and Poland showed time-series changes that differed from the others. Conclusion: Public health interventions can play a key role in mitigating the COVID-19 pandemic. The proposed policy analysis tool, hiscovid demonstrated the effectiveness of the time-series score behavior for discovering when policymakers made mistakes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this study is to identify the most prolific countries in the field of special education and to discuss the widespread impact of their papers by taking into account the country's h-index. Through a bibliometric analysis, the data were collected in the Web of Science Core Collection category "Education, Special" in the Social Science Citation Index during 2011-2020. The 25 most prolific countries in the field of special education were determined in terms of paper productivity, and it was seen that the leading country was undisputedly the USA (54.42%). Meanwhile, a strong positive correlation was found between the h-index and the number of papers published by the countries (r=0.864). On the other hand, when the ranking in terms of the number of papers was reconfigured by the h-index, it was relatively changed. The possible reasons for this change for the countries with the most changing rankings were discussed by considering some definitive criteria such as the journal quartiles, the percentage of international and domestic, and the percentage of open access papers. This study reports a positive correlation between the quality and quantity in the field of special education for the publications of countries. It has been shown that where the positive correlation deviates, then especially, the journal quartiles, the percentage of international collaboration and the percentage of open access papers have a significant effect. The bibliometric findings may be useful to enrich the discussion about the widespread impact of papers and debate whether the use of h-index is acceptable for cross-national comparisons.

This article examines young people's experiences of open access youth work in settings in the UK, Finland, Estonia, Italy and France. It analyses 844 individual narratives from young people, which communicate the impact of youthwork on their lives. These accounts are then analysed in the light of the European youth work policy goals. It concludes that it is encouraging that what young people identify as the positive impact of youth work are broadly consistent with many of these goals. There are however some disparities which require attention. These include the importance young people place on the social context of youth work, such as friendship, which is largely absent in EU youth work policy; as well as the importance placed on experiential learning. The paper also highlights a tension between 'top down' policy formulation and the 'youth centric' practices of youth work. It concludes with a reminder to policy makers that for youth work to remain successful the spaces and places for young people must remain meaningful to them 'on their terms'. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the waste sector, EU Member States implement EU legislation. They rely on EU Directives and their waste legislation and policies. During the evaluated period (2015–2021), the Slovak Republic amended the Waste Act 79/2015 Coll. and issued strategy papers following EU legislation. France adopted its National program for prevention of waste and Finland its National waste management plan. In our research, we use a method of comparison and analysis of selected legislative documents to examine the achievement of the Green Deal's objectives in the Slovak Republic and selected EU countries. We have shown the legislative process results through research, which indicate the achievement of set waste management goals. In our future research we will focus on building waste management infrastructure in the EU since it is necessary to apply the idea promoting the support of such waste treatment facilities that will be sustainable throughout their existence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Interest in higher education institutions (HEIs) as instruments for development has increased in recent years. The main objective of this paper is to address the contribution of HEIs to development through their missions, models, and challenges. With this purpose, we perform a historical analysis and characterise higher-education systems through the perspective of university models and missions, noticing relevant aspects regarding the evolution of this institution over time, as well as the transformations undergone. We also consider the main challenges that current higher education systems face in the 21st century. As methodological approaches, we carry out a literature review complemented by a comparative analysis based on data from the higher education systems of ten European countries. The findings show that HEIs can contribute to development through their missions, which are related to the models of higher education. Their first mission (teaching) contributes to improving human capital and attracting highly qualified people to their regions; the second mission (research) improves scientific knowledge which can foster innovative activities; and the third mission (community service) acts as a link between research and business, including patents, business incubators, and collaboration agreements. We also conclude that the challenges of higher education in the 21st century can be categorised essentially in three main areas: (1) globalisation and massification of higher education, as well as the internationalisation of HEIs' missions and diversification of the educational supply to attract new students; (2) new technologies related to the digitalisation of teaching and distance learning; and (3) higher education entrepreneurship, showing the importance of university-company relationships. This paper provides a global setting for a reflection on the role of HEIs in the 21st century, given their connection with society and the need for a more effective contribution to socio-economic development.

Aims: Insufficient physical activity (PA) is one of the largest public health challenges of our time and requires a multisectoral public-health response. PA recommendations state that all children and adolescents should accumulate at least 60 minutes of moderate-to-vigorous PA (MVPA) daily and carry out vigorous PA (VPA) three times weekly. While participation in sports club activities is known to enhance the probability of reaching the recommended overall PA level, less is known about the contribution of sports club participation to VPA, and few cross-national comparisons have been carried out. The purpose of this paper is to study whether participation in sports club activities is associated with meeting the overall PA and VPA recommendations among children and adolescents across six European countries, namely Belgium (Flanders), Czech Republic, Finland, France, Ireland and Sweden. Methods: Analyses were carried out on existing self-reported national data sets using descriptive statistics and logistic regression. Results: Results indicate that approximately two-thirds of children and adolescents take part in sports club activities in the given countries. Sports club participants were more likely to meet the overall PA recommendations (OR 2.4–6.4) and VPA recommendation (OR 2.8–5.0) than non-participants. Conclusions: The extent to which overall PA and/or VPA is gained through sports club participation versus other settings needs to be further studied. Nonetheless, it can be argued that sports clubs have an important position in PA promotion for younger populations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Sociologija/Sociology: Journal of Sociology, Social Psychology & Social Anthropology is the property of MOD International and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This study aims to identify the literacy skills of individuals whose highest level of education was in the field 'teacher training and educational sciences'. The study sample comprised 10,618 individuals in the field of teacher training and educational sciences, selected from 31 countries (participating in the International Adult Skills Assessment Programme during the 2014-2015 survey) using a multi-stage sampling method. The study employed multi-level latent class analysis and three-step analysis in order to determine both the number of multi-level latent classes of educators' literacy scores as well as the selected independent variables' success in predicting those latent classes. The analysis revealed that educators in Germany constituted the group with the highest literacy skills while educators from Singapore comprised the group with the lowest literacy skills. [This study was presented at the 9th International Congress of Educational Research. Ordu University, Ordu, Turkey.]

Framing has previously been studied in the field of pandemic preparedness and global health governance and influenza pandemics have usually been framed in terms of security and evidence-based medicine on a global scale. This paper is based on the pandemic preparedness plans, published after 2009, from eight European countries. We study how pandemic preparedness is framed and how pandemic influenza in general is narrated in the plans. All plans contain references to ‘uncertainty’, ‘pandemic phases’, ‘risk management’, ‘vulnerability’ and ‘surveillance’. These themes were all framed differently in the studied plans. The preparedness plans in the member states diverge in ways that will challenge the ambition of the European Union to make the pandemic preparedness plans interoperable and to co-ordinate the member states during future pandemics. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: Scholarly interest in interorganizational learning (IOL) has spiked in the past decade because of its potential to absorb, transfer and create valuable knowledge for enhanced innovative performance and sustained competitive advantage. However, only a handful of review studies exists on the topic. The evolution of IOL has not been studied explicitly and there is a lack of understanding of the field trends. To fill this gap, this paper aims to comprehensively review the literature on IOL and map its evolution and trends using bibliometric techniques. In particular, the authors use visualization of science mapping freeware to systematize the findings and interpret the results. Design/methodology/approach: The authors synthesize the findings using "evaluative bibliometric techniques" to identify the quality and quantity indicators of the IOL research and use "relational bibliometric techniques" to determine the structural indicators of the IOL field such as the intellectual foundations and emerging research themes of IOL research. Findings: Through an analysis of 208 journal publications obtained from the Scopus database, the authors determine the leading authors, countries, highly cited papers and their contributions to the IOL literature. By identifying the key hotspots, intellectual foundations and emerging trends of IOL, the authors provide promising avenues in IOL research. Originality/value: To the best of the knowledge, this study is the first to systematically review the IOL literature and provide future research directions.

This paper presents a compilation of personal reflections from 66 contributors on the impact of, and responses to, COVID-19 in accounting education in 45 different countries around the world. It reveals a commonality of issues, and a variability in responses, many positive outcomes, including the creation of opportunities to realign learning and teaching strategies away from the comfort of traditional formats, but many more that are negative, primarily relating to the impact on faculty and student health and well-being, and the accompanying stress. It identifies issues that need to be addressed in the recovery and redesign stages of the management of this crisis, and it sets a new research agenda for studies in accounting education.

Self-regulation in the governance of higher education systems is often assumed to improve institutional performance, accountability, and responsiveness. Although studies of higher education governance have addressed the extent of self-regulation across national systems, there has been less investigation of the links between self-regulation and quality and equity. Nevertheless, the universal adoption of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) commits all countries to equal access to affordable and quality education, including higher education, by 2030. To assess the relationship between self-regulation, quality, and equity, this paper presents a novel higher education self-regulation index trialed using the cases of England, Finland, France, and Germany. The index compares self-regulation, based on the respective national legal and policy frameworks, in core higher education functions: control and evaluation, funding, strategy and structure, personnel, and teaching and research. Each area is analyzed using six conditions reflecting the level of autonomy of an institution which could be met in full, in part or not met and assigned to a proxy number ranging from 0, 0.5 and 1 respectively. Each of these areas is summarized with a level that is either High, Medium, or Low and these are the levels then shown in the composite index. The impact of varying levels of self-regulation in a higher education system on quality and equity is then analyzed. Whereas higher levels of self-regulation do appear to have some impact on quality, the study found that a mix of policy steering, and institutional initiatives are needed to improve equity. Further refinement and testing of the self-regulation index would improve its utility as a tool to support governments and institutions to enhance higher education governance in support of the SDGs.

This article explores forms of haptic sociality in interspecies interaction. Data examined are taken from a corpus of equine assisted therapy sessions, in Finland and France. During these sessions, therapists invite clients to pay close attention to the horse's behavioral displays of comfort or discomfort and to react accordingly. In this way, the horse is regarded as a living, sentient creature, whose body has haptic and kinesthetic properties, resulting in socialization practices that cultivate forms of care. The study discusses Merleau-Ponty's concept of "esthesiologic body", in light of analytical instances, draws on contemporary re-examinations of phenomenological notions (such as intersubjectivity and intercorporeality) by ethnomethodologists and analysts of social interaction, and proposes to respecify them in the particular context of human–animal interactions. The argument is inspired by a conversation analytic approach, sensitive to the orderly character of social actions. Two formats, displaying diverse ways in which participants interact with the horse as an esthesiologic body, are examined in detail. The analysis shows the fundamental role played by touch and haptic practices in the practical accomplishment of intercorporeality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

For over two decades now, the application of Citizen Science to Education has been evolving, and fundamental topics, such as the drivers of motivation to participate in Citizen Science projects, are still under discussion. Some recent developments, though, like the use of Artificial Intelligence to support data collection and validation, seem to point to a clear-cut divergence from the mainstream research path. The objective of this paper is to summarise the development trajectory of research on Citizen Science in Education so far, and then shed light on its future development, to help researchers direct their efforts towards the most promising open questions in this field. We achieved these objectives by using the lens of the Affordance-Actualisation theory and the Main Path Analysis method.

Objective. European countries practice a wide range of car driving license renewal procedures. These range from issuing lifelong licenses without subsequent medical checks, to issuing a license to age 70 and for 3- or 5-year periods thereafter based on self-declarations of medical fitness, to requiring medical examinations for renewal, to renewal every 5 years from the age of 45. This paper presents a case study of the different older driver licensing procedures in seven European countries and addresses the association between these procedures and older driver safety. Method. The seven countries studied consist of France, The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden. The first-mentioned three countries have the most relaxed license renewal procedures and least demanding medical examination requirements. Results. There is no evidence that any license renewal procedure or requirement for a medical examination has an effect on the overall road safety of drivers aged 65+, though undoubtedly there are individual drivers who should no longer be driving who might be detected by stringent renewal procedures. Considering the three countries with the most relaxed licensing procedures, The Netherlands and United Kingdom have the lowest fatality rate for car drivers aged 65+, and the rate for France is falling rapidly. Conclusions. There is also evidence that stringent renewal procedures and demanding medical examinations at renewal reduce the level of car driving licenses among older people. France, The Netherlands, and the United Kingdom have the highest level of driving license holding by people aged 65+, which has direct implications for the independent mobility of older people. Reduced mobility also has safety implications: in about half the European countries for which road accident fatality data have been analyzed, people aged 65+ are at greater risk of death as a pedestrian than as a car driver. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nurturing and growing innovative start-ups have become an important point on the political agenda. After the dotcom bubble, however, many financial schemes and incubation initiatives initiated, in the mid-nineties, were cancelled or down scaled. There was a consensus that innovative start-ups need more than just money. Networking and coaching were identified as additional needs. Besides this, there is a change in the intensity and nature of these needs during the different stages of the early life cycle. In this paper we make an in-depth study of three approaches to nurture and grow innovative start-ups. Each of these initiatives embeds in a very different national innovation system: Chalmers Innovation in Sweden and Anvar/Banque de Développement des PMEs in France, and Sitra's PreSeed Service in Finland. Each approach is compared in terms of its financing, networking, and coaching support, along the different stages of the start-up's life cycle. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of European Journal of Population is the property of Springer Nature and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper gives an overview of the most relevant policy developments (1999-2001) regarding higher education in a number of Western European countries. The focus is on Austria, Denmark, Finland, Flanders, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the United Kingdom. The following issues are addressed. Firstly, which issues are major issues in these countries in this three-year period? Secondly, can we explain why these issues are on the agenda? Thirdly, do the policy developments suggest increasing convergence in policies? We maintain that current policy issues reflect the existence or emergence of five global trends in and around higher education. The ubiquitousness of these trends explains why Western European governments are considering similar policy issues. However, this does not necessarily imply that governments in practice are offering similar policy solutions. It would be more accurate to state that the similar trends challenge governments to find policy solutions most suitable to reach specific national solutions in specific national contexts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores linguistic landscapes and the enactment of public visibility and presence of non-majority linguistic groups in EU member states. Non-majority linguistic groups gain power, visibility and presence through the introduction of bilingual or multilingual signposts on roads, streets, squares, and public buildings in towns and cities where a given linguistic group represents a significant population share. The article offers a comparative analysis of language policies of EU member states regarding enactment of official bilingual or multilingual signs in public space. Twenty EU member states have signed the "European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages," while 17 members have ratified it. In addition, the Charter of Fundamental Rights, an integral party of the Lisbon Treaty, stipulates that language diversity is one of the fundamental values respected by the EU. Hence, this comparative research assesses various practices employed by member states in relation to the proclaimed values of multilingualism. Consequently, the paper depicts and compares different language policies that produce linguistic landscapes in EU member states. Finally, it tries to determine whether there is a convergence towards a common EU policy on bilingual and multilingual signs in public space.

This paper explores patterns in participation in adult education and training (AET) by comparing five countries with high participation rates (the Nordic countries and the Netherlands) with three countries with significantly lower participation rates (France, Poland and the Slovak Republic). Using PIAAC data the paper examines differences in the levels of demand for AET as well as variations in barriers to AET participation between the two groups of countries. The demand for AET is higher than the actual participation rate since it includes those who do not participate although they wish to. The demand for AET is substantially higher in countries with high participation rates. Further, the structure and level of barriers is quite similar in the two groups of countries. Countries with low AET participation rate do not have a higher proportion of individuals reporting barriers to AET participation; that they do not participate in AET although they wish to. In both groups of countries demand for AET is strongly associated with the individuals' educational level. The findings are discussed by drawing on previous studies on drivers of and barriers to participation in AET.

Wood dust is an established carcinogen also linked to several non malignant respiratory disorders. A major limitation in research on wood dust and its health effects is the lack of (historical) quantitative estimates of occupational exposure for use in general population-based case-control or cohort studies. The present study aimed to develop a multinational quantitative Job Exposure Matrix (JEM) for wood dust exposure using exposure data from several Northern and Central European countries. For this, an occupational exposure database containing 12653 personal wood dust measurements collected between 1978 and 2007 in Denmark, Finland, France, The Netherlands, Norway, and the United Kingdom (UK) was established. Measurement data were adjusted for differences in inhalable dust sampling efficiency resulting from the use of different dust samplers and analysed using linear mixed effect regression with job codes (ISCO-88) and country treated as random effects. Fixed effects were the year of measurement, the expert assessment of exposure intensity (no, low, and high exposure) for every ISCO-88 job code from an existing wood dust JEM and sampling duration. The results of the models suggest that wood dust exposure has declined annually by approximately 8%. Substantial differences in exposure levels between countries were observed with the highest levels in the United Kingdom and the lowest in Denmark and Norway, albeit with similar job rankings across countries. The jobs with the highest predicted exposure are floor layers and tile setters, wood-products machine operators, and building construction labourers with geometric mean levels for the year 1997 between 1.7 and 1.9 mg/m3. The predicted exposure estimates by the model are compared with the results of wood dust measurement data reported in the literature. The model predicted estimates for full-shift exposures were used to develop a time-dependent quantitative JEM for exposure to wood dust that can be used to estimate exposure for participants of general population studies in Northern European countries on the health effects from occupational exposure to wood dust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: Increasing longevity and lower birth rates put pressure on the sustainability of pension systems. This compels countries to reform pension schemes. Different countries opt for different types of reforms. This article examines the scope of possibilities for a pension reform in two countries with distinct institutional and ideational setup: Finland and France. Design/methodology/approach: The authors utilise the framework of different modes of justification presented by Boltanski and Thévenot to reveal the reasoning used in pension reform discussions in both countries. The authors study expert reports to analyse how nationally constructed ideas and local institutions frame and shape the different logics and justifications. Findings: In Finland, the approach to pensions is dominated by industrial and market justifications. The pension system is institutionally separated into two different blocks: one addressing poverty and the other income maintenance. The separation enables the prevalence of these logics and makes it easier to promote reforms that emphasize efficiency and individual responsibility instead of income distribution. The French report is concentrated around civic and domestic dominated justifications by stressing solidarity and the role of pension systems connecting individuals and generations together. Any reform needs to consider these issues. Originality/value: The article uses a novel research design to study pension reform processes. The article distinguishes the roles that ideas and institutions have in shaping expert reasoning and reform options. The authors show how ideas and institutions form a mutually reinforcing loop which helps to explain path-dependency in pension systems. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The subject of computer science (CS) and computer science education (CSE) has relatively recently arisen as a subject for inclusion within the compulsory school curriculum. Up to this present time, a major focus of technologies in the school curriculum has in many countries been on applications of existing technologies into subject practice (both software such as office applications, and hardware such as robots and sensors). Through uses of these applications, information and communications technologies (ICT) have focused on activities to support subject and topic learning (across wide age and subject ranges). Very recently, discussions for including computers in the curriculum have shifted to a much greater focus on computing and CS, more concerned with uses of and development of programming, together with fundamental principles of problem-solving and creativity. This paper takes a policy analysis approach; it considers evidence of current implementation of CSE in school curricula, the six main arguments for wider-scale introduction of the subject, the implications for researchers, schools, teachers and learners, the state of current discussions in a range of countries, and evidence of outcomes of CSE in compulsory curricula. The paper concludes by raising key questions for the future from a policy analysis perspective.

The primary objective of this paper is to discuss the implications of applying Habermas's concept of self-critical appropriation for rethinking the structure of the modernist curriculum, specifically the organization of school subjects and instruction time devoted to each of them. To this end, the paper examines Habermas's differentiation between the three expert cultures of science, morality and art in modernity as well as the role that Habermas envisions for education in modern societies. On the basis of the above differentiation, this paper briefly reviews three national curriculums (England, France, Finland) in order to substantiate the dominant scientific-objectivating orientation underlying the structure of current national curriculums. The review provides the contextual-factual background for rethinking the curriculum. Responding to the challenges facing curriculums in the postmodern era (both theoretical and practical), this paper presents two principles stemming from the application of the concept of self-critical appropriation: balancing the curriculum and the introduction of an integrator-subject for the development and exercise of communicative competences.

This paper presents a special issue on writing around the globe. Researchers from across the world describe writing practices in their country using a wide variety of methodology. The papers show that while there are many similarities in writing instruction from one country to the next, there are also many differences. As a result, the authors call for a new international study of writing, one that takes more descriptive rather than a comparative approach.

This paper examines the expansive-restrictive continuum of apprenticeship learning in the context of different education and training systems. It compares the English state-funded apprenticeship programme for young people with the Finnish and the French programmes with a specific focus on access to learning through the programmes. These three countries represent three types of Western and Northern European education and training systems. The paper argues that there are country-specific meanings of apprenticeship that influence how access to learning along the expansive-restrictive continuum is typically characterised. These country-specific meanings of apprenticeship arise from their context in differing education and training systems. The paper concludes that the English conceptualisation of apprenticeship as training lends itself to more restrictive approaches to apprenticeship than the Finnish and the French programmes in terms of access to learning.

This paper is based on work done at IdeaSquare, a new innovation experiment at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research. The paper explores the translation of fundamental research into societal applications with the help of multidisciplinary student teams, project- and problem-based learning and design thinking methods. The theme is approached through challenge based innovation (CBI), a pilot course coordinated by IdeaSquare in 2013-2014 in collaboration with three universities. The approach, including a visit to CERN, appears to motivate the participating students to really strong, self-directed learning and can produce new, innovative concepts for societal applications with an inspirational connection to CERN. As a result of their iterative development, the student teams created two concepts: EDUMIND to help autistic kids to communicate through augmented reality technology, and CMPRSSD to use advanced data processing to record and compress project meetings. Both of the projects were also developed further by their stakeholders after the course.

The development of communication and other soft skills among computer science students is not usually an easy task. Often, curricula focus on technical skills, with team projects being used for the improvement of communication skills. However, these teams usually comprise solely of computer science students. In this paper, we present a didactical methodology, called MIMI, which can be used in a short, intensive, programme for undergraduate students. This methodology has been implemented in real projects that have run annually since 2014. We advocate the use of team-based projects, with an important requirement that each team is both multidisciplinary and multinational. Additionally, the period of teamwork is short and intensive. A significant role in the project is given to team mentors. A mentor is a person, usually a university lecturer, who helps the team organize their work and tracks if the team's planned didactical results are being achieved. The program has proved to stimulate an increase of soft skills among the students who participated and, in particular, among the computer science students. The detailed description of our process will allow others to implement and build similar events in their university or company environments, the focus of which is a Multinational, Intercultural, Multidisciplinary & Intensive (MIMI) methodology approach.

Context: Existing studies have explored the association between workplace training and wages suggesting that training participation may have a positive association with wages. However, we still know very little about whether this association varies between men and women. Through its potential positive association with wages, training may balance wage differences between men and women. In addition, the gender wage gap varies across the wage distribution. Differences in the association between training participation and wages for men and women across the earnings spectrum may offer an explanation as to why the discrepancy in female/male earnings is larger at some point of the wage distribution compared to others. Approach: Using data from the Programme for International Assessment of Adult Competencies (PIAAC) and unconditional quantile regression, this paper examines whether the association between workplace training and wages differs between men and women at different points of the wage distribution across 14 European countries. To partly control for endogeneity in training participation, detailed measures of cognitive skills have been included in the models. Findings: Findings show gender differences in the association between training and wages across the wage distribution. In most countries, results indicate larger training coefficients for women than men at the lower end of the wage spectrum whereas they are larger for men at the top. This pattern holds across most countries with the only exception of Liberal ones, where women benefit less than men across the entire wage spectrum. Conclusions: The findings of this work reveal that distributional variations in returns to workplace training follow a similar pattern across industrialized countries, despite their different institutional settings. Moreover, differences in training coefficients of men and women at different parts of the wage distribution suggest that training could reduce gender wage differences among low earners and potentially widen the gap in wages among individuals at the top of the wage distribution.

Seamless learning has a significance that has been increasing in recent years, and an increasing number of studies on the subject in the literature draws attention. This study aimed to examine the research on seamless learning between 1996 and 2020 with the bibliometric analysis method. The Scopus database was used in the collection of the data. After various screening processes, a total of 389 publications were included in the analysis. Descriptive analysis and bibliometric analysis were used in the analysis of the data. The distribution of publications by years, types of publications, sources, and languages were analyzed in the research. Additionally, visual maps were created with analyses of co-author, cocitation, and co-word. At the end of the study, it was seen that there has been an increase in the number of publications from the past to the present, articles and papers were predominant, and that most of the studies were carried out in English. As a result of bibliometric analysis, it was concluded that the most efficient countries in seamless learning were the United Kingdom, the United States, and Singapore. Also, it has been determined that the National Institute of Education, Center for International Education and Exchange, and Kyushu University institutions are dominant. The most frequently mentioned authors cited in studies in many different fields are M. Sharples, L.-H. Wong, and H. Ogata. According to the co-word analysis, the keywords seamless learning, mobile learning, ubiquitous learning, and mobile-assisted language learning stand out in the field of seamless learning.

Introduction: In the past years, governments from several countries have shown interest in implementing integrated health information systems. The interRAI Suite of instruments fits this concept, as it is a set of standardised, evidence-based assessments, which have been validated for different care settings. The system allows the electronic transfer of information across care settings, enabling integration of care and providing support for care planning and quality monitoring. The main purpose of this research is to describe the recent implementation process of the interRAI instruments in seven countries: Belgium, Switzerland, France, Ireland, Iceland, Finland and New Zealand. Methods: The study applied a case study methodology with the focus on the implementation strategies in each country. Principal investigators gathered relevant information from multiple sources and summarised it according to specific aspects of the implementation process, comparing them across countries. The main implementation aspects are described, as well as the main advantages and barriers perceived by the users. Results: The seven case studies showed that adequate staffing, appropriate information technology, availability of hardware, professional collaboration and continuous training are perceived as important factors which can contribute to the implementation of the interRAI instruments. In addition, the use of electronic standardised assessment instruments such as the interRAI Suite provided evidence to improve decision-making and quality of care, enabling resource planning and benchmarking. Conclusion: In practice, the implementation of health information systems is a process that requires a cultural shift of policymakers and professional caregivers at all levels of health policy and service delivery. Information about the implementation process of the interRAI Suite in different countries can help investigators and policymakers to better plan this implementation. This research sheds light on the advantages and pitfalls of the implementation of the interRAI Suite of instruments and proposes approaches to overcome difficulties [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background As a system of European Reference Networks (ERNs) emerges, the differences in quality of care for patients with rare cancers may increase at national level. We aimed to elucidate the processes and healthcare planning principles through which the reference centres (RCs) for rare cancers are embedded in national health systems. Methods We used a multiple case-study design based on the experiences of Czechia, Finland, France, Italy, Lithuania and Spain. Using sarcoma as an example of rare cancer, 52 semi-structured interviews were conducted during on-site visits, including a multidisciplinary group of professionals, Ministry of Health professionals, patient representatives and European policymakers. Results The comparative analysis showed substantial heterogeneity in the processes for formalizing RCs' status and in their levels of integration in the different health systems, but two models (centre-based and the network-based) can be envisaged at national level. RCs for rare cancers were legally established only in France and Spain. Expert clinicians cooperate in a structured way, using network mechanisms, in France and Italy, and these countries, plus Finland and Lithuania, had a referral system to facilitate patients' access from non-expert centres to RCs. Seven key healthcare planning principles in instituting RCs at the national level were identified. Conclusions The conditions governing patient access to treatment centres—whether RCs or not—are decided at the national level. It is advisable to progressively align the European and national levels so that the RCs that participate in the ERNs also play a significant role at the national level. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the light of the European Union's interest in creativity and innovation, this paper, drawing on data from the EU project Creative Little Scientists (2011-2014), explores the teaching and learning of science and creativity in Early Years education. The project's conceptual framework, developed from detailed analysis of relevant literatures, highlighted the potential existence of a number of pedagogical synergies between inquiry-based science and creativity-based approaches in Early Years education. The science and creativity literature reviews were thus re-examined to identify synergistic features of teaching and learning in the Early Years. These were seen to include: play and exploration, motivation and affect, dialogue and collaboration, problem-solving and agency, questioning and curiosity, reflection and reasoning, and teacher scaffolding and involvement. Field work undertaken over a 4-month-period in 48 sites across the 9 partner countries provided the opportunity to examine the existence of these synergies in Early Years settings and primary classrooms with learners aged 3-8 years. Qualitative in nature, the fieldwork was framed by a case study strategy encompassing multiple methods of data collection: sequential digital images capturing interactions; observations supplemented by audio recording; timelines; and interviews with teachers and groups of children. The data set comprised 71 cases in early science (and mathematics), with 3 episodes of activity per case encapsulating creativity in these domains, resulting in 218 episodes for analysis. A deductive-inductive analytical approach was undertaken in two phases with cross-case analysis both within and between countries. The paper exemplifies the pedagogical synergies innovatively identified in the conceptual framework and documented in the fieldwork, and highlights the potential for creativity in exploratory science contexts. Additionally, it highlights differences between practice observed in preschool and primary settings and advances a new conceptual definition of creativity within Early Years science education.

Purpose: This paper aimed to examine moderate-to-vigorous physical activity (MVPA) levels in physical education. Method: A review of reviews was conducted in accordance with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses guidelines. The screening process, data extraction, assessment of the risk of bias, and analysis of the results were carried out independently by two reviewers. A total of eight systematic reviews from six databases, which included 224 studies, involving more than 80,000 students (elementary, middle, and high school), enrolled in more than 450 schools worldwide were unpacked. Results: Students fail to meet the 50% recommendation of MVPA lesson time, irrespective of country, school stage, gender, or MVPA measures. Physical education-based interventions increased students' MVPA during lessons (range 14.3%-24%) compared with control groups. Conclusion: Physical education is uniquely positioned to provide physical activity opportunities for students, but teachers must target the provision of adequate MVPA levels, which is not currently happening.

Background and purpose: Social engagement is an important active aging strategy to promote older adults' mental health. The purposes of this study were to compare social engagement in older populations around the world and explore associations with mental health outcomes. Materials and methods: An international cross‐sectional survey was conducted from 2017 to 2019. Data were retrieved from The International Social Survey Programme for a secondary data analysis across 30 countries. This study applied the Taxonomy of Social Activities and its six levels as operational definitions for a consistent concept of social engagement for international comparisons. Results: In total, 9403 older adults with a mean age of 72.85 ± 6.40 years responded. The highest levels of older adults' social engagement were found in Switzerland, Thailand, and New Zealand. Older adults of a higher age, with a lower educational level, who were permanently sick or disabled, who had no partner, who were widowed or whose civil partner had died, who lived alone, and who had lower self‐placement in society had significantly lower social engagement than did their counterparts. In the regression model, older adults' social engagement positively predicted general health, self‐accomplishment, and life satisfaction, but negatively predicted loneliness and depression. Conclusions: In aging societies worldwide, encouraging older adults' social engagement would be beneficial to promote mental health. Implications for nursing practice and health policies: Community professional nurses can develop strategies of social engagement based on the needs and sociodemographic factors of older adults to improve their mental health. Developing efficient strategies and local policies by learning from successful experiences in other countries is important to promote social engagement in aging societies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Energy plays a vital role in promoting sustainable economic development in complex societies. This study has analyzed the impact of electricity consumption on three European Union member countries' economic growth, i.e., Portugal, France, and Finland, caring structural breaks in cointegration analyses. The empirical results indicate a positive impact of electric power consumption on economic growth in the long and short run in Finland and Portugal and in the long run in France. The findings also highlight the positive and significant role of the labor force in boosting economic growth in the long and short run in France and Finland. However, it shrinks economic growth in the long run in Portugal. The study discloses the positive role of capital in the long run in the case of Portugal. Similar results are found in all three countries in the short run. Moreover, the study diagnoses a bidirectional causal relationship between economic growth and electric power consumption in Finland in the long and short run and in France in the long run. A growth-promoting or electricity-led growth hypothesis is found in Portugal. By simulating the mean values of electric power consumption, economic growth follows an increasing trend in all the countries. Hence, electric power consumption has appeared an essential factor in elevating economic growth in all three selected countries. Based on these results, this study suggests that the provision of electricity supply ventures may be expanded in the selected EU member countries in order to enhance economic growth. The study also suggests that emphasis should be shifted from non-renewable energy sources to renewable energy sources to ensure the provision of clean energy to all the public under the umbrella of sustainable development goals of 2030. Hence, the present study contributes to achieving sustainable economic growth in the selected EU member countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the multimodal pedagogical communication of two groups of online teachers; trainee tutors (second year students of the Master of Arts in Teaching French as a Foreign Language at the University Lumiere-Lyon 2) and experienced teachers based in different locations (France, Spain and Finland). They all taught French as a Foreign Language to a group of students from UC Berkeley in 2010. They participated in a project using a desktop videoconferencing platform ("VISU") designed for delivering online courses. The study focuses on the webcam's effects on teaching and learning and tries to answer the following question: how does multimodal interaction affect interactive learning? Our hypothesis is that experienced teachers channel information through the webcam more efficiently and effectively in order to engage learners in knowledge construction. This paper presents the results of research based on an empirical method of collecting ecological data.

Education is the core of the factors that improved people for a better lifestyle and increases the level of society' development. Quality education is one of the most vital goals of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) due to actualizing these factors. Using relational network data envelopment analysis (DEA), which have three interrelated substages, this current paper computes the educational economy efficiency of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries bearing in mind the characteristics related to SDGs. The contribution of our study is the use of a novel approach to computing the educational economy efficiency using relational network DEA with GAMS. Even though some interesting differences reveal in the efficiency of the countries, the findings show that countries with high-efficiency scores are clustered around countries like Latvia, Slovenia, and Korea.

This paper presents qualitative research examining to what extent sojourns abroad engage their participants in intercultural interactions and whether or not such experience translates into students' intercultural growth. The results of the study demonstrated that studying abroad did not provide students with ample opportunities to immerse into the local community and fully discover a new cultural environment. However, students surrounded by local and their fellow international students met foreign cultures, which motivated them to explore and interpret the encountered diversity, and thus equipped them with knowledge about foreign cultures, sensitizing them to cultural diversity. Sometimes such contacts challenged students' preconceived judgments and stereotypes of specific cultural groups, their ways of thinking, valuing and acting, and resulted, to a lesser or greater extent, in rethinking these, leading to changing attitudes and values. International experiences also stimulated students to self-analyze their own cultural identity, and thereby contributed to their growth in self-awareness in this respect. By offering opportunities for experiencing cultural differences and prompting students to develop coping strategies and to make references to the home culture, the sojourn is thus of significant importance for tertiary students, allowing for fostering their intercultural development to a certain degree.