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Background: Attention to the healthcare workforce has increased, yet comprehensive information on migrant healthcare workers is missing. This study focuses on migrant healthcare workers' experiences and mobility patterns in the middle of a global health crisis, aiming to explore the capacity for circular migration and support effective and equitable healthcare workforce policy., Methods: Romanian physicians working in Germany during the COVID-19 pandemic served as an empirical case study. We applied a qualitative explorative approach; interviews (n = 21) were collected from mid of September to early November 2022 and content analysis was performed., Results and Discussion: Migrant physicians showed strong resilience during the COVID-19 crisis and rarely complained. Commitment to high professional standards and career development were major pull factors towards Germany, while perceptions of limited career choices, nepotism and corruption in Romania caused strong push mechanisms. We identified two major mobility patterns that may support circular migration policies: well-integrated physicians with a wish to give something back to their home country, and mobile cosmopolitan physicians who flexibly balance career opportunities and personal/family interests. Health policy must establish systematic monitoring of the migrant healthcare workforce including actor-centred approaches, support integration in destination countries as well as health system development in sending countries, and invest in evidence-based circular migration policy., (© 2024 The Authors. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: This is the second part of a 3-part discussion paper by the working group on "Qualitative Methods" in the German network of health services research (DNVF) that shall contribute to the development of a memorandum concerning qualitative health services research. It aims to depict the different types of qualitative research that are conducted in health services research in Germany. In addition, the authors present a specific set of qualitative data collection and analysis tools to demonstrate the potential of qualitative research for health services research. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH IN HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH - AN OVERVIEW: To give an overview of the types of qualitative research conducted in German health services research, the abstracts of the 8th German Conference on Health Services Research were filtered to identify qualitative or mixed-methods studies. These were then analysed by looking at the context which was studied, who was studied, the aims of the studies, and what type of methods were used. Those methods that were mentioned most often for data collection and analysis are described in detail. QUALITATIVE RESEARCH AT THE CONFERENCE FOR HEALTH SERVICES RESEARCH 2009: Approximately a fifth of all abstracts (n=74) had a qualitative (n=47) or a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative and qualitative methods (n=27). Research aims included needs assessment (41%), survey development (36%), evaluation (22%), and theorizing (1%). Data collection mostly consisted of one-on-one interviews (n=45) and group discussions (n=29). Qualitative content analysis was named in 35 abstracts, 30 abstracts did not reference their method of analysis. In addition to a quantitative summary of the abstract findings, the diversity of fields addressed by qualitative methods is highlighted., Conclusion: Although drawing conclusions on the use of qualitative methods in German health services research from the analysis of conference abstracts is not possible, the overview we present demonstrates the diversity of methods used for data collection and analysis and showed that a few select methods are extensively used. One of the tasks a memorandum of qualitative health services research should accomplish is to highlight underutilized research methods, which may help to develop the potential of qualitative methodology in German health services research., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

In this first part of a 3-part discussion paper the working group "Qualitative Methods" in the German Network of Health Services Research (DNVF) identifies the potentials and opportunities qualitative research methods provide for health services research. Many research questions relevant for health services research require the use of qualitative methods. However, the potential of and need for qualitative research in health services research has not yet received sufficient attention from funding bodies. We discuss the applicability and importance of qualitative research for the field of health services research. We then move on to describe the key characteristics of qualitative research that need to be taken into account in health services research. We discuss characteristics such as open-ended (qualitative) data, interpretation of meanings, the search for contradictions, closeness to everyday life, openness towards change or modification of the research question and processes in the context of health services research. To ensure a high-quality approach in qualitative methods for the health services research, sufficient competency in methods and appropriate settings that account for the peculiarities of qualitative methods need to be developed. These include an appropriate time frame and sufficient and qualified personnel to conduct qualitative research. Qualitative research is not a research paradigm in itself rather it comprises of many different and diverging approaches. The goal of this paper is to show the diversity of qualitative research methods, its importance for health services research, and to open up the discussion on strategies for integrating qualitative methods into health services research., (© Georg Thieme Verlag KG Stuttgart · New York.)

This paper discusses the conception of a joint intercultural students' research program of one German and two Kyrgyzstani teachers and students from the Otto-von-Guericke University of Magdeburg (Germany) and the American University of Central Asia (Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan). The paper conceptualizes such a research training program and gives reference to qualitative methods teaching in the two corresponding universities. What follows is a description of the chosen research topic: "The 'Intersections' of Gender, Family, and Society in Kyrgyzstan" and the course program. With different academic cultures concerning research ethics in the Anglo-Saxon and continental European contexts, a challenge for such a program will be addressed. A short review of the research results of the different students' teams is provided, and the paper is finalized with a self-reflection upon such a joint intercultural undertaking.

In this keynote address given at the International Association for Citizenship, Social and Economics Education (IACSEE) Conference in July 2015, Sabine Manzel focused on participation and decision-making as key competences for democracy. She analysed with standardized videography how both of these competences are realized in classroom interaction.

This paper examines practices of teaching and learning in the era of digitalization. More specifically, it addresses practices of teaching and learning for students with professional experience who work alongside their studies. Based on the assumption that digitalization is a means of allowing more open and flexible pathways for teaching and learning in higher education, the paper focuses on the perspectives and perceptions of both students and teachers in digital supported teaching and learning environments as forms of blended learning. It brings together findings from two qualitative empirical studies: one focused on students' perspectives of their development over the course of their studies; the second addressed teachers' perspectives and their teaching strategies and activities. Based on the findings of these two research studies, the paper outlines future perspectives for teaching and learning and the role of digitalization, with a particular emphasis on programs of lifelong learning at universities.

Educational choices, especially the influence of class on these choices have been a subject of lively international debate. However, thus far, there has been little international and comparative research with respect to vocational and education training (VET) decision making from a subject-oriented perspective. This paper considers occupational-biographical orientations of English and German car mechatronics and focuses on the roles of learning and gaining vocational qualifications. Drawing on the concept of occupational-biographical orientations, the paper describes three types of orientations based on analyses of findings from 11 autobiographical-narrative interviews with English and German car mechatronics. The interviews clearly showed that occupational-biographical orientations explained different views on the necessity of returning to (continuous) vocational education and training. They also demonstrated that subjective perceptions of the national VET system fostered particular occupational-biographical challenges, which supported or hindered existing learning attitudes. Overall, the findings suggested that occupational-biographical orientations exerted the most important influence on learning biographies and decisions to return to (continuous) VET.

The growing numbers of mobile students over the years made the provision of student services a key topic of interest for higher education institutions. In order to offer a better experience for international students, it is important to be aware of and assess their needs in relation to different sets of support services. The data used in this paper were gathered through the ESNsurvey 2016 project, a research venture focused on the experiences of participants in short-term student mobility in Europe. Responses were collected from 12,365 international students, who have participated in a short-term (3-12 months) study period abroad mostly through Europe's most promoted mobility program called ERASMUS+. For the purpose of this paper, the focus was only on the aspect of host university support services. The comments of 2,012 students about their experiences were analyzed using a probabilistic methodology known as Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA). The findings reveal that some international students' concerns are not fully addressed by higher education institutions. The main problem areas identified with respect to host support services were admission, living costs, including accommodation and money concerns, and IT and bank issues. It is strongly recommended that universities address the problematic areas through student support services by assessing international students' opinions and needs.

In this study, the variables having impact on the student motivation have been analyzed based on the articles, conference papers, master's theses and doctoral dissertations published in the years 2000-2017. A total of 165 research papers were selected for the research material and the data were collected through qualitative research techniques through document review and content analysis. According to the research results, the most important factors affecting student motivation are the fields of teacher, teachers' classroom management skills and their teaching methods. In this research, factors having less influence on the student motivation are parental communication, student characteristics and study fields. In addition, relational search type was used more than others, mostly students were selected as the study group and most researches were conducted in USA and Turkey.

Over the last twenty years, visual methods in childhood research have become more mainstream across social science research. Through this paradigm shift, children became active agents in the research process. Participant-produced drawings in particular allow a constructive process of thinking in action, rather than seeing drawings as simple representations of the participants' worldviews. In this paper, we use participant-produced drawings as a window into students' perceptions of the mathematics classroom learning milieu from a social perspective. The goals of this report are threefold: (1) to conceptualize the complex and multifaceted construct of classroom social climate from the standpoint of primary grade students by using a qualitative research approach (i.e., participant-produced drawings), (2) to evaluate the extent to which participant-produced drawings can be used when researching the construct of classroom social climate, and (3) to provide two analytical tools that can be used in qualitative inquiry on classroom social climate in different mathematics lessons. To conclude, versatile recommendations for theory and practice are discussed regarding the employed methodology (i.e., participant-produced drawings as a visual research method) as well as some possible future directions.

The role of industry in the higher education system is becoming more prevalent, as universities integrate a practical element into their curricula. However, the level of development of cooperative education and work-integrated learning varies from country to country. In Germany, cooperative education and work-integrated learning has a long tradition, due to vocational institutions having strong links with industry. In contrast, the work-integrated study models in Asia, such as in Thailand, offer limited levels of practical experience, as part of the higher education curricula. In addition, Thailand continues to experience a lack of skilled graduates, who are exposed to work-integrated learning during their studies. The study on which this paper is based seeks to benchmark study models in Thailand, against the German Duale Hochschule Baden-Wuerttemberg (DHBW) study model, in order to identify development opportunities in the Thai model, focusing on the aim of meeting the needs of industry. The Office of Higher Education Commission in Thailand hopes to address the inherent issues, through implementing the recommendations made in this paper.

This paper explores the historic ideas and practice of outdoor education, as developed in Jean Jacques Rousseau's "Émile", and realized by Adolf Reichwein's rural teaching practice. We aimed at developing a comprehensive research design, triangulating different qualitative data (text and photos). In the paper, we explore how the idea of place-based outdoor education unfolded in Rousseaús "Émile", and how Adolf Reichwein, in rural Tiefensee, enacted the practice of place-based outdoor education. We also investigate how to correlate different types of qualitative data (conceptual text and documentary photos). We show that it is possible to develop a research language, revealing how a philosophy of education can be enacted as educational practice, and our analysis demonstrates that Rousseaús and Reichwein's works functioned as precursors for outdoor education and educational concepts, that activate the cognitive, affective, and motoric domains.

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Although the number of multilingual qualitative research studies appears to be growing, investigations concerned with methodological issues arising from the use of several languages within a single research are still very scarce. Most of these seem to deal exclusively with issues related to the use of interpreters and translators in qualitative research (e.g., Temple & Edwards, 2002; Temple, Edwards & Alexander, 2006; Edwards, 1998; Temple & Young 2004). Methodological investigations going beyond pure translation dilemmas in qualitative research are, however, almost non-existent. The reason for this seems to be simple: the situation where the researcher possesses mother-tongue fluency in all or most of the languages used in a particular study--and, thus, is in a position to probe interpretational and representational problematics related to the multilingual character of this study with an adequate depth--is very rare. The author of this paper has used her recent qualitative research work in the area of Information Systems as the basis for a meta-study in which she investigates selected methodological issues resulting from the use of five different languages within the frame of a single research work. This paper specifically focuses on challenges encountered and observations made concerning three different issues, namely, how to choose the interview languages in a situation where the prospective interviewees have very diverse ethnic backgrounds, which languages to use for the data analysis in a situation where the data has been collected in several different languages, and how to determine the most appropriate stage of the research for transitioning from the languages used to collect and analyze the data to the language of the final research product. Although this meta-study is based on an Information Systems research work and is, thus, specifically addressing qualitative Information Systems researchers conducting multilingual research and encountering language-related issues in their work, this study might also be of interest to any researcher using qualitative research methodologies and employing more than one language to collect data, conduct data analysis, and craft the final research product. (Contains 1 figure, 6 tables and 7 footnotes.)

Comparing places represents one of the most traditional threads of comparative inquiry. However, international and comparative (adult) education research has to date focused on comparing places more in the sense of territorial entities. In contrast, this paper moves away from understandings of national or regional territories as given, container-like units, criticised as methodological nationalism. It draws instead on theoretical approaches of social spatiality and, in particular, on Werlen's works on action-centred geography. Findings of qualitative research on organisations providing adult education in two cross-border regions at Germany's territorial periphery serve as an empirical framework, analysing the programme planning activities of their managerial staff. The paper argues that it is the pedagogical actions and practices of these professionals, rather than the territorial entities, that become the "tertium comparationis," eliciting the professionals' share in the overall process of (re)producing social space and, ultimately, territory.

In L2 reading, words and the concepts they denote frequently constitute an important vehicle or obstacle in the comprehension process. However, this has been rarely explored from a language awareness perspective. The current research therefore tailors the constructs of lexical awareness and conceptual awareness to L2 reading contexts by using a video-based approach within text-based cooperative learning environments. The corpus comprises data from 156 EFL learners in 9th grade at German schools who engaged in collaborative strategic reading tasks. The results of the qualitative content analysis demonstrate the multidimensionality of the two major constructs and provide insight into L2 learners' degree of awareness as well as their need for further support. In particular, not only target-lexical and target-conceptual aspects need to be borne in mind, but also the cross-linguistic and cross-cultural dimensions arising from learners' knowledge of other languages and from their prior life experience within specific sociocultural environments. The findings have been incorporated into a revised iceberg model of L2 lexical and conceptual awareness, which illustrates the potentially deceptive nature of the lexical surface as well as the continua of lexical and conceptual similarities and discrepancies across languages and cultures. [This paper was presented at the 13th International Conference of the Association for Language Awareness, Vienna, July 2016.]

This paper argues that links between academia and other economic sectors are increasing, especially through intersectoral mobility of university graduates. Murray [(2010). "The Oncomouse that Roared: Hybrid Exchange Strategies as a Source of Distinction at the Boundary of Overlapping Institutions." "American Journal of Sociology" 116 (2): 341-388] has identified literature pointing both to blending and continuing co-existence of the academic and commercial worlds. Based on a European-wide study of PhD graduates in the social sciences and humanities (SSH), this paper considers the extent to which intersectoral mobility reflects blending. It finds that intersectoral communities of practice exist mainly in applied fields of knowledge. However, in many areas of the SSH, differences in institutional norms and values inhibit intersectoral mobility, particularly in mid-career stages.

The increasing number of migrants and refugees arriving in Europe places new demands on European education systems. In this context, the role that free digital learning (FDL) could play in fostering inclusion has attracted renewed interest. While the existing literature highlights some general design principles for developing FDL for migrants and refugees, there is little information on the use of FDL at specific education levels, or for specific learning purposes. This paper presents the results of a qualitative study that was carried out as part of the Moocs4Inclusion project of the Joint Research Centre (JRC) between July and December 2016. The study, which has a European focus, disaggregates the analysis of FDL initiatives by what were identified as its three most common purposes: (a) language learning, (b) civic integration and employment, and (c) higher education. For each of these topics, the study sheds light on the approaches used by a wide sample of initiatives, users' levels of awareness of what is available and take up, and migrants' and refugees' perceptions of the current offer. In order to collect the information needed to cover different approaches and perspectives, semi-structured interviews with 24 representatives of 10 FDL initiatives and four focus groups with 39 migrants and refugees were carried out. The results show that there are indeed overlaps between the purposes of FDL initiatives and their design principles. Specific recommendations on how to better design FDL initiatives for migrants and refugees, taking into account their specific purposes, have also been identified.

This paper describes and analyses the results of research into the learning experiences of young people in Germany who sponsor a child living in the Global South as part of their school activities. First, the research context and methodological approach is presented. A qualitative-reconstructive design was applied using the documentary method of analysis to identify implicit knowledge structures. Second, the central findings, particularly three reconstructed types of learning experiences--concretization, generalization, dissociation--are presented and illustrated by extracts from the empirical data. Third, the discussion of the results reveals the limits of global learning from child sponsoring.

This paper reflects upon our experience gained from engagement in a meta-ethnography of two studies on interactions between teachers and students in schools situated in England and Germany. Starting with a short overview of Noblit and Hare's (1988) conceptualisation of the method, the paper outlines the meta-ethnography we undertook especially focusing on the process of translation. We present the findings of our study which show teachers' understanding of the pastoral aspect of their role as incompatible with demands related to their performance and to those associated with their institutional responsibilities. We show also how attempts to develop personalised interactions with students may reinforce students' vulnerability. Our final discussion contributes our own deliberations about the potentials and challenges of the method, especially in relation to the role of the ethnographers and their relationship to the meta-ethnographic field.

Purpose: This paper aims to describe the principles underlying the successful implementation of a lecture recording service in higher education. Design/methodology/approach: The paper qualitatively reviews the practices and experiences of several years of automated lecture recording at a medium-sized university in Germany. Findings: The paper concludes that there are several principles that should be followed to successfully implement lecture recordings in higher education. Practical implications: The principles described in this paper can serve as recommendations for other universities that would like to establish or optimize their own lecture recording service. Originality/value: The value of the paper lies mainly in the great amount of experience in successfully running a lecture recording service on which the principles and recommendations are based.

Taking the establishment of structured doctoral programmes in Germany as an example, this paper focuses on how knowledge production in certain academic fields reshapes their doctoral education in a widely changing policy context. Based on case studies of eight graduate schools in three research fields, namely economics, life sciences, and literature--cultural studies, this paper illustrates the different components of structured doctoral programmes in the above three fields, and analyses the heterogeneity in the motivation and pathways of doctoral education reform. This paper concludes that the structured doctoral programmes in Germany manifest several characteristics of the new mode of knowledge production. However, these characteristics have very different implications for different academic fields, which should be taken into consideration when making relevant policies.

Immigrant teachers face several specific expectations from policy makers, colleagues, as well as the media. Often new hopes are pinned on them for teaching (ethnically) diverse learners. Their professional identity is inevitably linked to these expectations. In this regard, this paper discusses the findings of a qualitative study exploring the professional identities of immigrant teachers. Furthermore, it draws implications for teacher education. Reflecting on our research findings, we illustrate two types of professional identities: Teachers who accept the "special skills" ascribed to them, and where the migration background constitutes the core of their professional identity, as well as others, who reject the expectations, and appeal to the pedagogical skills they share with their colleagues without a migration background. Given our findings, future teachers need more support when it comes to reflecting their own biography, political and public expectations, and the bearings on their professional identity.

The purpose of this study is to analyze the process of school principal selection and appointment in Turkey and some other developed countries in a comparative way. The specific purpose is to make suggestions in order to improve the school principal selection process in Turkey by comparatively analyzing school principal selection process in Turkey and some developed countries. The focus is on the principal selection processes in the USA, Germany, and Finland, and it makes a comparison with the current situation implemented in Turkey. In most of the states in the USA, in order to be a principal, a certificate, a master's degree, and being an actual teacher are required. In the study methodology, official papers and documents have been analyzed in the context of research review in order to study the existing materials that do not require collecting through a data collection tool. These documents include related official reports, graduate thesis, articles, proceedings, National Education Councils conclusions, and legislative texts consisting of official regulations. The findings indicate that there are various selection methods used for this purpose. District Board of Education is in charge at selection procedures. In Germany, there is a variety of selection procedures among the states. The states' Education Ministries and administrators are in charge of selection and appointment of principals and modifications of selection procedures. The state exams and regular official performance assessments by superiors are decisive in the centralized selection process in most federal states. In Finland, a certificate and teaching qualification are required to be a principal. Interviews and tests are used in the selection procedures. Administrators and educational committee members are in charge of the highly decentralized selection process. There are some common and varied features in principal selection process between Turkey and the mentioned countries in the study. In Turkey, school principality is regarded as a secondary role to a teacher and the principal selection processes, procedures, and rules change very frequently in time.

Despite advances made there is still an implementation gap with regard to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) in formal educational systems at the school level. The present paper focuses on sustainability reporting as a recently emerging practice in the school sector. It presents the approach and findings of an exploratory interview study at three pioneer schools in Germany that have started to establish sustainability reporting mechanisms. The study has examined how the reporting process is evaluated by project managers with regard to its benefits and challenges. Findings support the potential of sustainability reporting at schools to contribute to an increase in students' participation in sustainability-related activities at school, create accountability concerning the school's efforts, help structure the existing sustainability projects and demonstrate new possible courses of action. The high expenditure of time, the teachers' high workload and lack of support given to the teachers have been identified as major challenges of the reporting process. Further directions for future research into reporting practices at schools are given.

Computer-mediated communication and remote collaboration has become an unexceptional norm as an educational modality for distance and open education, therefore the need to research and analyze students' online learning experience is necessary. This paper seeks to examine the assumptions and expectations held by students in regard to computer-mediated communication and how their lay theories developed and changed within the context of their practical experiences in conducting a remote collaborative project, through computer-mediated communication. We conducted a qualitative content analysis of students' final reports from an inter-institutional online course on computer-mediated communication and remote collaboration. The results show that students' assumptions were altered and indicate the strong benefits of teaching how to collaborate remotely, especially if a blended approach of theory and practical application are combined.

Purpose: This empirical paper aims to assess how social media can foster workplace learning within a globally dispersed project environment. In general, there are few studies on the use of social media in organizations, and many of these emphasize on issues related to knowledge transfer. Although learning traditionally has been as acquisition of knowledge, increasingly researchers point to learning-as-participation occurring through work collaboration. Social media promise increased opportunities for communication and collaboration, extending the context of collaboration beyond the local setting. However, there exists limited research on how social media can foster workplace learning, for example, between globally dispersed colleagues. Design/methodology/approach: The study is based on an exploratory, in-depth single case study of an international professional service firm's implementation of an internal wiki system to address the research question: how are social media utilized in an organization to foster workplace learning among its dispersed individual experts? Data are gathered in 35 semi-structured interviews, as well as documents studies and observations. Data are coded and analyzed utilizing the context and learning factors of workplace learning. Findings: The paper shows how the wiki system enables hybrid knowledge management strategies linked to virtual collaboration on daily project tasks, involving documentation, search, interaction and knowledge exchange, as well as socialization and learning from practice among dispersed groups and individuals. The learning mechanisms involved in virtual collaboration do not differ much from what is reported on face-to-face workplace learning, however, the context factors are extended beyond the local setting. Practical implications: The findings identify four determinants for using the wiki that can be of use to other organizations implementing similar virtual collaboration technology. First, the wiki must directly relate to the daily work by offering interactive and updated information concerning current project challenges. Second, the system must enable transparency in the daily project work to allow search. Third, the intention with the search is of lesser degree to identify encyclopedic information than it is to visualize individual competence. Fourth, the quality assurance of the data posted at the wiki is important. Originality/value: The study reveals how an international knowledge-based organization can utilize social media to leverage knowledge and experiences from multiple geographically dispersed projects by enabling virtual collaboration. Extant empirical research on workplace learning emphasizes on face-to-face interactions in groups, for example, when engineers, or accountants, in teams interact and collaborate at client premises. However, there exists limited knowledge concerning how workplace learning can be achieved through virtual collaboration.

Research on engineering practice is scarce and sharing of qualitative research data can reduce the effort required for an aspiring researcher to obtain enough data from engineering workplaces to draw generalizable conclusions, both qualitative and quantitative. This paper describes how a large shareable qualitative data set on engineering practices was accumulated from 350 interviews and 12 field studies performed by the principal investigator and by students conducting PhD and capstone research projects. Ethical research practice required that sharing and reuse of qualitative data be considered from the start. The researchers' interests and methods were aligned to maintain sufficient consistency to support subsequent analysis and re-analysis of data. Analysis helped to answer questions of fundamental significance for engineering educators: what do engineers do, and why are the performances of engineering enterprises so different in South Asia compared with similar enterprises in Australia? Analysis also demonstrated the overwhelming significance of technical collaboration in engineering practice. Conceiving engineering practice as a series of technical collaboration performances requires a more elaborate understanding of social interactions than is currently the case in engineering schools. Another finding is that global engineering competency could be better described in terms of "working with people who collaborate differently". Research helped to demonstrate that formal treatment of technical collaboration in an engineering curriculum could help avoid student misconceptions about engineering practice that hinder their subsequent engineering performances.

This paper investigates the Islam and Muslim life in German textbooks. The study is based on the analysis of current Geography textbooks in Bavarian secondary schools. As a first step, the authors developed a system for objective analysis of the textbooks that structures the content in categories. In a second step, the authors used the qualitative method. One category system was developed to analyze the didactical quality of the illustration to the theme Islam and Muslim life another category system was developed to analyze the different aspects of Islam and Muslim life in textbooks. Quantitative analysis shows that the book authors use a variety of illustrations, but especially photos followed by maps. The quality is generally good. Three aspects were selected for qualitative analysis: Spatial representations of Islam, Islam as a religion and Muslim people in Germany. The spatial representation of Islam across the different textbooks is very diverse. Islam is usually not presented as a European phenomenon. The presentation of Islam as an oriental phenomenon risks propagating the idea that there is no other religious group in this area. The information on Islam as a religion is often superficial and may cause students to falsely assume that Islam is a homogeneous religion. Overall, the reader is led to wrongly falsely assume that Muslim migrants, many of whom are living in the 3rd generation in Germany, are still not really part of German society. This is certainly not true for the majority.

Chemical representations play an important role in helping learners to understand chemical contents. Thus, dealing with chemical representations is a necessity for learning chemistry, but at the same time, it presents a great challenge to learners. Due to this great challenge, it is not surprising that numerous national and international studies have shown that students have remarkable difficulties. Since most of the studies regarding chemical representations have focused on investigating high-school students' knowledge so far, little is known about university students' and especially student teachers' knowledge. The latter group is additionally challenged by the necessity of learning how to transform their own knowledge in order to teach chemical representations to their prospective students. Given this as a starting point, a paper-and-pencil test with 19 items in both semi-open and closed format was developed to investigate the extent of student teachers' knowledge of chemical representations. The present paper describes the design, validation, and psychometric analysis of this test instrument -- the so-called Chemical Representations Inventory (CRI). The CRI includes a variety of chemical representations and chemical contents on both high-school and university level. Both classical test theory and Rasch modelling were used for the analysis. In addition, a qualitative analysis was performed, and factors which possibly influence the item difficulty were identified. Even though the CRI was originally developed for a sample of student teachers, it can also be used to measure chemistry students' knowledge on a basic level. This article contains notes and references.

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.

This research paper addresses the issues of integration of technology enhanced learning (TEL) into an educational organization. Good practice experience cannot be directly transferred to new organisations due to different contextual conditions. The TEL integration depends significantly upon a very rapid development of services and information communication technologies (ICT). Some organizations have managed to go step by step with the developments and have become leaders in TEL provision, however others, though having successful examples, have not succeeded in reaching the service level they want. While many positive examples exist in research literature, it is rare that institutions have complete strategies or solutions for integrating TEL that meet their specific pre-conditions and satisfy quality assurance parameters at the same time. The research reported here aims at the development of a theoretical framework for quality assurance of TEL integration into educational organizations. During the research, the development of the TEL concept has been discussed, success indicators for TEL integration in an educational organization have been described, the quality parameters of TEL integration into an educational organization have been identified and the model for TEL integration into an organization has been developed.

European quality assurance has a complicated history that must be viewed as taking place on two levels: first, in a national effort to deregulate the public sector and to make universities accountable for their teaching performance; and second, a supranational endeavor to accomplish European integration in the field of higher education. Similarly, the web of institutional constraints and opportunity structures in which accreditation agencies are embedded spans two policy levels, the national and the European. In this paper, we examine how German accreditation agencies achieve some level of autonomy in a highly entrenched institutional environment. The paper is based on a qualitative study comprising archival data and over 70 semi-structured interviews. Drawing on the insights of neo-institutional theory, we argue that quality assurance agencies seek political leverage at the European level in order to strengthen their standing in the higher education systems of their own countries.

IRIS (Interests and Recruitment in Science; http://iris.fp-7.org/about-iris/) is a European 7th framework project focusing on the challenge that only few young people in general, and women in particular, choose an education and career in science and technology. Project IRIS aims to contribute to the improvement of recruitment, retention and gender equity patterns in higher education. To acquire information about the factors that influence the educational choice of young people, a questionnaire was developed by the IRIS consortium. The IRIS questionnaire is based on the model of achievement-related choices (Eccles, Barber, & Jozefowicz, 1999) and on the theory on the role of self-efficacy beliefs (Bandura, 1997). These theories provide a framework for investigating the central aspects that influence an individual's educational choice. This paper reports the experience and findings of the IRIS survey conducted in Austria and Germany. The data are based on a questionnaire survey with 3680 first-year students. Additionally, interview data from Austrian biology students contribute qualitative data about supportive and hindering factors that influences the study choice. The findings indicate that experiences in the secondary school and good teachers are important in choosing a STEM study. To prevent drop-out key factors are relevance of the study choice for the own life, social and academic integration and supportive mentoring systems.

This paper presents a comparative research project on pre-vocational education in lower secondary schools in seven European countries. The primary aim of the study was to better understand how the formal pre-vocational education curriculum is interpreted and shaped by individual teachers. The countries covered are Austria, Germany, Hungary, Latvia, Poland, Portugal and Scotland. Two research methods have been used. First, a content analysis of the relevant curricula was carried out, focussing on how, and to what extent, pre-vocational education competencies are embedded in the official curriculum in the seven countries covered by the study. Second, 75 teachers took part in qualitative expert interviews about their implementation of the relevant curriculum. This research builds upon previous studies in education and employment and in particular, on a theoretical framework that explores the differences between the "prescribed" curriculum and the "enacted" curriculum. This study will argue that, although it is possible to identify a distinct pre-vocational curriculum within each region in the seven countries, this curriculum is, in practice, taught very differently within the schools and that the differences in curriculum implementation can be explained, amongst other factors, by the availability of resources and the initial and further training of teachers.

Background: The Communication and Tracing App HIV (COMTRAC-HIV) project is developing a mobile health (mHealth) app for integrated care of HIV patients in Germany. The complexity of HIV treatment and continuous care necessitates the need for tailored mHealth solutions. This qualitative study explores design solutions and a prototype to enhance the app's functionality and effectiveness., Methods: A total of eight HIV patients and pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) users, recruited at the HIV Center Frankfurt, participated in focus groups and thinking-aloud tests (TA test). In the focus groups, design solutions were discussed for user-interface clarity, leading to the development of an interactive prototype, the usability of which was evaluated with a TA test. Data collection involved video/audio recordings. Qualitative analysis was conducted using a deductive category system, and focused on app design and usage in focus groups, and layout, navigation, interaction, terminology, comprehension, feedback, and level of satisfaction in TA tests., Results: The app was commended for its simple, clear design, especially its medication reminders and health tracking features. Opinions on the symptom diary varied however, respondents noting it more suitable for HIV users than PrEP users. Privacy concerns suggest avoiding display of HIV-specific information. Suggested improvements include e.g. image uploads, drug interaction checks and prescription tracking. A total of 25 usability issues were identified in the TA test, with most found in the layout (n = 6), navigation (n = 5), interaction (n = 5), and terminology (n = 5) categories. Two examples are non-intuitive controls and illogical button placement. Despite these disadvantages, participants noted positive impressions (n = 5) in the satisfaction category., Conclusion: The study emphasizes the need for patient-centered design in mobile HIV care solutions, highlighting to the app's user-friendliness and potential to enhance care. Further research is necessary to refine the app's functionality and to align it with clinical and patients' privacy needs., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

Background: Most new parents spend the first few days with their newborns in the hospital., Problem: Although negative hospital care experiences can have short- and long-term negative consequences (e.g., risk of postnatal depression), only a handful of studies have investigated experiences of maternity care after birth., Aim of the Study: The aim was to gather more detailed information on the experiences during the immediate postpartum period at the maternity ward, in order to confirm and complement previous findings with additional data sources., Methods: A content analysis was conducted on 524 textual units comprising ratings of maternity care units in Germany provided by mothers or accompanying individuals. These units were sourced from a publicly accessible website., Findings: The analysis identified three overarching themes that influenced positive or negative experiences: Hospital and Maternity Ward Infrastructure; Midwifery, Medical, and Nursing Care; and Breastfeeding and Establishing a Breastfeeding Relationship., Discussion: The findings indicate systemic challenges within the medical system, including persistent issues such as staff shortages and overworked personnel. Additionally, critical primary support structures related to early parental mental health care and breastfeeding initiation were found to be lacking in certain hospitals., Conclusion: These results underscore the necessity for structural reforms within hospitals to establish a comprehensive prevention network capable of early problem detection and intervention., Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. Filled in by Hanna Maly-Motta, (Copyright © 2024 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)