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Public, religious and private schools have been coexisting in continental Europe since the 19th century. Scientific interest in differences between the educational outcomes of public and religious schools has grown recently, as a result of international debates on parental choice and school autonomy especially in the USA. Clear differences have been found between the educational outcomes of public and religious schools in the Netherlands. In this paper we analyze whether comparable differences exist in the German state of Nordrhein-Westfalen, which borders on the Netherlands and has much in common with Dutch history and culture. Pupils from Protestant and Catholic secondary schools in Nordrhein-Westfalen attain higher educational outcomes than those from public schools, after controlling for other characteristics. However, pupils from Protestant and Catholic schools in Nordrhein-Westfalen attain success at university and occupational levels equal to those of pupils from public schools, after controlling for unequal educational outcomes and other characteristics. These comparable differences between the effects of religious and public schools in Nordrhein-Westfalen and the Netherlands show that the Dutch educational system is not an exception, but an example of a broader European development, in which the old religious differences in education are being transformed into competition for pupils on the basis of educational quality. (Contains 13 tables, 1 figure, and 10 notes.)

Introduction: Patients with cancer receiving radio- or chemotherapy undergo many immunological stressors. Chronic regular exercise has been shown to positively influence the immune system in several populations, while exercise overload may have negative effects. Exercise is currently recommended for all patients with cancer. However, knowledge regarding the effects of exercise on immune markers in patients undergoing chemo- or radiotherapy is limited. The aim of this study is to systematically review the effects of moderate- and high-intensity exercise interventions in patients with cancer during chemotherapy or radiotherapy on immune markers. Methods: For this review, a search was performed in PubMed and EMBASE, until March 2023. Methodological quality was assessed with the PEDro tool and best-evidence syntheses were performed both per immune marker and for the inflammatory profile. Results: Methodological quality of the 15 included articles was rated fair to good. The majority of markers were unaltered, but observed effects included a suppressive effect of exercise during radiotherapy on some pro-inflammatory markers, a preserving effect of exercise during chemotherapy on NK cell degranulation and cytotoxicity, a protective effect on the decrease in thrombocytes during chemotherapy, and a positive effect of exercise during chemotherapy on IgA. Conclusion: Although exercise only influenced a few markers, the results are promising. Exercise did not negatively influence immune markers, and some were positively affected since suppressed inflammation might have positive clinical implications. For future research, consensus is needed regarding a set of markers that are most responsive to exercise. Next, differential effects of training types and intensities on these markers should be further investigated, as well as their clinical implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

BACKGROUND: Preoperative inspiratory muscle training (IMT) is frequently used in patients waiting for major surgery to improve respiratory muscle function and to reduce the risk of postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs). Currently, the mechanism of action of IMT in reducing PPCs is still unclear. Therefore, we investigated the associations between preoperative IMT variables and the occurrence of PPCs in patients with esophageal cancer. METHODS: A multi-center cohort study was conducted in subjects scheduled for esophagectomy, who followed IMT as part of a prehabilitation program. IMT variables included maximum inspiratory pressure (PImax) before and after IMT and IMT intensity variables including training load, frequency, and duration. Associations between PImax and IMT intensity variables and PPCs were analyzed using independent samples t tests and logistic regression analyses, corrected for age and pulmonary comorbidities and stratified for the occurrence of anastomotic leakages. RESULTS: Eighty-seven subjects were included (69 males; mean age 66.7 6 7.3 y). A higher PImax (odds ratio 1.016, P 5 .07) or increase in PImax during IMT (odds ratio 1.020, P 5 .066) was not associated with a reduced risk of PPCs after esophagectomy. Intensity variables of IMT were also not associated (P ranging from .16 to .95) with PPCs after esophagectomy. Analyses stratified for the occurrence of anastomotic leakages showed no associations between IMT variables and PPCs. CONCLUSIONS: This study shows that an improvement in preoperative inspiratory muscle strength during IMT and training intensity of IMT were not associated with a reduced risk on PPCs after esophagectomy. Further research is needed to investigate other possible factors explaining the mechanism of action of preoperative IMT in patients undergoing major surgery, such as the awareness of patients related to respiratory muscle function and a diaphragmatic breathing pattern. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

During the last 20 years of the 20th century, Islamic primary schools were founded in the Netherlands thanks to its constitutional "freedom of education" (which allows state-funded religious schools), its voucher system (each school receives the same amount of money per pupil), and school choice by parents. This essay gives some background information about the Dutch system of religious schools and the history of Dutch Islamic schools. I address four aspects of Islamic schools: (a) contradictions around the quality of education in Islamic schools; (b) attitudes and values of pupils and parents in Islamic schools, deviating from the broader Dutch society; (c) serious administrative problems around establishing and running Islamic schools, due to the nonexistence of Islamic Dutch elites and teachers; and (d) negative relations between the current Islam religion and educational performance in modern societies.

According to Robert Putnam (2007) ethnic diversity in cities and neighborhoods does not lead to an increase of trust and social capital as previously predicted by intergroup contact theory (Pettigrew, 1998); instead it triggers a reaction of hunkering down that leads to a decrease in trust and social capital of both in-group and out-groups. But what happens if we focus on youngsters that are growing up in a multi-ethnic metropole, that are considering ethnic diversity as a something "normal", and that are bridging their ethnic differences by sharing a common street culture and language? In this article we use data about 905 pupils, 41 classes and 11 schools in a European metropole to confirm the hypothesis that in this specific context ethnic diversity in classrooms does lead to positive effects on educational performance.

In this paper, we attempt to explain the differences between reading and math scores of migrants' children (8430 daughters and 8526 sons) in 17 OECD destination countries, coming from 45 origin countries or regions, using PISA 2009 data. In addition to the societal gender equality levels of the origin and destination countries (the gender empowerment measure), we use macro indicators of the origin countries' educational systems, economic development and religions. We find that migrant daughters from countries with higher gender equality levels obtain higher reading scores than comparable migrant sons do (but this is not the case for math scores). In addition, the higher the gender equality levels in the destination countries, the lower the reading and math scores of both male and female migrants' children in their destination countries. Further analyses suggest it is the difference between gender equality levels, rather than the levels themselves, that explains the educational performance of both female and male migrant pupils. Our results also show the low gender equality level in Islamic origin countries offers a possible explanation for the low educational performance of Islamic pupils, both male and female. Finally, migrants' daughters seem to perform slightly better educationally, compared with migrants' sons.

All European states have a primary obligation to establish and maintain governmental schools everywhere, but as the result of political struggle and constitutional guarantees, they have also allowed and often financed non-state schools based on special pedagogical, religious or philosophical ideas. Depending on the level of state grants for non-state schools, states have more or less the right to supervise these non-governmental schools and seek to guarantee that the quality of organisation and teachers are not lower than those in governmental schools. Using comparable cross-national data for all member states of the European Union, we first describe four existing basic arrangements of non-governmental and governmental schools: integrated educational systems of public and non-state schools, denomination supportive educational systems, limited-support non-governmental schools and educational systems with segregated public and non-state schools. Using the same cross-national data for all member states of the European Union, we then explore three other topics: parental background and the choice of non-governmental schools, non-governmental schools and their cognitive outcomes, and non-governmental schools and their non-cognitive outcomes. There are important differences between non-governmental-"in"dependent (without state grants) and non-governmental-"de"pendent schools (with state grants); that school choice of non-governmental-"de"pendent schools is more related to socially mobile parents, whereas schools choice of non-governmental-"in"dependent schools is more related the reproduction of social classes; that in a majority of European countries, non-governmental-"de"pendent schools are more effective cognitively than governmental schools, but that non-governmental-"in"dependent schools are more effective cognitively only in a few countries and more ineffective in a larger number of countries. Also non-governmental-"de"pendent schools are "not" more effective non-cognitively than governmental schools.

In this paper, we analyse the gender differences between the educational performance of 15-year-old children of migrants from specific regions of origin countries living in different destination countries with the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2009 wave. We study whether this gender difference of migrant pupils deviates from the gender difference between the native pupils in their destination country. We analyse the educational performance of 16,612 daughters and 16,804 sons of migrants in destination countries across Asia, Europe, Latin America, and Oceania. We distinguish 62 origin countries and 12 origin areas in 30 destination countries. Female migrant pupils have both higher reading and math scores than comparable male migrant pupils, and these gender differences among migrant pupils are larger than among comparable native pupils. Parental socioeconomic background has an equal effect on the educational performance of daughters of migrants and on that of sons of migrants. The variation in educational performance by region of origin is, however, not clearly related to the poverty or traditionalism of regions.

Living in a single-parent family is negatively related with children's educational performance compared to living with 2 biological parents. In this article, we aim to find out to what extent the context of the school's share of single-parent families affects this negative relationship. We use pooled data from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), that is, the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) 2000 and 2003, which contain information on 209,300 students at 11,887 schools in 25 countries. We found that attending a school with more children from single-parent families affects the educational performance of all children negatively, but it particularly harms children from single-mother families. Furthermore, we have indications that in countries in which the number of single-parent families is higher, the negative effect of attending a school with a higher share of single-parent families decreases, except for the US.

Background: Earlier studies using a double perspective (destination & origin) indicate that several macro-characteristics of both destination and origin countries affect the educational performance of migrant children. This paper explores the extent to which educational system features of destination and origin countries can explain these differences in educational achievement of migrant children, next to these macro-characteristics. Methods: Using data from the 2006 PISA survey, we performed cross-classified multilevel analysis on the science performance of 9.279 15-year-old migrant children, originating from 35 different countries, living in 16 Western countries of destination. We take into account a number of educational system characteristics of the countries of destination and origin, in order to measure the importance of differentiation, standardization, and the availability of resources. Results: We show that differences in educational achievement between migrants cannot be fully attributed to individual characteristics or macro-characteristics. Educational system characteristics of countries of destination and origin are also meaningful. At the origin level, the length of compulsory education positively influences educational performance. This is especially the case for migrant pupils who attended education in their countries of origin. We show also that at the destination level, a high student-teacher ratio in primary education positively affects migrant pupil's scientific performance. Moreover, migrant children with low educated parents do not perform less in highly stratified systems and even perform better in moderately differentiated systems than they do in comprehensive one. But migrant children with highly educated parents perform worse in highly and moderately stratified systems. Conclusion: This study underscores the importance of educational system features as an explanation of differences in educational achievement across different origin groups and across migrants living in different destination countries. Although individual level characteristics account for the largest educational achievement differences, educational system characteristics have an effect on top of these individual level characteristics and the average educational performance in their countries of origin. Differences in educational systems contribute to explaining the effects of economic and political macro-characteristics of the countries of origin on the educational performance of migrant children in destination countries.