The Integration of Formal and Non-formal Education: The Dutch “brede school”

The Dutch “brede school” (BS) development originates in the 1990s and has spread unevenly since: quicker in the primary than secondary educational sector. In 2007, there were about 1000 primary and 350 secondary BS schools and it is the intention of the government as well as the individual municipalities to extend that number and make the BS the dominant school form of the near future. In the primary sector, a BS cooperates with crèche and preschool facilities, besides possible other neighborhood partners. The main targets are, first, to enhance educational opportunities, particularly for children with little (western-) cultural capital, and secondly to increase women’s labor market participation by providing extra familial care for babies and small children. All primary schools are now obliged to provide such care. In the secondary sector, a BS is less neighborhood-orientated than a primary BS because those schools are bigger and more often located in different buildings. As in the primary sector, there are broad and more narrow BS, the first profile cooperating with many non-formal and other partners and facilities and the second with few. On the whole, there is a wide variety of BS schools, with different profiles and objectives, dependent on the needs and wishes of the initiators and the neighborhood. A BS is always the result of initiatives of the respective school and its partners: parents, other neighborhood associations, municipality etc. BS schools are not enforced by the government although the general trend will be that existing school organizations transform into BS. The integration of formal and non-formal education and learning is more advanced in primary than secondary schools. In secondary education, vocational as well as general, there is a clear dominance of formal education; the non-formal curriculum serves mainly two lines and objectives: first, provide attractive leisure activities and second provide compensatory courses and support for under-achievers who are often students with migrant background. In both sectors, primary and secondary, it is the formal school organization with its professionals which determines the character of a BS; there is no full integration of formal and non-formal education resulting in one non-disruptive learning trajectory, nor is there the intention to go in that direction. Non-formal pedagogues are partly professionals, like youth- and social workers, partly volunteers, like parents, partly non-educational partners, like school-police, psycho-medical help or commercial leisure providers. Besides that, the BS is regarded by government educational and social policy as a potential partner and anchor for community development. It is too early to make reliable statements about the effects of the BS movement in the Netherlands concerning the educational opportunities for disadvantaged children and their families, especially those with migrant background, and combat further segregation. Evaluation studies made so far are moderately positive but also point to problems of overly bureaucratized structures and layers, lack of sufficient financial resources and, again, are uncertain about long-term effects.

Integration of merged delayed-enhanced magnetic resonance imaging and multidetector computed tomography for the guidance of ventricular tachycardia ablation: a pilot study

BACKGROUND Delayed enhancement (DE) MRI can assess the fibrotic substrate of scar-related VT. MDCT has the advantage of inframillimetric spatial resolution and better 3D reconstructions. We sought to evaluate the feasibility and usefulness of integrating merged MDCT/MRI data in 3D-mapping systems for structure-function assessment and multimodal guidance of VT mapping and ablation. METHODS Nine patients, including 3 ischemic cardiomyopathy (ICM), 3 nonischemic cardiomyopathy (NICM), 2 myocarditis, and 1 redo procedure for idiopathic VT, underwent MRI and MDCT before VT ablation. Merged MRI/MDCT data were integrated in 3D-mapping systems and registered to high-density endocardial and epicardial maps. Low-voltage areas (<1.5 mV) and local abnormal ventricular activities (LAVA) during sinus rhythm were correlated to DE at MRI, and wall-thinning (WT) at MDCT. RESULTS Endocardium and epicardium were mapped with 391 ± 388 and 1098 ± 734 points per map, respectively. Registration of MDCT allowed visualization of coronary arteries during epicardial mapping/ablation. In the idiopathic patient, integration of MRI data identified previously ablated regions. In ICM patients, both DE at MRI and WT at MDCT matched areas of low voltage (overlap 94 ± 6% and 79 ± 5%, respectively). In NICM patients, wall-thinning areas matched areas of low voltage (overlap 63 ± 21%). In patients with myocarditis, subepicardial DE matched areas of epicardial low voltage (overlap 92 ± 12%). A total number of 266 LAVA sites were found in 7/9 patients. All LAVA sites were associated to structural substrate at imaging (90% inside, 100% within 18 mm). CONCLUSION The integration of merged MDCT and DEMRI data is feasible and allows combining substrate assessment with high-spatial resolution to better define structure-function relationship in scar-related VT.

Work Experiences and Well-Being in the First Years of Professional Work in Switzerland: A Ten-Year Follow-Up Study

The ÆQUAS (a German acronym for “Work Experiences and Quality of Life in Switzerland”) study followed young workers in five occupations over their first ten years in the labor market. Participants of the study reported on working conditions and well-being at five occasions. Overall, resources at work as well as well-being, health and personal resources remained stable or increased. Concurrently, task-related stressors increased as well. This result may reflect career progress (e.g., gaining more responsibilities may be accompanied by increasing time pressure) but development in task-related stressors as well as resources may also be related to specific occupations. Several trajectories had their turning point after the first or second year of being in the labor market, which may reflect a successful professional socialization. Even though a substantial number of participants did change their occupation over these ten years (with benefits for their well-being), development over the first ten years after vocational training implies a successful transition into labor market.

Poverty, Educational Attainment and Health Among America’s Children: Current and Future Effects of Population Diversification and Associated Socioeconomic Change

A complex of interrelated factors including minority status, poverty, education, health status, and other factors determine the general welfare of children in America, particularly in heavily diverse states such as Texas. Although racial/ethnic status is clearly only a concomitant factor in that determination it is a factor for which future projections are available and for which the relationships with the other factors in the complex can be assessed. After examining the nature of the interrelationships between these factors we utilize direct standardization techniques to examine how the future diversification of the United States and Texas will affect the number of children in poverty, the educational status of the householders in households in which children in poverty live and the health status of children in 2040 assuming that the current relationships between minority status and these socioeconomic factors continue into the future. In the results of the analyses, data are compared with the total population of the United States and Texas in 2040 assumed in the first simulation scenario, to have the race/ethnicity characteristics of 2008 and in the second those projected for 2040 by the U.S. Census Bureau for the nation and by the Texas State Data Center for Texas in 2040. The results show that the diversification of the population could increase the number of children in poverty in the United States by nearly 1.8 million more than would occur with the lower levels of diversification evident in 2008. In addition, poverty would become increasingly concentrated among minority children with minority children accounting for 76.2 percent of all children in poverty by 2040 and with Hispanic children accounting for nearly half of the children in poverty by 2040. Results for educational attainment show an increasing concentration of minority children in households with householders with very low levels of education such that by 2040, 85.2 percent of the increase in the number of children in poverty would be in households with a householder with less than a high school level of education. Finally, the results related to several health status factors show that children in poverty will have a higher prevalence of nearly all health conditions. For example, the number of children with untreated dental conditions could increase to more than 4 million in the United States and to nearly 500,000 in Texas. The results clearly show that improving the welfare of children in America will require concerted efforts to change the poverty, educational, and health status characteristics associated with minority status and particularly Hispanic status. Failing to do so will lead to a future in which America’s children are increasingly impoverished, more poorly educated, and less healthy and which, as a result, is an America with a more tentative future.

Gender Segregation in Vocational Education: Introduction

This introductory chapter develops the overall research focus and the aim of the present special issue ‘Gender segregation in vocational education’. Against the backdrop of strong horizontal gender segregation in vocational education and training (VET), we ask how institutional arrangements affect gendered (self-)selection into VET, and to what extent the patterns of the latter vary by context and over time. In order to expand our knowledge about the impact of educational offers and policies on gendered educational pathways and gender segregation in the labour market, we have gathered comparative quantitative studies that analyse the relationship between national variations in the organization of VET and cross-national differences in educational and occupational gender segregation from an institutional perspective. Following a review of the core literature within the field of gender segregation in VET, this introduction presents a discussion of education system classifications and institutional level mechanisms based on the contributions made in this volume. We then discuss gendered educational choices at the individual level, with particular emphasis on variation across the life course. Finally, we conclude our introductory chapter by commenting on the main contributions of the volume as a whole, as well as addressing suggestions for further research.

THE DISCHARGED PSYCHIATRIC PATIENT: POST-HOSPITAL ADJUSTMENT AND FACTORS AFFECTING REHOSPITALIZATION

Discharged psychiatric patients were studied six months post-discharge to determine those demographic, social and clinical characteristics affecting positive or negative adjustment and the degree to which the use of mental health services and medication compliance mediated the effects. With the exception of those with primary or secondary diagnoses of OBS, substance abuse or mental retardation, sixty-three psychiatric subjects between the ages of eighteen and sixty-four were chosen from all admissions into the hospital and interviewed six months after discharge using a specially designed questionnaire.^ The subjects' adjustment to community living was found to be marginal. Although not engaged in destructive activities, over half were living with their family members who supported them financially and emotionally. Most were unemployed and had been so for a long time. Others worked sporadically and frequently changed residences. Most did have substantial social ties with extended family and with friends with whom they interacted regularly, but one-fourth were socially isolated. Almost three-quarters continued to obtain regular mental health services after discharge and followed medication instructions under the supervision of their physician. The use of mental health services after discharge and the use of medication did not appear to affect the subjects' community adaption or their rate of rehospitalization.^ Forty percent of those discharged were rehospitalized by the end of the follow-up period. Four levels of risk of rehospitalization emerged. The highest risk was associated with a history of five or more prior hospitalizations, living alone, and social isolation. One third or more of the subjects expressed a need for more counseling, leisure time activities, case-manager assistance, vocational guidance, supervised housing, and placement into a transitional residential treatment program.^ Recommendations were made to enhance the ability to predict recidivism, to develop interorganizational casework management programs linking the patient and family to the community mental health system and to create computerized tracking and monitoring programs that systematically report patient treatment regimen and progress cross-sectionally and longitudinally. ^

Estrategias de orientación educativa y ocupacional en Adultos Mayores

El presente trabajo se propone articular el Modelo Teórico Operativo en Orientación, desarrollado por la Dra. Gavilán y el Modelo de Envejecimiento Activo con el objetivo de profundizar los aportes que pueden realizarse desde la Orientación y diseñar estrategias de intervención acordes a la población objeto de estudio. Presenta continuidad temática con los proyectos de investigación ?La Orientación en el Nuevo Modelo de Envejecimiento Activo: elecciones educativas, laborales, personales y sociales? y ?Estrategias orientadoras para la elaboración de proyectos en adultos mayores?, llevados a cabo como becaria de la Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Surge de la insuficiente producción teórica al respecto, así como de la inexistencia de enfoques, programas y estrategias de intervenciones de este tipo con sujetos adultos mayores a nivel local, a diferencia de lo que sucede con otras etapas evolutivas, fundamentalmente la adolescencia. Asimismo, son escasos los desarrollos internacionales sobre la temática. A los fines de esta investigación, se han tomado en consideración datos relativos a la expectativa de la vida de las personas, la transición demográfica de nuestro país y los lineamientos de organismos nacionales e internacionales en cuanto a la promoción de un envejecimiento activo y saludable. Con respecto a la Orientación Vocacional se adopta el enfoque de la orientación continua, es decir, como un proceso a lo largo de la vida. La insuficiencia de investigaciones sobre las cuestiones planteadas, pone de relieve el interés y el aporte de esta investigación, en la medida en que comporta una apertura a nuevas oportunidades de desarrollo y realización personal de un porcentaje significativo de la población, destinada a facilitar la comprensión de la elaboración de proyectos en la etapa considerada. El estudio sobre la vejez ha tomado gran relevancia desde las distintas disciplinas ya que el envejecimiento poblacional plantea nuevos escenarios y nuevos desafíos a la ciencia y a la sociedad en general. El fenómeno de transformación demográfica ha dado lugar a numerosas investigaciones y a diversas políticas para brindar una mejor calidad de vida a las personas mayores desde distintos sectores. Como fenómeno social requiere de una mirada desde el paradigma de la complejidad, de un abordaje interdisciplinario y del diseño de estrategias integrales

Vocation in the insertion of the university student and the graduate

The work plan aims at deepening the analysis of the theoretic assumptions which support the practice in Vocational Guidance: analyzing the incidence of endogenous and exogenous factors both in the election and studying of a particular course of study and in the occupational resolution of the graduate. This analysis enables the revision and the new theoretic conceptualization which is afterwards transferred to the course, and to different groups and provincial institutions where the practice of Vocational Guidance occurs, as well as to other schools in the Northwest provinces of Argentina. Semiotic analysis, statistical elaboration and the research-action approach which, while surveying data renders a service to the milieu, provide the base for the project. Said project focuses on the following individuals: 1) freshmen, who offer us the following aspects to be considered: a) factors which either favor or hinder the insertion of the students attending the first years of the course; b) the conditions making up the learning situation in each subject, from the teaching point of view; c) the influence of institutional dimension in the insertion process; 2) graduands: the characteristics of the situation following graduation from University, those of the labor field and the different ways of gaining access to it are investigated. This analysis is carried out in the courses of study of Psychology and English (education of Professionals in English and English for Professionals).

Estrategias de orientación educativa y ocupacional en Adultos Mayores

El presente trabajo se propone articular el Modelo Teórico Operativo en Orientación, desarrollado por la Dra. Gavilán y el Modelo de Envejecimiento Activo con el objetivo de profundizar los aportes que pueden realizarse desde la Orientación y diseñar estrategias de intervención acordes a la población objeto de estudio. Presenta continuidad temática con los proyectos de investigación ?La Orientación en el Nuevo Modelo de Envejecimiento Activo: elecciones educativas, laborales, personales y sociales? y ?Estrategias orientadoras para la elaboración de proyectos en adultos mayores?, llevados a cabo como becaria de la Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Surge de la insuficiente producción teórica al respecto, así como de la inexistencia de enfoques, programas y estrategias de intervenciones de este tipo con sujetos adultos mayores a nivel local, a diferencia de lo que sucede con otras etapas evolutivas, fundamentalmente la adolescencia. Asimismo, son escasos los desarrollos internacionales sobre la temática. A los fines de esta investigación, se han tomado en consideración datos relativos a la expectativa de la vida de las personas, la transición demográfica de nuestro país y los lineamientos de organismos nacionales e internacionales en cuanto a la promoción de un envejecimiento activo y saludable. Con respecto a la Orientación Vocacional se adopta el enfoque de la orientación continua, es decir, como un proceso a lo largo de la vida. La insuficiencia de investigaciones sobre las cuestiones planteadas, pone de relieve el interés y el aporte de esta investigación, en la medida en que comporta una apertura a nuevas oportunidades de desarrollo y realización personal de un porcentaje significativo de la población, destinada a facilitar la comprensión de la elaboración de proyectos en la etapa considerada. El estudio sobre la vejez ha tomado gran relevancia desde las distintas disciplinas ya que el envejecimiento poblacional plantea nuevos escenarios y nuevos desafíos a la ciencia y a la sociedad en general. El fenómeno de transformación demográfica ha dado lugar a numerosas investigaciones y a diversas políticas para brindar una mejor calidad de vida a las personas mayores desde distintos sectores. Como fenómeno social requiere de una mirada desde el paradigma de la complejidad, de un abordaje interdisciplinario y del diseño de estrategias integrales

Vocation in the insertion of the university student and the graduate

The work plan aims at deepening the analysis of the theoretic assumptions which support the practice in Vocational Guidance: analyzing the incidence of endogenous and exogenous factors both in the election and studying of a particular course of study and in the occupational resolution of the graduate. This analysis enables the revision and the new theoretic conceptualization which is afterwards transferred to the course, and to different groups and provincial institutions where the practice of Vocational Guidance occurs, as well as to other schools in the Northwest provinces of Argentina. Semiotic analysis, statistical elaboration and the research-action approach which, while surveying data renders a service to the milieu, provide the base for the project. Said project focuses on the following individuals: 1) freshmen, who offer us the following aspects to be considered: a) factors which either favor or hinder the insertion of the students attending the first years of the course; b) the conditions making up the learning situation in each subject, from the teaching point of view; c) the influence of institutional dimension in the insertion process; 2) graduands: the characteristics of the situation following graduation from University, those of the labor field and the different ways of gaining access to it are investigated. This analysis is carried out in the courses of study of Psychology and English (education of Professionals in English and English for Professionals).

Vocation in the insertion of the university student and the graduate

The work plan aims at deepening the analysis of the theoretic assumptions which support the practice in Vocational Guidance: analyzing the incidence of endogenous and exogenous factors both in the election and studying of a particular course of study and in the occupational resolution of the graduate. This analysis enables the revision and the new theoretic conceptualization which is afterwards transferred to the course, and to different groups and provincial institutions where the practice of Vocational Guidance occurs, as well as to other schools in the Northwest provinces of Argentina. Semiotic analysis, statistical elaboration and the research-action approach which, while surveying data renders a service to the milieu, provide the base for the project. Said project focuses on the following individuals: 1) freshmen, who offer us the following aspects to be considered: a) factors which either favor or hinder the insertion of the students attending the first years of the course; b) the conditions making up the learning situation in each subject, from the teaching point of view; c) the influence of institutional dimension in the insertion process; 2) graduands: the characteristics of the situation following graduation from University, those of the labor field and the different ways of gaining access to it are investigated. This analysis is carried out in the courses of study of Psychology and English (education of Professionals in English and English for Professionals).

Estrategias de orientación educativa y ocupacional en Adultos Mayores

El presente trabajo se propone articular el Modelo Teórico Operativo en Orientación, desarrollado por la Dra. Gavilán y el Modelo de Envejecimiento Activo con el objetivo de profundizar los aportes que pueden realizarse desde la Orientación y diseñar estrategias de intervención acordes a la población objeto de estudio. Presenta continuidad temática con los proyectos de investigación ?La Orientación en el Nuevo Modelo de Envejecimiento Activo: elecciones educativas, laborales, personales y sociales? y ?Estrategias orientadoras para la elaboración de proyectos en adultos mayores?, llevados a cabo como becaria de la Secretaría de Ciencia y Técnica de la Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Surge de la insuficiente producción teórica al respecto, así como de la inexistencia de enfoques, programas y estrategias de intervenciones de este tipo con sujetos adultos mayores a nivel local, a diferencia de lo que sucede con otras etapas evolutivas, fundamentalmente la adolescencia. Asimismo, son escasos los desarrollos internacionales sobre la temática. A los fines de esta investigación, se han tomado en consideración datos relativos a la expectativa de la vida de las personas, la transición demográfica de nuestro país y los lineamientos de organismos nacionales e internacionales en cuanto a la promoción de un envejecimiento activo y saludable. Con respecto a la Orientación Vocacional se adopta el enfoque de la orientación continua, es decir, como un proceso a lo largo de la vida. La insuficiencia de investigaciones sobre las cuestiones planteadas, pone de relieve el interés y el aporte de esta investigación, en la medida en que comporta una apertura a nuevas oportunidades de desarrollo y realización personal de un porcentaje significativo de la población, destinada a facilitar la comprensión de la elaboración de proyectos en la etapa considerada. El estudio sobre la vejez ha tomado gran relevancia desde las distintas disciplinas ya que el envejecimiento poblacional plantea nuevos escenarios y nuevos desafíos a la ciencia y a la sociedad en general. El fenómeno de transformación demográfica ha dado lugar a numerosas investigaciones y a diversas políticas para brindar una mejor calidad de vida a las personas mayores desde distintos sectores. Como fenómeno social requiere de una mirada desde el paradigma de la complejidad, de un abordaje interdisciplinario y del diseño de estrategias integrales

List of references on vocational education.

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Vocational opportunities for foreign language students ...

"This bulletin is a revision of the one prepared in 1941 by Wm. L. Schwartz, Lawrence A. Wilkins and Arthur G. Bovée."--Pref.