Children of Matter: Luxury Value Perceptions of Millennials in Higher Education in Europe

In recent years, the luxury market has entered a period of very modest growth, which has been dubbed the ‘new normal’, where varying tourist flows, currency fluctuations, and shifted consumer tastes dictate the terms. The modern luxury consumer is a fickle mistress. Especially millennials – people born in the 1980s and 1990s – are the embodiment of this new form of demanding luxury consumer with particular tastes and values. Modern consumers, and specifically millennials, want experiences and free time, and are interested in a brand’s societal position and environmental impact. The purpose of this thesis is to investigate what the luxury value perceptions of millennials in higher education are in Europe, seeing as many of the most prominent luxury goods companies in the world originate from Europe. Perceived luxury value is herein examined from the individual’s perspective. As values and value perceptions are complex constructs, using qualitative research methods is justifiable. The data for thesis has been gathered by means of a group interview. The interview participants all study hospitality management in a private college, and each represent a different nationality. Cultural theories and research on luxury and luxury values provide the scientific foundation for this thesis, and a multidimensional luxury value model is used as a theoretical tool in sorting and analyzing the data. The results show that millennials in Europe value much more than simply modern and hard luxury. Functional, financial, individual, and social aspects are all present in perceived luxury value, but some more in a negative sense than others. Conspicuous, status-seeking consumption is mostly frowned upon, as is the consumption of luxury goods for the sake of satisfying social requisites and peer pressure. Most of the positive value perceptions are attributed to the functional dimension, as luxury products are seen to come with a promise of high quality and reliability, which justifies any price premiums. Ecological and ethical aspects of luxury are already a contemporary trend, but perceived even more as an important characteristic of luxury in the future. Most importantly, having time is fundamental. Depending on who is asked, luxury can mean anything, just as much as it can mean nothing.

Setting the agenda for dental education in Scotland: a priority setting exercise including multiple stakehiolders

Introduction The Scottish Oral Health Research Collaboration identified dental education research (DER) as a key strand of their strategy,(1) leading to the formation of the Dental Education Research Group. The starting point for this group was to understand various stakeholders’ perceptions of research priorities, yet no existing studies were found. The aim of the current study was to identify DER priorities for Scotland in the next 3-5 years. Methods The study utilised a similar methodology to that of Dennis et al,(2) in medical education. Data were collected sequentially using two online questionnaires with multiple dental stakeholders represented at undergraduate and postgraduate levels across urban and rural Scotland. 85 participants completed questionnaire 1 (qualitative) and 649 participants completed questionnaire 2 (quantitative). Qualitative and quantitative data analysis approaches were used. Results Of the 24 priorities identified, the top priorities were: role of assessments in identifying competence; undergraduate curriculum prepares for practice; and promoting teamwork within the dental team. Following factor analysis, the priorities loaded on four factors: teamwork and professionalism, measuring and enhancing performance, personal and professional development challenges, and curriculum integration and innovation. The top barriers were lack of time, funding, staff motivation, valuing of DER, and resources/ infrastructure. Discussion There were many similarities between the identified priorities for dental and medical education research2, but also some notable differences, which will be discussed. Overwhelmingly, the identified priorities in dentistry related to fitness for practice and robust assessment practices. Take home message Priority setting exercises with multiple stakeholders are an important first step in developing a national research strategy. References 1. Bagg J, Macpherson L, Mossey P, Rennie J, Saunders B, Taylor M (2010) Strategy for Oral Health Research in Scotland. Edinburgh: The Scottish Government. 2. Dennis A A, Cleland J A, Johnston P, Ker JS, Lough, M Rees CE (2014) Exploring stakeholders’ views of medical education research priorities: a national study. Medical Education, 48(11): 1078-1091.

Analysis of the entrepreneurial profile of students attending higher education in Portugal: the Carland Entrepreneurship Index application

Background The societal changes have created new necessities in terms of health care and of professionals with diverse skills. The institutions of higher education should promote the development of an entrepreneurial profile in students which may boost the exploration of new opportunities. Objectives: To identify the entrepreneurial profile in the students in higher education and its relationship to some personal characteristics and training. Methods Correlational quantitative study, accomplished with 1,604 students from 18 institutions of polytechnic Institutes of Portugal. The collection of data occurred between July and November/2015. The Carland Entrepreneurship Index (CEI) entrepreneurial skills questionnaire was applied, along with the acquisition of socio-demographic variables of the students. Data was analysed with the SPSS 23.0. The study followed the ethical requirements. Results The (CEI) application, allowed us to note that 75.7 % of the students presented an entrepreneurial profile, 20.8 % a Micro entrepreneurial profile and 3.4 % a Macro entrepreneurial. Additionally, we verified that older students (r = 0.193, p < = 0.000), of the male gender (Female = 0.55; Male, M= 0.580 p < 0.000), that had already worked or would like to work for others, showed the greatest entrepreneurial potential (Yes M= 0.60; No 0.54; p < 0.000), along with those who participated in entrepreneurial contents during their training (Did not participate M= 0.53; Participated 0.58; p < 0.000). Conclusions The entrepreneurial profile is related with some social demographic characteristics of the students; however, the educational institutions may have a preponderant role in the development of that profile, which may contribute to a greater contribution in the wellbeing of the populations.

CHALLENGES OF EDUCATION IN LINE FOR CHALLENGES TO EDUCATION BIBLIOTECÓLOGOS-DOCENTES/ONLINE-TEACHERS LIBRARIANS

This article tries to reflect about skills that librarian or information specialists should develop to design an online course. Define distance education, online education, and collaborative learning. Establish the importance of community sense. Describe the process to design online courses. Finally, compare the Mexican Librarianship and Information Sciences Schools graduate profiles with the skills required to design online courses.

Girls’ education in Djibouti: an holistic approach in response to the ideolog y of development

International audience

Keeping the promise? Contextualizing inclusive education in developing countries

Inclusive education became a global promise corroborated by international declarations such as the Salamanca Statement (1994) and the Incheon Declaration (2015). Most countries worldwide have committed to the goal of inclusive education, putting a lot of pressure on so-called developing countries. Against this backdrop the threefold purpose of this book is to: 1. Generate research evidence on the development and implementation of inclusive education in developing countries, 2. Contextualize inclusive education in specific developing countries and contexts, and 3. Reflect on the future of inclusive education in developing countries. (DIPF/Orig.)

Proposal for bioethics education in Animal Ethics

This study proposes the continuous bioethics education in university health and biology courses. A field study was conducted with matriculating students at a university in southern Brazil about the ethics and legal questions regarding the use of animals in research and teaching. It was found that almost half of the students were unaware of important animal ethics issues, showing that these themes are merely incipient in the education provided within this particular university. Considering this reality, the inclusion of bioethics only as a discipline and isolated from the formal curriculum has not been effective and that bioethics education, incorporating polemic subjects such as animal ethics, should be included in an all-encompassing and constant approach throughout the training of students in biomedical fields.

A NARRATIVE CASE STUDY EXAMINING THE EXPEREINCES OF MEN TEACHING SPECIAL EDUCATION IN THE ELEMENTARY GRADES

Over the past several decades, the landscape of the workplace has changed in many industrialized nations. In the United States this time period has seen the outright elimination or outsourcing of well-paying “blue collar” jobs. The workforce continues to evolve, change, and become more global, and men and women are making nontraditional occupational decisions, whether by choice or necessity. The traditional views of men and women have begun to shift. However, gender assumptions about masculinity have failed to keep pace with the shift. There are approximately 1.8 million elementary grade level teachers in United States public schools; of these, a mere 9% are male. The paucity of male teachers in the elementary grades has been a concern for many years. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, roughly 86% of all special education teachers are female. In 2012, 86.2% of all special education teachers were female, and by the following year, the number had dropped to 80.4%. The evidence indicates that more men are embarking on nontraditional career paths. Despite theses changes there is minimal research looking at the experiences of men working as special education teachers My goal in this study was to obtain a better understanding of the influences on and the process by which men make the decision to pursuing a career teaching special education in the elementary grades. The study utilized social role theory (Eagly, 1987), and Stead’s (2014) social constructionist theory as well as Williams’ (1992) glass escalator proposition The findings of this study confirm some of the factors related to career choice, experiences and barriers faced by men in nontraditional careers detailed in the literature. Three themes emerged for each research question: Experiences, advocacy, and benefits. Three themes emerged around the second research question exploring the experiences of men in a female-concentrated profession: The male body, communication, and perception. Three themes arose around the third research question: administration, My Masculinity, and pay. The findings run counter to Williams’ glass escalator proposition, which posits men working in female-concentrated professions are at an advantage. The findings advance support for Buschmeyer’s theory of (2013) alternative masculinity.

Scenarios of mentor education in Romania - towards improving teacher induction

The aim of this paper is to examine the induction programme for newly qualified teachers and mentor education in Estonia, providing a comparative analysis of existing Estonian and possible Romanian models of mentoring. While the Estonian induction programme has been in place for more than ten years, induction in Romania is a relatively new and has only been mandatory since 2011 (National Law of Education 1/2011). The specifics of mentor professional development within the Romanian induction framework have yet to be explicated. This paper proposes two possible scenarios suitable for the Romanian system :1) long-term regulated academic education (part of master or doctoral level studies), and 2) flexible short-term in-service education. The advantages and disadvantages of both models are examined and ways to overcome some of the disadvantages are identified. Ultimately, the paper proposes that a flexible, needsdriven system which encompasses a degree of choice will best fulfil the professional development needs of teachers who wish to become mentors. (DIPF/Orig.)

Echoes of Greek Tragedy in Medieval Literature: The Case of Oedipus

In approaching this issue, it will be helpful to use two analytically distinct methods, to wit, the diachronic, which allows us to speculate about how the myth reached the hands of Lydgate (Guerin 2005, 183–191); and the synchronic, to clarify the similarities and differences between the two authors. Thus, approaching the subject diachronically, the first pages of this paper will attempt to delineate the main milestones in the long tradition of the myth of Oedipus, beginning from the time of Ancient Rome; and, afterwards, a synchronic analysis will examine various motifs as they have survived, disappeared or been transformed in the medieval poem. The final part will explore the possible reasons for these changes.

Entrepreneurship education in Portugal: 2004/2005 national survey

Education in entrepreneurship is a relatively new addition to the curriculum of institutions of higher education in Portugal. Forty-one percent of the current courses were first offered in 2003 or 2004. This recent awakening to the importance of entrepreneurship education is both reactive to the needs of the market as well as pro-active through the interests of professors. As the developing phenomenon of entrepreneurship education grows there is an urgent need to better understand and develop this area through academic research. Pedagogy, course content, the use of technology as well as other parallel initiatives related to entrepreneurship education in Portugal are the primary focus of this national survey of academic year 2004/2005. The majority (76.5%) of professors surveyed stated that their university has plans to create an entrepreneurship/innovation center. However, it is believed that roles and activities that a “center” must have to be effective are, as of yet, not well-defined in the Portuguese context. In developing future initiatives, Portugal could benefit by looking at models from other countries that have well-developed entrepreneurship educational offerings and support structures. Findings indicate that current course pedagogy in Portugal relies heavily on business plan creation and theoretical lectures and seldom makes use of computer business simulations, role-playing or internships. In addition, greater use of the Internet as a method for disseminating information to students and entrepreneurs could help “market” entrepreneurship education better and improve the perception of those students not currently taking an entrepreneurship course.

Nervous Kitchens: Critical Readings of Black Women's Food Practices in The Soul Food Imaginary

Nervous Kitchens intervenes in the story of soul food by treating the kitchen as a central site of instability. These kitchens reveal and critique their importance to constructions of Black womanhood. Utilizing close readings of Black women’s culinary practices in popular televisual kitchens and archival analysis of USDA domestic reforms, the project locates sites that challenge how we oversimplify soul food as a Black cultural product. These oversimplifications come through what I term the soul food imaginary. This term underscores how the cuisine is tangible (i.e., how dishes are made) but also the ways that histories of enslavement, migration, and domesticity are disseminated through fictionalized representations of Black women in the kitchen offering comfort through food. The project explores how images of these kitchens adhere to and diverge from the imaginary's four conventions: (1) Soul food originates in enslavement where master’s scraps became mama’s meal time; (2) Soul food is not healthy food; (3) Soul food moves South to North uninterrupted during the Great Migration and is evidence of and fuel for struggle, survival, and transformation; and 4) Black women cook it the best, naturally, and alone in the kitchen.

A New Concept of Interprofessional Education in Planning Programmes: Reflections on Healthy Urban Planning Project

Although widely debated, some of the defining professional characteristics of planners appear to be competencies in coordination , mediation and multidisciplinary working. Despite this, there is little pedagogical reflection on how interprofessional skills are promoted in planning programmes. This paper reflects on the experience of bringing together undergraduate students from medicine and planning to explore the concept of Healthy Urban Planning in a real life context of an urban motorway extension. This reveals a number of unexpected outcomes of such collaboration and points to the value of promoting interprofessional education, both as a way of increasing interest in some of the key challenges now facing society and in order to induce greater professional reflection amongst our students.

Perceptions of Character Education in a Seventh-Day Adventist School

Character education has been viewed by many educators as having significant historical, academic, and social value. Many stakeholders in education argue for character development as a curricular experience. While understanding the degree to which character education is of worth to stakeholders of institutions is important, understanding students, teachers, and administrators perspectives from their lived experiences is likewise significant. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain a deeper understanding of character education within a Biblical framework environment by examining the lived experiences of students, administrators, and teachers of a Seventh-day Adventist School. Phenomenology describes individuals’ daily experiences of phenomena, the manner in which these experiences are structured, and focuses analysis on the perspectives of the persons having the experience (Moustakas, 1994). ). This inquiry was undertaken to answer the question: What are the perceptions of students, teachers, and an administrator toward character education in a Seventh-day Adventist school setting? Ten participants (seven students and three adults) formed the homogeneous purposive sample, and the major data collection tool was semi-structured interviews (Patton, 1990; Seidman, 2006). Three 90-minute open-ended interviews were conducted with each of the participants. Data analysis included a three-phase process of description, reduction and interpretation. The findings from this study revealed that participants perceived that their involvement in the school’s character education program decreased the tendency to violence, improved their conduct and ethical sensibility, enhanced their ability to engage in decision-making concerning social relationships and their impact on others, brought to their attention the emerging global awareness of moral deficiency, and fostered incremental progress from practice and recognition of vices to their acquisition of virtues. The findings, therefore, provide a model for teaching character education from a Seventh-day Adventist perspective. The model is also relevant for non-Seventh day Adventists who aspire to teach character education as a means to improving social and moral conditions in schools.

Mathematical pedagogical content knowledge in early childhood education: A study in initial teacher education in Portugal

The study aims to explore the specificity of mathematics Pedagogical Content Knowledge in Early Childhood Education Pedagogy. The pedagogy of ECE (Siraj-Blatchford, 2010) and the didactics of ECE (Pramling & Pramling-Samuelsson, 2011) suggest dimensions of knowledge that require strong content and PC knowledge of teachers. Recent studies about PCK of ECE teachers highlight similar specific dimensions: organization of educational environment and interactions with children (Lee, 2010, McCray, 2008, Rojas, 2008). The current framework for ECE Teacher Education in Portugal (since 2007) focuses both content knowledge and subject didactics. PCK has been labelled the 'great unknown' in ECE (Rojas, 2008) in traditions where the child's development is considered as the main knowledge base for ECE (Chen & McNamee, 2006, Cullen, 2005, Hedges & Cullen, 2005). We studied the perspectives of 27 initial teacher education students about knowledge for teaching and about ECE Pedagogy. We used one open-ended questionnaire and students' analysis of episodes focusing children's answers or discourse relevant for mathematics (about high numbers and square root). The questionnaire was anonymous and students’ permission to use the answers was obtained. In the questionnaire, interactions with children (62%) and organization of the educational environment (38%) are highlighted as the most important focus for the teacher. Students suggested tasks that were adult planned and oriented to further the situations presented in the episodes. Very few references to children's exploratory actions (Bonawitz et al., 2011) were made. The specificity of ECE (child initiated activities, e.g.) needs to be further developed in initial teacher education.