Education as cultural mobilisation: The Great War and its effects on moral education in the Netherlands

Education during World War I has been a relatively unexplored field of research, especially in the case of countries with a neutral stance in that war. The Netherlands is one such country. This article argues that even though the Netherlands was politically neutral, it was and considered itself a part of western civilisation and shared in the experience of a cultural or existential crisis that came over Europe as a consequence of the war. This crisis also caused Dutch pedagogues to reflect on the war. Leading Dutch pedagogues wrote in their journals how education had to be changed in order to prevent a future war or to preserve moral values in their country, which was not (yet) part of the warfare. To characterise this effort, we introduce the concept of cultural mobilisation, following recent developments in the historiography of the cultural dimensions of the Great War. Based on an in-depth analysis of Dutch pedagogical journals, ranging from Protestant, Catholic and socialist to humanist and anarchistic world views, we focus on three pedagogical debates that were influenced by the Great War. The first debate focuses on peace education and shows how pedagogues rejected the war pedagogy of their German colleagues in particular and advised teachers to pass on a peace-loving message to their pupils. The second debate focuses on the reception of Montessori education and the third on Foerster’s and Kerschensteiner’s social pedagogy, both in light of the desire of pedagogues to improve moral education in the school.     

Legitimate Peripheral Participation in Communities of Practice: Participation Support Structures for Newcomers in Faculty Student Councils

Participating in communities of practice (CoPs) is an important way of learning. For newcomers in such communities, the learning process can be described as legitimate peripheral participation (LPP). Although a body of knowledge on LPP has been accumulated from qualitative case studies, mostly focusing on the use of practices, the concrete mechanisms that shape the LPP process have not yet been systematically analyzed. In this study, we examined participation support structures with a focus on activities that senior CoP members demonstrate to foster newcomers’ participation. The use of 8 distinct participation support structures was identified in interviews with experienced members of faculty student councils. A hierarchical linear model based on data from 68 newcomers in 14 faculty student councils was computed. The model showed that in addition to exposure time and CoP size, 2 participation support structures (recruitment strategies and accessibility of community knowledge) were predictive of the newcomers’ level of participation. We conclude that senior members’ specific participation support structures can facilitate or hinder newcomers’ participation in CoPs and that the original LPP approach needs to be enhanced by taking participation support structures into account.     

Acute exercise-induced irisin release in healthy adults: Associations with training status and exercise mode

There is a growing interest in exploring irisin response to acute exercise; however, the associations of acute exercise-induced irisin release with training status and exercise mode are not fully understood. This study was primarily designed to evaluate these associations. Sixteen healthy adults (8 trained versus 8 untrained) underwent a bout of cycling at 80% of maximal oxygen uptake (VO_2max) for 50?min, with blood drawn pre-, 10-, and 180-min post-exercise. Another 17 healthy adults performed 2 bouts of graded exercise (cycling and running) until exhaustion on separate days using a randomized cross-over design, with blood taken pre-, 0-, 10-, and 60-min post-exercise. Circulating irisin, creatine kinase (CK), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), and myoglobin (Mb) were measured, and their respective areas under the curves (AUCs) were calculated. Irisin increased 10-min after 50?min of cycling at 80% of VO_2max, while its changes from baseline to post-exercise and the amount of exercise-induced irisin release (presented as AUC) were comparable between trained and untrained adults (all P?>?.05). Irisin remained elevated 10-min post-exhausting running but decreased towards baseline 10-min post-exhausting cycling. Exhausting running induced an increase in irisin release for the whole course of exercise and recovery periods, but cycling did not. Acute exercise-induced irisin changes seemed not related to changes of CK, aspartate AST, and Mb in general. In conclusion, acute exercise-induced irisin release is not associated with training status but might be affected by training mode. Future studies are required to investigate which exercise mode might be most efficient in altering irisin.     

List of contributors

Other Index

List of contributors     

Inspection of Home Education in European Countries

In many European countries and in North America, home education is a viable alternative for education at school. Parents who want to home school their child are legally allowed to do so, although some countries impose rather strict conditions. This article concentrates on the way authorities supervise or inspect the quality of home education. A comparison is made of inspection regulations in 14 European countries. Substantial differences were found, regarding among other things the function of inspection, inspection methods and the outcomes. Most countries do not have data on the effectiveness of inspection. It is recommended that governments screen their procedures for the inspection of home education using criteria such as transparency, consistency, and efficiency.     

Laufzeitdynamische Evaluierung tabellarischer Daten

Zusammenfassung.   In diesem Artikel wird ein Konzept besprochen, mit dem flexible Algorithmen zur Auswertung von Anfragen an tabellarische Datenstrukturen typsicher in objektorientierten Programmiersprachen implementiert werden k?nnen. Kernpunkt ist eine strikte Trennung zwischen dem Zugriff auf Zeilen und Spalten. Gegenüber einem reinem Iteratormodell werden Anwendungsprogramme damit nicht nur von der internen Organisation der zugrundeliegenden Sequenzen entkoppelt, sondern auch von den Tupeltypen der Tabellen. Dadurch wird es m?glich, hohe Laufzeitflexibilit?t mit weitgehender statischer Typsicherheit zu verbinden. Eingegangen am 1. August 1997 / Angenommen am 7. M?rz 1998     

Another Side to the Coin: The unintended effects of the publication of school performance data in England and France

Educational performance tables have become a feature of the educational landscape in a number of countries in the 1990s. These tables have been published on the assumption that they will help to inform parental and pupil choice, school improvement and will make schools more accountable. This article explores the uses and (negative) side-effects of the publication of performance tables in two European countries. It shows the strengths and weaknesses of the current practices in England and France, reviews the current practices critically and gives some recommendations for improvement.