External support by a local coordinating agency facilitates the work of school-to-school networks. This study provides an innovative theoretical framework to analyse how support provided by local education offices for school-to-school networks is perceived by the participating teachers. Based on a quantitative survey and qualitative interview data…

In this paper we consider the question of how quality assurance can have a real, positive impact on the quality of teaching and learning at universities, considering the realities of different systems--the system of control and the system of quality culture--in using the example of two universities: the KNITU-KAI in Russia and the TU Dresden in…

This study investigated Hong Kong and German children's perceptions of play and learning and their relationships. Forty-eight children (24 German and 24 Chinese) playing and learning in the classroom were observed and videotaped for five consecutive days. They were interviewed 3 times about their kindergarten experiences by using free- and…

The number of dual career couples in academia is growing due to the increasing proportion of women with a doctoral degree and the greater propensity of women to choose another academic as their partner. At the same time, international mobility is required for career advancement in academia, creating challenges for dual career couples where both…

A global characteristic of higher education is the opportunity and necessity for students to self-regulate their learning. In contrast to considerable research focusing on self-regulated learning (SRL) from a behavioural perspective, little is known concerning the underlying competencies which enable students to succeed in SRL. A structural model…

In the educational learning process preconceptions are an important factor. Learners usually interpret new input on the basis of their own preconceptions that are the result of various experiences made before being confronted with the educational learning process. Hence, the investigation of preconceptions is a main task for educational research.…

A context of increased competition between higher education institutions (HEIs) for attracting potential national and international students has led universities to implement marketing communication strategies. Those strategies which are used to some extent include, among others, interactive inbound marketing. The purpose of the present…

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…

In this explorative qualitative study the effect of political decentralization on vocational school leadership is investigated. Through conducting structural interviews with 15 school principals in the states of Bremen and Lower Saxony in Germany, the study was able to conclude that political decentralization entails the creation of elected bodies…

This paper describes the second in a series of studies exploring the acceptance of the subatomic structure of matter by 12-year-olds. The studies focus on a novel learning unit introducing an atomic model from electrons down to quarks, which is aimed to be used at an early stage in the physics curriculum. Three features are fundamental to the…

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…

This paper describes an existing web-based learning platform named "Third Place of Learning" (TPL)--"Dritter Lernort". This project's aim is to connect the system of vocational education with digital media by a web-based learning platform. TPL supports student's digital learning by means of interactive examples and exercises.…

This research explores these questions: (1) How are the forms of media-educational habitus of future educators shaped? (2) What conditions influence whether or not media education is done in day-care centers? The qualitative study consists of six semi-structured interviews with media education teachers in educator training, four focus group…

This is a study about teacher careers to elementary school principals. The aim of this contribution is to reconstruct the strategies guiding aspiring elementary school principals in their careers and to analyse those in order to answer the question: How do elementary school teachers manage to become principals? To obtain qualitative data…

This study focuses on the relationships between host family success, social integration, length of stay and acquisition of adolescent language by students on extended international homestay programmes. Degree of adolescent language acquisition and integration is measured by use of two hallmarks of adolescent language: markers of approximation…