This paper sheds light on the assessment of publicly funded privately managed supplemental education programs for pupils from migrant and low-income households. The paper positions the case study as a form of social enterprise characterized by bricolage. Drawing from existing literature on afterschool program assessment and entrepreneurship…

Background: Implementation of school-based health promotion programs requires contextual fit. To strengthen the nutrition education program "Krachtvoer" (ENG: "Power Food") and learn general lessons about contextual fit, this study examined how the program, the context, and program-context interactions affected teachers'…

This study investigates the impact of an extended school week in 30 primary schools on track recommendations, an achievement-related outcome, at the school level. The intervention is part of a major urban policy in one of the most disadvantaged areas in the Netherlands. Register data are used to examine changes in track recommendations between…

The environment in which Vocational Education and Training (VET) schools operate changes rapidly due to more varied student populations, personalised, blended and work-based learning paths, developments in digitalisation, industry, and labour markets. These changes and policy pressures to ensure VET quality, demand teachers to continuously develop…

This study focuses on pre-service teachers' views of the conditions that foster their participatory action research practices in secondary schools and on how these conditions can inform the development of a teacher education program for a participatory approach. By using the "Theory of Practice Architectures" as an analytical lens, eight…

Social exclusion has a myriad of negative effects on students' psychological and social well-being. One way to combat such negative effects is to raise awareness about social exclusion in schools. Here, we describe and evaluate a training program that was carried out across schools in The Netherlands. The program relies on basic experiential…

The need for employees in the exact and natural sciences sector with both work experience and academic qualifications, especially combined with an entrepreneurial mindset, is rising. The University of Groningen offers an alternative Master's program entitled Science, Business and Policy (SBP). SBP combines entrepreneurship education with the…

Context: In the last few decades, the constant and exponential changes in the society's consumption of information have increased the awareness of practitioners from the education and training field, on the need for training programs for the enhancement of critical thinking skills and media literacy among students from Initial Vocational Education…

In defining successful collaborative international projects within the theory of change or logic model, focus is often on 'outcome' and 'impact'. Less empirical information is available regarding the 'input' and 'activities' aspects of this model. To address this knowledge gap and to offer insight into pivotal elements for management, this study…

In this study, we randomly assigned struggling readers in special needs education (n = 23; 8-12 years of age) to a dog-assisted reading intervention or a similar intervention without a dog present. Students participated in 30-minute reading sessions twice a week for a total of six weeks. Using two standardised tests we measured reading skills…

This paper analyses the efficacy of the Gender Equality Matters (GEM) educational programme in raising awareness, building confidence, and enhancing capacity levels among children to tackle gender stereotyping, gender-based bullying and gender-based violence (GBV). While many primary schools are open to engaging children in the aforementioned…

Background: The global rise in chronic health conditions highlights the importance of self-management in empowering people to actively participate in their healthcare. People with intellectual disabilities are disproportionately affected by these conditions and face barriers in accessing self-management interventions. Method: This scoping review…

Background: Implementation of Health Promoting School (HPS) programs can be challenging due to the dynamic school context. Navigating between program fidelity and adaptation, as well as integrating the program, is essential for successful implementation, and consequently, for program effects. As part of an evaluation study in the Netherlands, this…

Science and technology education has become increasingly important. However, for most teachers, it is challenging to provide this content. Therefore, professional development programmes are used to support teachers in this regard. In this qualitative study, effective characteristics that should be present in such programmes were identified.…

Practitioner research should be sufficiently trustworthy "and" useful. We argue, however, that although criteria of trustworthiness are rather well developed, criteria of usefulness are not. As a result, the long-term impact of practitioner research is rather disappointing because, we contend, it tends to lack practicality. We used…