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This paper examines the internationalisation processes in the higher education sector in Latvia and explores the motives of international students to study in Latvia, their experience and their plans. The study uses a quantitative data collection method -- a survey -- the results of which allow us to judge the main trends of internationalisation processes in Latvia. The differences between different groups were investigated, highlighting the countries with the most respondents -- India and Germany, and comparing them with each other and with students from other countries. The results show that there are substantial differences between the groups. For German students, Latvia was more of a second option when they failed to get into their preferred university in their home country or elsewhere. They chose to study in Latvia mainly because of the university's study programmes. At the same time, students from India were also interested in factors such as culture, the Baltic region and the attractiveness of Riga.

This specially themed ""Getting of Wisdom," Learning in Later Life" Edition of the "Australian Journal of Adult Learning" ("AJAL") is not so much concerned with the issue of ageing itself, but more about quality of life regardless of age. It is about taking, but also giving back as best as possible at any age. This special issue is a result of the one week "The Getting of Wisdom Exchange", a collaboration between around 100 adult education practitioners and researchers from ten countries from Australia, New Zealand, Asia and Europe. In this issue, papers are presented from Sweden, Ireland, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Australia, Slovenia, Poland, Germany, Portugal and the United Kingdom. Papers cover different topics and open questions about various issues in older people's learning.

Students from a lower socioeconomic background have a higher risk of dropping out of higher education. The underlying mechanisms of this association between socioeconomic background and higher education dropout are not well understood. Previous research in higher education has followed Tinto's model of academic and social integration to explain dropout but has largely neglected social inequality therein. In contrast, social stratification research draws on rational choice theory to explain social inequality in educational attainment but has rarely been applied to explain dropout from higher education. In our paper, we combine these two strands of research. Utilizing data from the National Educational Panel Study (NEPS), we draw on a largescale, representative sample of students in Germany to quantify the relative contribution of each theoretical approach for explaining social inequality in dropout from higher education. Binary logistic regression models reveal that both students' integration and costs-benefit considerations are associated with their dropout risk net of each other. While academic and social integration appears to better predict dropout, rational choice theory accounts for a larger proportion of social inequality therein. We conclude that combining Tinto's model and rational choice theory provides a more comprehensive perspective of dropouts from higher education and social inequality therein.

The papers in the special series describe the role of data-based decision-making (DBDM) in improving the outcomes of students with learning disabilities based on research across Germany, the Netherlands, and the United States. The articles address multiple aspects of a model of DBDM that includes the role of teacher knowledge, skills, beliefs, and sources of professional learning and the role of systems-level factors in improving student achievement. In this article, the conclusions of each paper are described in terms of that model. The papers illustrate that DBDM can improve achievement for students with learning disabilities through a DBDM process called data-based individualization (DBI)--especially if teachers have innovative supports (e.g., new technologies). For teachers, DBDM professional development (PD) can improve DBDM knowledge and implementation, but PD may not be adequate in all cases, with practical experience playing a central role. In addition, classroom-level DBDM may not translate to success for students with learning disabilities. Finally, the articles reveal a need to focus more on systems-level factors in successful DBDM systems like DBI--especially when implemented outside the experimental context. These findings provide a contemporary lens on DBDM as it related to students with learning disabilities and establish foci for future research.

By bringing together the national German sports game community and an international scientific community in a joint conference, the 6th International Teaching Games for Understanding Conference (TGfU) Meets the 10th German Sports Games Symposium of the German Association of Sport Science (DVS), held July 25-27, 2016, at the German Sport University in Cologne, fostered the interdisciplinary discussion of team and racket sports in the fields of sport pedagogy, sport didactics, sport psychology, computer science, human movement science, and training science. The conference, chaired by Daniel Memmert and Philip Furley, and organized by the Institute of Cognitive and Team/Racket Sport Research, aimed to cover the entire spectrum of sports sciences through the Plenary Opening Lecture, three keynote speakers, nine invited talks, invited papers, practical workshops, coaching clinics, oral presentations, and poster presentations. This issue begins with the following: Preface (Daniel Memmert); and Opening Plenary Lecture--We Are What We Teach: TGfU as a Complex Ecological Situation (J. Butler). Keynotes include: (1) "Is TGfU a Model Only Test Pilots Can Fly?": Teacher-Coach Development in Game-Centered Approaches (D. Kirk); (2) Using Technology to Evaluate Game Play for Beginners and Proficient Players That Encompasses Game-Play Evaluation (P. G. O'Donoghue); and (3) Teaching Games for Understanding and the Psychology of Intuition (H. Plessner). Invited Talks include: (1) Capturing the Complexity of Team Synergies to Provide a Better Practice (D. Araújo); (2) Student Learning Outcome and Teachers' Autonomy Support toward Teaching Games for Understanding through Adopting Accessible Technology and Alternative Sport Equipment: An Asian Experience (A. S. Ha); (3) Understanding Games for Teaching--Reflections on Empirical Approaches toward Game Instruction (S. König); (4) Building an Increased Evidence Base for Game-Centered Approaches in Professional Practice Settings (S. Harvey); (5) Instructions in Sports from a Cognitive Information-Processing Perspective: Implications for Theory and Practice within Teaching and Learning in Sport Games (P. A. Furley); (6) Analyzing Complex Dynamical Systems: Artificial Neural Networks Contribute New Insight Concerning Optimal Athletic Techniques and Tactics (A. Schmidt); (7) Using Modification to Generate Emergent Performance (and Learning?) in Sports (D. Farrow, T. Buszard, M. Reid, and R. Masters); (8) Game-Centered Approaches: Different Perspectives, Same Goals--Working Together for Learning (D. Gutierrez); and (9) "Leveling the Playing Field" in Physical Education with Adaptation Games (K. Pagnano Richardson, D. Sheehy, and T. Hopper). The section, Thematic Symposia, includes the following symposia descriptions and presentations: (1) Developing a Conceptual Framework to Underpin the Practical Art of Making Games Accessible to Players (L. Almond): (a) Conceptual Framework for Understanding Digital Video Game Design and Its Relationship to Teaching Games for Understanding (A. Price); (b) Translating Formal Game Into Manageable Game Forms: The Case of Volleyball (J. Afonso C. Bessa, R. Aroújo, P. Coutinho, and I. Mesquita); (c) Making Sense of Handball (L. McCarthy); (d) The Thinking behind a Conceptual Framework for Teaching/Coaching Games (L. Almond); and (e) Perspectives of Rugby Coaches in Understanding Teaching Games for Understanding (J. Lambden); (2) The Ecological Dynamics Approach to Sport Pedagogics and Tactical Analysis (D. Araujo, K. Davids, and I. Renshaw): (a) Implementing a Nonlinear Physical Education Pedagogy in an Australian Secondary School (B. Moy); (b) Reflecting on Practice: An Exploration of NLP in Games Teaching (I. Renshaw and J. Clancy); (c) Evaluating a 12-Week Games-Based Training Program to Improve Cricket Batting Skill (J. D. Connor, I. Renshaw, D. Farrow, and B. Abernethy); (d) Manipulating Goal Posts Significantly Impacts Tactical Behaviors in Small-Sided Football Games (B. Travassos, P. Silva, R. Duarte, L. Vilar, and P. T. Esteves); and (e) Players' Relative Position to Characterize the Affordances Landscape in Football (P. Passos and R. Silva); (3) Personality in Team Sport: A Coach and Athlete Perspective (J. Kleinert): (a) Personality Development in Team Sport Players (J. Ohlert and J. Kleinert); (b) Burnout, Stress, and Recovery in German Coaches (P. Schaffran, S. Altfeld, C. Zepp, J. Kleinert, and M. Kellmann); (c) The Relationship between Coaches' Emotional Intelligence and Their Perception of Player Need Satisfaction (M. Watson and J. Kleinert); and (d) The Link between Emotional Intelligence and Leadership in Soccer Coaches (B. Lobinger and S. Heisler); (4) Translating TGfU Theory into Practice: How Can We Support Teachers' and Coaches' Learning When Implementing TGfU? (K. A. Parry): (a) Supporting Teachers to Implement Game-Centered Approaches: Toward an Effective Model of Professional Development (K. A. Parry); (b) Utilizing Real-Time GPS (Adidas MiCoach System V2.0) to Enhance Soccer Coaches' Ability to Reflect in Action When Engaging in a GCA (M. Ayres and T. Howard); (c) Using a Heutagogical Approach to Develop an Undergraduate GCA Module: Developing GCA V2 (M. Ayres, A. Proce, A. Monk, and L. McCarthy); (d) Implementing Game-Centered Approaches: An Alternative Vision for Coach Education (C. Cushion and S. Harvey); and (e) Moving forward in a Game-Centered Context: A New Stage in Games and Sports Education (G. Forrest); (5) Session of the German Handball Association (S. König and S. Greve): (a) Teaching Games in Secondary Schools--TGfU or Something Else? (S. König); and (b) "Freiwurf Hamburg": Qualitative Evaluation of an Inclusive Sports Project (S. Greve); (6) Democracy in Action through Inventing Games (J. Butler): (a) Introduction to the Symposium Democracy in Action through Inventing Games (J. Butler); (b) Democracy in Action through Inventing Games: Teachers' Views about Teaching and Learning (S. McGinley); (c) Democracy in Action through Inventing Games: Exploring Moments of Aporia (or Communications Difficulties) as Opportunities for Learning (E. McGinley); (d) Democracy in Action through Inventing Games: Student Responses (A. Berning); and (e) Democracy in Action through Inventing Games: Setting the Environment (J. Sheppard); (7) The Game Performance Assessment Instrument: Twenty Years and Counting! (S. Mitchel): (a) Introduction to the GPAI (S. Mitchell); (b) Enhancing Performance Using the GPAI as a Coaching Language in Practice and Matches Administration (A. De Souza); (c) Reflecting on Student Learning: Using the iPad to Collect GPAI Data (K. Pagnano Richardson); (d) Development of GPAI Components through GPET Game Context Adaptation (D. Gutierrez and L. M. Garcia-Lopez); (e) Formally and Formatively Assessing Students Using Game Performance Rubrics (S. Harvey); and (f) GPAI Applications: Critical Responses and Possibilities (T. Hopper); (8) Complexity and the Design of Learning Systems in TGfU (A. Ovens): (a) Tactical Disturbances: Exploring the Complexity of Tactical Learning in Basketball (V. Minjares); (b) Making Sense of Complexity and Its Implications for Teaching and Coaching (R. Pucheggar); (c) Embodied Learning: A Simplified Pedagogical Complexity (S. Visawanath); and (d) The Complexity Turn in Sport and Physical Education: Reflecting on an Emerging Field (A. Ovens); (9) Learners as Complex Systems: Basic Moves, Modification-by-Adaptation, and Social Coordinated Mimicry (T. Hopper): (a) Application of Social Coordinated Mimicry: Net/Wall Example (T. Hopper and J. Rhoades); (b) Social Coordinated Mimicry: Theoretical Applications of Current Research (J. Rhoades and T. Hopper); and (c) Complexity Thinking and Early Childhood Physical Education (M. Jess and N. Carse); (10) A Critical Evaluation of Limits and Prospects of the Simple Heuristic Approach, Ball-School Approach, Ecological Dynamics Approach, and TGfU Explaining Decision Making in Sports (M. Raab and L. Musculus): (a) The Effect of Top-Down and Bottom-Up Processes in the Development of Game Performance in Basketball (M. C. Lopes, K. Roth, and P. J. Greco); (b) Training of Team Decisional Behavior in Football from an Ecological Dynamics Approach (D. Araújo and P. Silva); (c) A Holistic Approach to Decision Making in Games and Sport (S. Harvey, A. Mouchet, and R. Light); and (d) Monitoring the Development of Elite Youth Soccer Players' Decision Making: Implications for Age-Related Decision-Making Training from a Simple Heuristic Approach (L. Musculus, B. Lobinger, and M. Raab); (11) Dynamic Match Analysis (H. Folgado): (a) Small-Sided Games: An Optimal Training Tool to Represent Tactical Match Demands in Elite-Standard Youth Soccer Players? (S. B. H. Olthof, and W. G. P. Frencken, and K. A. P. M. Lemmink); (b) Real-Time Quantification of Dangerousity in Soccer Using Spatiotemporal Tracking Data (D. Link, S. Lang, and P. Seidenschwarz); (c) Spatial-Temporal Patterns of Play Constrain the Success of Defensive Actions in Association Football (B. Travassos, R. Monteiro, P. Marques, and R. Duarte); and (d) Changes in Offensive Tactical Performance among Under-13 Basketball Players during 4 Months of Training (T. J. Leonardi, A. L. A. Soares, D. V. C. Brasil, M. C. Boscariol, C. E. Goncalves, H. M. Carvalho, and R. R. Paes); (12) Sustained Collaborative Adventures in TGfU: Communities of Practice (Chairs: H. Bohler and D. Sheehy): (a) Game Curriculum Based on Legitimate Peripheral Participation (N. Suzuki); (b) Teaching Life Skills Through TGfU Game Play: International Collaboration of CoPs (J. Sheppard); (c) Peer Mentoring: On the Move to Legitimate Peripheral Participation (D. Sheehy and H. Bohler); and (d) Reflecting Back and Looking Forward: A TGfU Graduate Cohort (K. Pagnano Richardson); (13) Implicit Motor Learning: Applying Research Evidence to Real-World Contexts (D. G. Slade): (a) Applying Implicit Teaching Methods Using a Teaching-Games-for-Understanding Model of Learning for Improving Performance in the Overarm Throw in a Physical Education Context (D. G. Slade and D. J. Cochrane); (b) Errorless Learning: An Implicit Approach Applied to Fundamental Movement Skills (C. M. Capio, J. M. Poolton, K. F. Eguia, and R. S. W. Masters); (c) Implicit Motor Skill Learning in Groups and How Teaching Games for Understanding May Contribute (J. Duivenvoorden, W. Walinga, and J. van der Kamp); and (d) The Effect of Rule Modification on Strokes in Tennis Matches: Induction of Offensive Play by Using the One-Trap Rule (H. Yamamoto and K. Kudo); (14) Developing Young Talent toward Elite Performers (Chairs: A. Güllich, K. Davids, D. Farrow, and D. Memmert): (a) The Macro-Structure of Developmental Participation Histories of World-Class Players (A. Güllich); (b) From the Micro-Structure of Practice to the Macro-Structure of Talent Development: Pedagogues as Designers (K. Davids); (c) Closing the Gap between Practice and Performance to Maximize Talent Development (D. Farrow); and (d) Fostering Young Talents: The Case of Tactical Creativity (D. Memmert); (15) An 18-Month Case Study of a Game-Centered Approach Coach Education and Development Program within a Professional Rugby Club (L. Almond): (a) Measuring the Impact of an 18-Month GCA Coach Education and Development Program within 1 Professional Rugby Club (M. Ayres, S. Page, D. Maybury, and G. Murphy); (b) An Autoethnographic Study of 1 Coach's Experience of Engaging with an 18-Month Game-Centered Approach Coach Education and Development Program (D. Maybury, G. Murphy, M. Ayres, and S. Page); (c) A Case Study Examining an 18-Month-Long Game-Centered Approach Coach Education and Development Program--The Professional Rugby Club's Perspective (D. Maybury, G. Murphy, M. Ayres, and S. Page); and (d) A Case Study Examining an 18-Month-Long Game-Centered Approach Coach Education and Development Program--The Researcher's Perspective (M. Ayres, S. Page, D. Maybury, and G. Murphy); (16) BIG Data in Sport Games (D. Link): (a) DFL Innovation Program Powering Match Analysis with Smart Data (H. Weber); (b) Defensive Compactness as a Performance Indicator for Game Annotation (N. Witt); (c) A Real-Time System for Availability Detection (O. Bartels and D. Link); (d) An Approach to Tactical Performance Optimization in a Big Data World (H. Folgado); and (e) The Use of Self-Organizing Maps to Assess Tactical Training Effectiveness in Team Handball (A. Hassan, N. Schrapf, W. Ramadan, and M. Tilp); and (17) Learning to Teach TGfU: Pedagogical Ventures with Preservice Teachers(H. Bohler and D. Sheehy): (a) Incorporating the TGfU Framework Into PETE (N. Suzuki); (b) Changing the "Course" of Games Teaching (H. Bohler); (c) Concept-Mapping the Way to TGfU Pedagogy (D. Sheehy); and (d) Suspended Disbelief and How It Works: Interacting with Avatars (M. Neutzling). Peer-Reviewed Oral Presentations include: (1) Decision Making and Task Constraints: (a) Exploring the Quiet Eye Phenomenon in Basketball Game Situations (A. Klostermann, D. Panchuk, and D. Farrow); (b) Anticipation of Beach Volleyball Attacks: A Comparison of Natural Versus Animated Virtual-Reality Scenes (C. Vater, L. Riedener, and E.-J. Hossner); (c) Development and Position Data-Related Application of a Stochastic Model for Trajectory Simulation of a Nonspinning Volleyball (B. Meyer); and (d) Fitness Level of Young Female Competitive Basketball Players (P. F. Aschendorf, C. Zinner, and J. Mester); (2) Current Trends in Performance Analysis: (a) Exploring Scientific Learning Outcomes of a 12-Session Unit of Rugby Using the Rugby Attack Assessment Instrument (RAAI): A Micro-Level Analysis (B. Llobet-Martí, V. López-Ros, and J. Barrera-Gómez); (b) Video-Based Tactics Training in Youth Tennis (A. Raschke, J. Brouwers, and M. Lames); (c) Validation and Reliability of a Game Performance Evaluation Tool for the Offensive Behavior of Players in Iranian Soccer Schools (M. Maleki and F. Allahvisi); and (d) Reliability and Validity of New Shooting Accuracy Measurement System (SAMS) Software (U. Fidan and M. Yildiz); (3) Small-Sided Team Games: (a) Comparison of Small-Sided Game Training Versus Regular Basketball Training in Physical and Technical Skills in Basketball (M. A. El-gammal); (b) Does the Use of Futsal Balls Enhance the Quality of Play in School Football? (U. Frick and C. Heim); (c) The Impact of Competition Mode and Coaching on the Amount of Actions in Youth Football (M. Akdag, D. Poimann, T. Czyz, and M. Lochmann); (d) The Impact of Competition Mode and Coaching on Physical Load in Youth Football (M. Akdag, D. Poimann, T. Czyz, and M. Lochmann); and (e) The Integrated Technique-Tactical Model (IT-TM) in a 12-Session Unit of Rugby with Novice Players: Application and Overall Outcomes (V. López-Ros and B. Llobet-Martí); (4) New Theoretical Directions for TGfU: (a) Is It Possible to Unify Teaching Games for Understanding with Nonlinearity to Improve Creativity in Team Sports? (S. Santos, J. Sampaio, and N. Leite); (b) Developing Physical Education Teachers' TGfU Content and Pedagogical Content Knowledge (B. Nkala and J. Shehu); (c) TGfU, But Not as We Know It (D. Slade and A. Martin); and (d) TGfU in Nature: The Czech Way (A. J. Martin, I. Turcová, and J. Neuman); (5) Psychophysical Factors Affect Team-Sports Performance: (a) Gibson, Yygotsky, and Bourdieu and Intentional Human Movement (W. Smith); (b) Individual Success and Personality of Professional Soccer Players: How Self-Report and Objective Performance Data Differ (J. Decius); (c) Pre-Event Competitive State Anxiety Fluctuations: Intensity, Direction, and Frequency Accounts Using the Time-to-Event Paradigm (J. E. Hagan Jnr T. Schack, and D. Pollmann); (d) The Effects of Team Constitution on Tactical Behavior of Teams During 7-a-Side Football in Small-Sided Games (J. Baptista, B. Travassos, B. Gonçalves, P. Mourão, J. L. Viana, and J. Sampaio); and (e) The Influence of Handedness on Performance on the Different Playing Positions in Female Team Handball (J. Weber, M. Wegner, and S. Fatulescu); (6) Team Tactics: (a) Key Information From Complex Interaction Processes in Football (J. Perl and D. Memmert); (b) Kinematic and Tactical Analyses in Youth Soccer (C. Augste, R. Prüßner, D. Linke, B. Grossmann, and M. Lames); (c) Impact of the "Warm-Up Game" on Tactical Awareness (N. Suzuki, S. Okuma, J. Fujisawa, and H. Anbe); (d) Emergence of Self-Organized Team Tactical Behaviors during a Preseason Football Game (A. Ric, C. Torrents, B. Goncalves, J. Sampaio, and R. Hristovsk); (e) Differences between Knockout and Group Matches: An Analysis of Tactical Behavior in Football during the FIFA World Cup 2014 (C. Winter and M. Pfeiffer); and (f) Interaction between Offensive and Defensive Behavior of Opposing Teams in Team Handball Analyzed by Artificial Neural Networks (N. Schrapf and M. Tilp); (7) TGfU in the Field: (a) About Teaching Games in Brazil: National Scientific Production and the TGfU (F. R. Costa, I. Scremin, and M. V. Euzebio); (b) Application of Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) in Preschool Children Basketball Education (H. Zeng, A.-Q. Liu, Y. Zhang, H. Tao, and Q.-Q. Dong); (c) Combining the Tactical Games Approach, Cooperative Learning, and the Sport Education Model for Elementary School Physical Education in Japan (E. Hasegawa); (d) Effects of Teaching Games for Understanding on Quantitative and Qualitative Indexes of Grade 3 Students' Game Performance (A. Dania and K. Zounhia); and (e) A Systematic Review on Periodized Approaches to Teaching and Training: No Evidence Supporting Periodization (J. Afonso, P. T. Nikolaidis, P. Sousa, and I. Mesquita); (8) TGfU and Coaching: (a) A Soccer Content Map Designed for Novice Teachers and Coaches (A. P. Turner and P. Ward); (b) Understanding the Taiwan Judo Referee Decision Support System (T.-L. Yeh, K. Pina, and S.-Y. Wan); (c) Comparative TGfU Junior Hockey Coaching Analysis: Effect of TGfU in Game Play, Knowledge, Cardiovascular Fitness, and Coaches' Reflection in Malaysia and India (S. Nathan, G. L. Khanna, and A. Hashim); (d) TGfU Transitions: Teacher Education to Teaching Practice in 3 Countries (S. Mitchell); (e) Connecting with Diverse Communities: Athlete-Centered Coaching, TGfU, and Sport as a Vehicle for Social Communities (S. R. Walters, K. Spencer, and A. Farnham); and (f) Effects of Korfball Teaching Games for Understanding in Chinese College Students: A Randomized Study (C. Jindong, G. Hao, Y. Lei, and Y. Ming); (9) TGfU and Psychosocial Factors: (a) Psychosocial Development through a Teaching Games for Understanding Approach to Coaching (S. Graupensperger and A. Turner); (b) A Review on the Effect of Small-Sided and Modified Games in Sport Teaching and Coaching: Informing TGfU Pedagogy (S. Pill); and (c) Exploring Mixed-Reality Simulation Using TGfU (M. Neutzling, K. Pagnano-Richardson, and D. Sheehy); (10) Refereeing: (a) Decision Making in Football Officiating: An Interview Study with Top-Level Referees (U. Schnyder and E.-J. Hossner); (b) Evaluation of Innovative Technologies That Support Referees in Game Sports (O. Kolbinger, D. Link, and M. Lames); (c) The Accuracy--Adequacy Model: A Theoretical Perspective for Understanding Referees' Decisions (G. Schweizer and H. Plessner); and (d) How Effective Is a Video Review System in Soccer? (A. Pizzera, J. Marrable, and M. Raab); (11) Coaching: (a) An Investigation of Professional Top-Level Youth Football Coaches' Questionnaire Practice (E. Cope, M. Partington, C. Cushion, and S. Harvey); (b) A Conceptual Critique to Periodized Planning: Why Rigorous, Detailed Plans in Teaching Make No Sense (J. Afonso, P. T. Nikolaidis, P. Sousa, and I. Mesquita); (c) Teaching Methodologies in Football Coaching Education (J. Baptista and J. Castro); (d) A 5-Year Action Research Project Investigating Coach and Athlete Perceptions of a Game-Based Coaching Approach in High-Performance Domestic Women's Field Hockey (D. Vinson); and (e) Learning Effects of the Didactic Model of Game Action Competences on the Tactical Principles of Football (W. Valencia and E. Arias); (12) Sports Physiology and Training Science: (a) Periodization of High-Intensity Training Methods (B. Sperlich); (b) Individualized Training Prescription and Recovery Management in Game Sports (A. Ferrauti); (c) The Speedcourt: Performance Analysis and Training for Team Sport-Specific Speed and Agility (D. Born); and (d) Periodization of Strength, Speed, and Endurance Training during a Handball Season (C. Zinner); (13) Physical Education and Team Games: (a) Academics' Perceptions of Model Fidelity When Using Tactical Games Models (S. Harvey and S. Pill); (b) Physical Education Majors' Experience in a Student-Designed Games Unit (M. H. Andre and M. H. C. Tsukamoto); (c) Teaching the Pedagogy of Games Play to Future Physical Education Teachers (D. Cooper); (d) Comparison of Researchers and Physical Education Teachers' Perspectives on the Utilization of the Tactical Games Model (S. Harvey and S. Pill); (e) Talent Development in Female Soccer in Switzerland: Important Motivational Factors for Successful Transitions from an Under-16 National Team to the A-National Team (S. Horvath, G. Morgan, and D. Birrer); and (f) Specialization Regarding Constitutional Demands in Female Team Handball (J. Weber, M. Wegner, and S. Fatulescu); (14) New Developments in Team Games Pedagogy: (a) Professional Development for Game-Centered Approaches: One Size Does Not Fit All (K. A. Parry); (b) Training Teachers to Integrate Strategies to Develop Social Competencies through Playing (Modified) Games (L. Haerens, B. Mertens, V. Vonderlynck, and I. Tallir); (c) Pedagogical Innovation in Youth Sport: An Urgent and Hard Mission (C. E. Gonçalves and A. Martins); (d) Playness Pedagogy Compass (M. Hosta); and (e) Global Initiation to Team Sports (C. G. Herrero and V. E. M. Blas); (15) Psychosocial Factors Affecting Team Performance: (a) Effect of an Emotional Intelligence Learning Package on Sports Directors' Inclination toward Emotional Intelligence Acquisition and Retention (I. A. Oyewumi); (b) Synergistics Are Observable within and across Multiple Levels of Skill Analysis (W. Smith); (c) Reinventing the Game (RTG) and the Learning of Games (B. Singh); and (d) Developing Sport Team Culture and Collective Leadership (A. J. Martin and L. McCarthy); (16) Decision Making in Association Football: (a) Expert Perception and Decision Making in Assistant Referees: From Increased Understanding to Improved Performance (K. Put, J. Wagenmans, J. Spitz, and W. F. Helsen); (b) Technology and Refereeing: Video Assistance in Real Time or Slow Motion? (J. Spitz, J. Put, and W. F. Helsen); (c) The Effect of Manipulating Task Constraints and Player Numbers in Small-Sided Games in Field Hockey (E. A. Timmerman, G. J. P. Savelsbergh, and D. Farrow); and (d) The Face of Schadenfreude: Facial Reactions to Failures of a Rival Sport Team (L. Boecker and S. Topolonski); and (17) Training Science: (a) The Problem of Strategies of Volitional Control of Movement for Movement Quality and Movement Creativity (D. Temme, T. Temme, and D. Ercenk-Heimann); (b) Survey about the Effect of Speed Training for Tennis Players with and without New Tensile Strength-Training Equipment Called IVO (D. Meffert); and (c) Systematic Training of the Opening Shots in Tennis (R. Grambow). Peer-Reviewed Poster Abstracts include: (1) Influence of Some Social Characteristics of People with Intellectual Disabilities for Practicing Sport and Physical Activity in the Republic of Macedonia (I. Anastasovski, L. A. Velichkovska, V. Zivkovic, and A. Spirkosvki); (2) Mental Representation and Cognitive Intervention: A Systematic Comparison on the Effects of Action Observation and Motor Imagery on the Development of Mental Representation Structure and Skill Performance (T. Kim, C. Frank, and T. Schack); (3) "Dyed in the Wool" Competition and the Adaptation of Performance Routines in Self-Paced Tasks (K. Velentzas); (4) Mental Rotation of Tactical Instructions in Basketball Increases Processing Demand and Execution Inaccuracy (T. Koopmann, D. Krause, Y. Steffemann-Weinrich, and J. Baumeister); (5) Technique Feedback in Basketball: Individual Diagnostic System Based on Cognitive Representation (L. Vogel); (6) Gaze Control in Basketball Jump Shots and Free Throws (T. Zwierko, M. Popowczak, M. Wozniak, and A. Rokita); (7) Analysis of the Teaching-Learning Process and Procedural Tactical Knowledge in Mini-Basketball (J. C. Pérez-Morales, G. M. Praca, and P. J. Greco); (8) The Effect of Competitive Anxiety and Complexity of Task on the Processing Efficiency and Performance Effectiveness of Table-Tennis Players (M. G. Moghadam and S. M. Zadkhosh); (9) Soccer Small-Sided Games Manipulated by Representation: The Additional Player Effect (G. Praça, J. Morales, M. V. Silva, and P. Greco); (10) Covered Distance and Activity Profile of African Professional Soccer Players According to the Playing Position: Reports from Soccer World Cup 2014 (I. Hassan); (11) Rule Changes in Competitive Ball Games to Increase Game Participation of Players with Low Playing Skills (M. Kolb); (12) Behavioral Regulation in Coaches: A German Version of the Coach Motivation Questionnaire (CMQ-G) (C. Zepp, P. Schaffran, M. Kellmann, C. Mallett, and J. Kleinert); (13) Mentoring Grassroots Youth Participation Coaches toward a "Good Digital Game Design Features" Coaching Approach: An Ethnographic Account (A. Price); (14) Joint Action Imagery: The Influence of Mental Practice on the Functional Structuring of Tactical Skill Representations in Skilled Futsal Players (G.-L. Linstromberg, L. Hennig, T. Heinen, T. Schack, and C. Frank); (15) Enacting Change in a Secondary Physical Education Department (S. McGinley and G. Kanavos); (16) Sports Education in Brazil: Motriz Publications and References to TGfU (M. V. Euzebio, I. Scremin, and F. R. Costa); (17) Sports Education in Brazil: Movimento Publications and References to TGfU (I. Scremin, M. V. Euzebio, and F. R. Costa); (18) (Re)framing Physical Education Instruction for Students with Cognitive Disabilities Using the Teaching Games for Understanding (TGfU) Model in Canadian High Schools (J. I. Anokwuru); (19) The Impact of the Educational Complex with Manner Mini-Educational Groups in Attack-Serving Skill Learning in Volleyball for Students (M. A. H. Ahmed and A. M. J. Ahmed); (20) Individual Training Control and Intervention in Young Elite Volleyball Athletes (M.-T. Fleddermann, H. Heppe, E. Eils, and K. Zentgraf); (21) Evaluation of Exercise "Field" Tests (6-Min Walk, Shuttle Test, Step Test) in Assessing Exercise Capacity in COPD and Heart Failure Populations: A Systematic Review (M. H. Kazr and A. H. Hadi); (22) The Relationship between Investing the Time of the Main Part in Lessons of Team Sports (Basketball, Volleyball, and Handball) and Direct and Indirect Teaching (M. H. Kazr and M. Al-Rubaei); (23) Position-Specific Psychological Profiles in Female Team Handball (J. Weber, M. Wegner, and V. Popa); (24) Endurance Capacities are Correlated with the Technical-Tactical Playing Performance in Elite Junior Team-Handball Players (J. Brochhagen, C. Baumgarten, J. Bauer, J. Freiwald, and M. W. Hoppe); (25) Decomposing Performance Factors in Jump Throws Reveals Subgroups of Handball Players with Specific Training Recommendations (J. M. Jäger, D. Büsch, and H. Müller); (26) Technical Performance Demands on the Different Playing Positions in Team Handball (J. Weber, M. Wegner, and B. Chittibabu); (27) Core Demands on the Goalkeeper Position in Female Team Handball (L. van Maanen-Coppens, J. Weber, and M. Wegner); (28) Position-Specific Conditional Demands in Female Team Handball (J. Weber, M. Wegner, and S. Fatulescu); (29) Tactical Demands in Female Team Handball on the Different Playing Positions (M. Wegner, J. Weber, and B. Chittibabu); (30) Hybrid Teaching Model (TGA 1 BS) in Badminton: Tactical and Technical Performance under Different Practice Distributions (L. M. C. Aburachid, S. R. Silva, L. M. S Morimoto, and P. J. Greco); (31) Impacts of an Experimental Scoring System in Badminton on Selected Aspects in Men's Singles (D. Hoffmann and C. Offermann); (32) Physiological Demands of Elite Ultimate Frisbee (M. Zimlich, L. Rüger, S. Wörrlein, and O. Hoos); (33) Kinematic Trends Observed at the Hip During Dynamic Jump Movements: Proficient Versus Nonproficient Jumpers (A. Eagles, M. Sayers, and D. Lovell); (34) China TGfU Academic Development Process of Information Science Theory: In 1994-2014 in a Range of Journals and Dissertations (H. Zeng, A.-Q. Liu, Y. Zhang, H. Tao, and Q.-Q. Dong); (35) The Role of Affordances in Developing Children's Manipulative Movement Skills: An Application of the Challenge-Point Framework (M. Balali and S. H. Parvinpour); (36) "Higher, Faster, Stronger?" An Empirical Study on the Pedagogical Content Knowledge of German PE Teachers (S. Meier); (37) A Pilot Application of TGfU in Sailing: Effects on Game Performance, Knowledge, and Adherence (M. T. Morales-Belando and J. L. Arias-Estero); (38) Effects of the Lifestyle Modification Program on Blood BDNF and Its Associated Factors in Korean Collegiate Students (J. Lee, B. Kang, and C. Park); (39) Relationship between Sport Participation Motivation and Teaching Games for Understanding among Novice Handball Players (M. Naimikia and A. Gholami); (40) Effect of the TGfU Approach on Motor Development and Social Maturity of Elementary School Students (A. Gholami and M. Naimikia); and (41) Effects of Dyad Training on Children's Learning of Front-Crawl Swimming (S. H. Parvinpour and M. Balali). Selected Practical Workshops include: (1) Playing with Purpose: Engaging Learners in Game Play through a Check, Connect, Reflect Approach (J. Sheppard and E. McGinley); (2) Lacrosse: Learning to Play the Game Quickly and Enjoyably (W. Piltz); (3) Hockey: Sport-Specific Warm-Up in Field Hockey (A. Krause); (4) eFUNiño: Innovative Training Control via LED Equipment in Soccer (J. Denis, D. Poimann, and M. Lochmann); (5) Tennis Australia Hot Shots Program Adhering to the Guiding Principles of the Game Sense Approach (M. Hewitt and S. Pill); (6) Inventing Games through Democracy in Action and Adaptation (J. Butler); (7) Playing Football TOGETHER: A Pupil-Centered Approach to Teaching Football in Physical Education (C. Heim and U. Frick); (8) Questioning in Game-Centered Approaches to Teaching and Coaching (S. Harvey); (9) Development of Cognitive Skills through Psychokinetic Games (E. Arias, W. Valencia, and O. Larrera); (10) Innovative Strategies for Challenging and Transforming Coaching and Teaching Practice (W. Piltz); (11) Coaching for Understanding at an Elite Level: Theory to Practice (J. Lambert); (12) Teaching Games in the Early Years: Weaving Complexivist and Play Discourses (H. Hussain); and (13) Opportunities for Integrating Attention Training in Daily Practice (D. J. Poimann and M. Lochmann). (Individual papers contain references.)

Facilitators of professional development (PD) for mathematics teachers currently gain increasing attention, as their practices are crucial for the success of spreading mathematics educational ideas and innovations into schools and strengthening the professional expertise of teachers. So far, mainly two components of facilitation have been empirically researched: facilitators' knowledge resources and facilitation moves. In this paper, we propose to develop a more comprehensive conceptual framework in order to explain facilitators' practices and underlying decisions. For this purpose, we lift Schoenfeld's ROG framework for teachers' decision-making (comprising resources, orientations, and goals) to the facilitator level, and add identity as a fourth component to obtain what we call the ROGI framework. We draw on data collected simultaneously in two PD projects for mathematics teachers in Germany and in Israel. Through three cases of facilitation, we illustrate how the adapted ROGI framework helps to understand processes of decision-making made by facilitators during mathematics professional development sessions.

There is a lack of research on how game-based learning apps should be designed for engineering education. This paper addresses two research questions: What do engineering students expect from a learning app? Which educational approach and learning app design can meet these requirements? A survey revealed the particular demands of engineering students when using learning apps. They prefer apps that promote transfer of learning. They value a diversified game environment that leaves room for self-determined decisions. They want to use learning apps during five-minute breaks or on-the-go. Social interaction is only of minor importance. Concrete design and content guidelines are derived. Perceptual learning is an appropriate educational approach to meet the requirements. Two universally applicable task types for engineering education are discussed. A case study was conducted to investigate their use in practice. Following the guidelines, an app for heat-and-mass-transfer was generated and its impact on teaching was evaluated. Students considered that their requirements were met. This is reflected in the usage statistics: During one semester, 545 different students played a total of 27,350 games. As a measure of learning progress, the average score per game almost tripled. Apps that follow the guidelines have the potential to become well-accepted learning tools.

This article aims to undertake a comparative investigation of school administration to understand further the frames of curriculum making. School administration is an under-illuminated aspect of curriculum research. The paper commences from the notion that, in mass education, a school system is operationalized by many schools, which are coupled to each other and to political decisions. Here is the curriculum vital. Building on the classic work of Stefan Hopmann, a curriculum is part of the administrational structure of the school system. The Article suggests several categories that can describe the nature and function of school administration in various contexts. There are external matters of schooling, such as school buildings, school food, etc. and internal matters of schooling, such as curriculum, pedagogy, and evaluation. Individual schools and school administration are coupled via licences, and programmatic, professional, and procedural supervision. The article employs these categories with a comparison of a decentralized Sweden and a centralized Germany. The comparison investigated 290 Swedish municipality school administrations and 45 state education authorities in 4 German federal states. In this comparison many interesting similarities between both contexts can be hightligthed.

This paper examines how digital strategy and management games that have been initially designed for entertainment can facilitate the practice of dynamic decision-making. Based on a comparative qualitative analysis of 17 games--organized into categories derived from a conceptual model of decision-making design--this article illustrates two ways in which these games may be useful in supporting the learning of dynamic decision-making in educational practice: (1) Players must take over the role of a decider and solve situations in which players must pursue different conflicting goals by making a continuous series of decisions on a variety of actions and measures; (2) three of the features of the games are considered to structure players' practice of decision-making and foster processes of learning through the curation of possible decisions, the offering of lucid feedback and the modification of time. This article also highlights the games' shortcomings, from an educational perspective, as players' decisions are restricted by the numbers of choices they can make within the game, and certain choices are rewarded more than others. An educational application of the games must, therefore, entail a critical reflection of players' limited choices inside a necessarily biased system.

Research in moral education demonstrates the pattern referred to as happy victimising (HV) does not emerge only among children. Adults also transgress moral rules and might feel good doing so; however, research reveals the HV pattern emergence is context specific. In contrast to findings among young children in whom the HV pattern was interpreted as a lack of motivation and thus a developmental stage, it is an open question as to what happy victimising in adulthood means and how such patterns affect intentions as an important step towards action. This paper offers an action-theoretical approach, allowing for reconstruction of the process of intention formation, as well as a systematic discussion of results from two separate lines of research: (1) research on patterns of moral decision-making, such as the HV, and (2) research on moral disengagement. Additionally, a survey study provides insights into what intentions, emotion attributions, and moral disengagement strategies adults display in situations of low moral intensity, and whether they indicate consistent or contradictory patterns across situations. Results indicate intra-personal consistency regarding patterns of moral decision-making, but also show there are participants who vary these patterns across situations. Moral disengagement strategies were shown to have context-specific use, at least in regard to their subcategories. Regarding education, this study encourages not only a focus on strengthening the moral self or autonomous moral judgement but also on paying attention to actions and person-situation interactions. This might be useful to implement environments that support reduced application of moral disengagement strategies.

This paper draws upon learning from three action research projects conducted as part of a Europe-wide project exploring young people's social and political participation. Challenging dominant discourses about what 'counts' as participation and what does not, the paper explores how, through the action research projects, young people engaged in knowledge democracy in 'new democratic arenas'. Building upon experiential knowing and creating knowledge and learning through practice, the young people explored their own democratic knowledge production, communication and engagement within a context of shifting discourses of participation, democratic engagement and active citizenship. The increasing preference of young people for more informal forms of participation as lived practice reflects a shift to young people constructing their own modes of participation and 'remaking democracy' in their own vision and according to their own needs. By working outside of the confines of normative assumptions of democratic practice and participation, young people exercised their own 'political' agency in response to their own priorities, interests and concerns and, in doing so, illustrated that new forms, understandings and practices of knowledge democracy can emerge that reflect the promise of inclusive democratic societies more meaningfully.

This paper reviews the discourse on the concept of evidence-based special education in Germany. A short overview of the current situation in regard to available evidence-based educational materials for schools in Germany and the USA is given. Critical objections on the topic within Germany will be outlined thereafter. With these in mind, a discussion on the described points of criticism will follow in closing. Overall, the concept's essential elements, such as the social and internal evidence, are not given sufficient consideration.

The COVID-19 pandemic has created an opportunity to examine the initial policies developed by Australian, Canadian, English, German, Greek and Irish governments to limit the spread of the virus. This has revealed governments' conceptualisation of the early childhood sector and its workforce. This paper argues that neoliberal ideology and neoliberal imaginaries have already influenced the early childhood sector globally. During the pandemic, the choices that governments made at the outset of the pandemic has allowed their priorities and underlying ideology to be more transparent. Using an ethnographic methodology, early childhood researchers from each of the six countries, examined their individual governments policy responses and the effects on the early childhood sector during its initial months (between March and June 2020). The authors consider the extent to which this may have implications for the sector in how it should continue its ongoing pursuit of professionalisation of the sector.

Football stadiums have traditionally been named after local sites (e.g. "Goodison Park," Everton FC) or regions ("Ruhrstadion," VfL Bochum). As big business takes increasing precedence in decision making in football at large (e.g. associations and leagues, regarding fixtures, media coverage, kick-off times, player transfers, etc.) and within individual football clubs (e.g. regarding kits and sponsorship), such toponyms are more and more being replaced by company or product names (e.g. "bet365 Stadium," Stoke City). In this paper, we will consider corporate renamings from the German Bundesliga, the English Premier League and the French Ligue 1 and particularly fan reactions to controversial, badly received corporate renamings. As revealed by earlier studies, in our data here we also find the discourse and practices of the fans celebrating local identification with their city or region, often with the stadiums constituting the homestead of a tradition. Where corporate stadium renamings are badly received, this discourse clashes with the discourse of big business and thus a number of tensions are revealed. More specifically, in fans' reactions to controversial corporate stadium renamings, we find a number of recurrent themes -- for example, concerning consequences to fans' identity to the club; in managing (anticipated) humorous retorts from rivals consequent from the stadium renaming; in resisting, but also feeling resigned to, financial pressures in selling the stadium name; etc. -- some of them across our three national contexts and others specific to one national context.

Patient-reported outcomes are an important tool in clinical research. In the setting of cancer treatments, benefit of therapy is essentially characterised by improvement of survival as well as quality of life ( QoL). A standardised instrument to assess QoL is the standardised QoL questionnaire of the European Organisation for Research and Treatment ( EORTC QLQ- C30 questionnaire). QoL instruments provide data on different aspects (domains) of the framework of QoL. Using these questionnaires in studies provides data on how a treatment affects QoL in a group of patients. The goal of our concept is to individualise QoL and to use validated instruments in order to integrate patients' perspectives and aims into treatment assessment, planning and control. We propose to use the domains of the EORTC QLQ- C30 and to ask the patient to determine which objectives besides survival are relevant for him and should be achieved by treatment. These individual goals can be used in a process of shared decision-making to choose and monitor treatment. In clinical studies, this approach would allow to recruit more patients who would most probably benefit from the therapy. In addition, supportive data could be gathered in correlation to treatment goals and actual benefits. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An important prerequisite for the success of the digitisation of the healthcare system are risk-literate users. Risk literacy means the ability to weigh potential benefits and harms of digital technologies and information, to use digital services critically, and to understand statistical evidence. How do people find reliable and comprehensible health information on the Internet? How can they better assess the quality of algorithmic decision systems? This narrative contribution describes two approaches that show how the competence to make informed decisions can be promoted.Evidence-based and reliable health information exists on the Internet but must be distinguished from a large amount of unreliable information. Various institutions in the German-speaking world have therefore provided guidance to help laypersons make informed decisions. The Harding Center for Risk Literacy in Potsdam, for example, has developed a decision tree ("fast-and-frugal tree"). When dealing with algorithms, natural frequency trees (NFTs) can help to assess the quality and fairness of an algorithmic decision system.Independent of reliable and comprehensible digital health services, further tools for laypersons to assess information and algorithms should be developed and provided. These tools can also be included in institutional training programmes for the promotion of digital literacy. This would be an important step towards the success of digitisation in prevention and health promotion.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to explore how and why personality tests are used in workplace training. This research paper is guided by three research questions that inquire about the role of external and internal stakeholders, the value of psychometric and practical considerations in test selection, and the purpose of personality test use in workplace training. Design/methodology/approach: This research paper uses multiple-case study analysis. Interviews, test reports, product flyers and email correspondence were collected and analyzed from publishers, associations, psychologists and human resource development (HRD) practitioners in Germany, the UK and The Netherlands between 2012 and 2016. Findings: Themes emerge around industry tensions among practitioners and professional associations, psychologists and non-psychologists. Ease of use is a more important factor than psychometrics in the decision-making process. Also, practitioners welcome publishers that offer free coaching support. In the process of using tests for development rather than assessment, re-labeling takes place when practitioners and publishers use positive terms for personality tests as tools for personal stocktaking and development. Research limitations/implications: Despite extensive data collection and analysis efforts, this study is limited by its focus on a relatively small number of country cases and stakeholders per case. Practical implications: By combining scientific evidence with practical application, stakeholders can take first steps toward more evidence-based HRD practice around personality testing in workplace training. Originality/value: Little academic literature exists on the use of personality testing in workplace training. Without a clear understanding of the use of personality testing outside personnel selection, the current practice of personality tests for developmental purposes could raise ethical concerns about the rights and responsibilities of test takers.

During the post-formation phase, young ventures are often in danger of sliding into bankruptcy. The entrepreneur has to deal with a multitude of complex problems, decisions have to be made under time pressure or uncertainty, and upcoming crises have to be perceived in time. This paper presents seven critical incidents that are (1) realistic, typical, and likely to emerge during the first years of a start-up's existence, (2) assumed to cause severe financial crises for the new venture, but (3) possible to be overcome by the entrepreneur if he makes appropriate decisions. Seven incidents were developed on a theoretical basis and then empirically validated by questionnaires presented to (future) entrepreneurs and start-up counsellors (n = 627) as well as to a sample of students who are at least interested or even engaged in the field of entrepreneurship (n = 367). The incidents reveal likely challenges for entrepreneurs in the post-formation phase. This discovery opens new perspectives for preparing entrepreneurs to deal with the typical risks of the post-formation phase. For example, these lessons provide opportunity for an application within case-oriented courses of entrepreneurship in higher and vocational education and opportunity for reflection on probable emerging crises in start-up counselling.

The marked and persistent gender segregation in apprenticeship has been well documented. The social construction of 'male' and 'female' jobs is a key factor in the gendered patterns evident in career choice. Research on young women who have chosen careers in male-dominated occupations risks constructing them as 'Other', typically concluding that rather than challenging the gender binary, the women would reinforce it, echoing 'tomboy' identities according to which girls are aligning themselves with boys whilst devaluing femininity. Based on biographical interviews, this paper explores the role of gender in the career decision-making of one German and one English woman motor mechanic apprentice. It illustrates the strongly normative but highly contextual nature of gender as the two women negotiate identities in their quests to live 'liveable lives'. It will be argued that the rich and multi-faceted experiences of these two young women belie stereotypical accounts of gender, suggesting acceptable ways of being in male workspaces.

Dropping out of the educational system has marked negative consequences in the labour market. Dropping out is followed by an early termination that does not necessarily mean leaving the educational system without graduating. Trainees may reassess their initial choice by starting another vocational education and training (VET) programme and preserve their labour market chances when graduating. This paper examines the factors that drive the decision to stop out (start new vocational training) after an early termination. The analysis is based on a data set for VET in Germany (Ausbildungspanel Saarland) that contains detailed information on the VET careers and labour market outcomes of almost 3000 apprentices who terminated their education early. The results show that approximately 71 percent of apprentices continue with another VET programme after a termination. Termination at an early stage of VET and training in a small establishment are more likely to lead to stopping out than to dropping out. Stopouts who terminate their contracts during an early stage of their VET programme are more likely to change their occupation and obtain a formal VET degree. The results suggest that dissatisfaction with VET must be recognized at an early stage in order for students to take appropriate measures with the aim of graduation.

The purpose of this paper is to comparatively investigate the professional autonomy of upper secondary school teachers in three European countries in interpreting and implementing curricula. The paper focuses on teachers' experiences, and their perceptions of their autonomy and the control exercised over them in the global era of neoliberal education reforms. Semi-structured teacher interviews from Estonia, Finland and Germany (n = 33) were used to ascertain teachers' professional roles in different political contexts. Despite the common economically motivated pressures on school systems and teachers, the responses of nation-states and teachers vary. While German education reforms have been aimed mainly at increased standardization of education, Estonian and Finnish reforms have also emphasized school autonomy and the empowerment of teachers through school curriculum development. Even the Bavarian curriculum for gymnasia, one of the most prescriptive curricula in Germany, since 2008, has promised increased autonomy to teachers. Nevertheless, as the cases of Bavarian and Estonian curricula show, the autonomy-stressing rhetoric of a curriculum can be accompanied by teachers' perceived lack of autonomy. Moreover, teachers' willingness to endorse and enact curricula depends on their perceived social status and involvement in educational decision-making.

In dealing with over-indebtedness and poverty, numeracy appears necessary for affected persons, in order to use the scarce money available with foresight and to avoid financially negative decisions. However, numeracy as an essential part of (financial) basic education for adults has not yet been systematically taken into account in German debt counselling. Nor are the difficult conditions concerning over-indebted life situations considered sufficiently in theoretical models of numeracy or financial literacy. There is a lack of knowledge in adult mathematics education about the mathematical requirements in the context of over-indebtedness and the numeracy practices of persons affected. In this paper we therefore intend to clarify the understanding and significance of numeracy practices in over-indebted life situations from the perspective of German debt-counselling professionals. The empirical basis comprises qualitative data of two group interviews with debt-counselling professionals (n = 11). Amongst other things, our findings show the complexity of contextual factors in mathematical demands and numeracy practices in precarious living situations, which can help to develop current thinking on numeracy and financial literacy.

A considerable proportion of students in Germany has graduated from vocational training before entering higher education. With this paper we examined how these students progress through higher education. We argue that successful graduation is the result of a sequence of decisions and decompose the trajectories through higher education to distinguish non-completion, transfer and dropout. We used the German Educational Panel Study (NEPS-SC6), a retrospective life course study, and applied logistic regression models. Our results suggest that students with vocational qualifications are slightly more likely to graduate from the initially chosen program than traditional students, but this advantage diminishes after controlling individual and institutional characteristics. After non-completion of the initially chosen program, the traditional students are more likely to remain in higher education and transfer to another program, whereas students with vocational certificates rather choose to leave higher education. Taking the entire trajectory together, our bivariate analyses reveal a slightly higher risk of leaving higher education without graduation among the students with pre-tertiary vocational training. Again, this association disappears in models that control for individual and institutional characteristics.

Purpose: This article presents a conceptual synthesis of the international literature on inclusive education while expanding upon, and incorporating, the articles in this special issue. The authors present their 3P model (philosophy, policy and praxis) and relate each paper in this special issue to different aspects of their model. Design/methodology/approach: This article serves as an epilogue to this special issue of the "Journal of Educational Administration" as well as a discussion of historical and conceptual distinctions between mainstreaming and inclusion while examining global trends in understanding the move toward inclusive education. Findings: The authors examined the detrimental effects of ableism and a medical model of disability and their effects on the educational system. They conducted an analysis based on examining the philosophy, policy and practice of the inclusive movement, specifically by examining conceptual models and inclusive decisions, conceptual frameworks for describing inclusive policy and a focus of the application to educational administration. The authors examined the global movement from segregation/exclusion to integration and then to inclusionary praxis. Research limitations/implications: The authors maintain that the inclusion literature lacks a sound positivistic empirical base, and so they present throughout the article possible avenues for such research as well as future directions for comparative research. Practical implications: Understanding the philosophical underpinnings of the inclusive movement is central to developing viable inclusive educational settings. The authors distinguish between inclusive schools and local educational authorities where stakeholders have moved toward an inclusionary system (the minority) versus locales who are reluctant to move systems to actual change. Originality/value: This article takes a wider view of inclusionary practices, from one focusing on children with disabilities to one focusing on historical and traditional exclusionary practices. By widening the scope of the inclusion discussion, to one of exclusion, the authors present a viably wider lens to educational administration.

In supporting their students' learning in the classroom, noticing is an important professional skill for teachers, encompassing perceiving and interpreting relevant incidents, as well as ad hoc decision-making. While noticing is an established research topic in other domains, it remains largely neglected in relation to the geography teacher. The paper compares the noticing skills of geography teachers at three different stages of their professional development. Qualitative content analysis of teachers' think-aloud responses to video vignettes of geography teaching revealed that the three groups differed in terms of number of incidents perceived, interpretive stance, and decision-making.

This paper focuses on the views of 16-17-year-old science students from England, Germany, Hong Kong and Sweden on whale hunting, and their perceptions of the views of their international counterparts. The students were all provided with the same decision-making task, discussed the issue in small groups and then presented their views on video, which were shared with their counterparts. The findings show that the decision-making task served to deepen and modify students' views across all nationalities, and the students generally valued and learned from the sharing of views with students of the same age from around the world. However, an important discovery was that the German students' opinions often ran counter to those from the other 3 locations, and the paper cautions against making broad-sweeping generalisations about students' views on socioscientific issues.

Purpose: School leadership is considered a central agent in the implementation of "New Governance" concepts which have been introduced in Germany by means of accountability measures, decentralization and a growth of autonomy and competition. With the adjustment of policies, rights and duties of school leaders have changed considerably. The purpose of this paper is to contribute to leadership research by providing descriptive evidence on the relevance of specific areas of leadership activity reported by school principals and their actual priorities in terms of day-to-day workload. In particular, the authors analyze whether individually reported priorities are reflected in the actual distribution of workload in a daily routine. Design/methodology/approach: The empirical analysis uses data collected in the German SHaRP study ("School leaders' activities between more responsibility and more power"). Based on a sample of 153 school leaders from six German federal states the authors perform regression models to determine the association between workload in specific fields of leadership activity, individually reported relevance of management tasks and systemic and contextual conditions at school. Findings: As expected, organizational and personnel management and development are stated to be most important for leadership activity. These priorities are not at least reflected in the observed distribution of workload over fields of activity. Rather, a vast amount of time--as far as it is not absorbed by lessons--is spent on administrative tasks. A shift of workload from teaching responsibilities to governmental tasks is mainly achieved by longer working hours and appears to depend primarily on the system context. Research limitations/implications: The results highlight the relevance of organizational skills and the need to develop conceptual foundations for strategic leadership at schools. Further research should focus not only on the contextual setting and system characteristics, but on the interplay of contextual characteristics and leadership strategies. In times of increasing budgetary constraints leadership research needs to consider outcome measures in terms of quality of schooling to identify determinants of effective leadership. Originality/value: The paper contributes to leadership research by a quantitative analysis of the individually reported relevance of organizational, curricular and human resources management and development for leadership activity. The authors provide descriptive evidence on a significant gap between these claims and reality in terms of actual day-to-day workload.

In 2002, English-medium degree programmes (EMDPs) became a permanent feature of German higher education (HE). While this action marked an important step towards government-supported institutionalisation of English in Germany, no formal strategy or guidelines governing the role of English in HE have been developed. To date, research in this area in Germany has been predominantly focused on the top-down perspectives of decision-makers comparatively few studies have been conducted into bottom-up perspectives of those directly experiencing such language policy and planning decisions. In this paper, empirical data resulting from a mixed-method case study conducted at a German HE institution will be analysed to reveal hitherto unexplored bottom-up insights into the lived reality of an EMDP in Germany. The paper begins with an introduction to such programmes in Germany, before outlining the methodology pursued and exploring demographics and participant motivations within the programme under investigation. Applying Spolsky's (2004, p. 39) framework for analysing language policy, the de facto language policy experienced by study participants is revealed, providing insights into daily linguistic practices within the programme, and the pragmatic and ideological roles that English and German play in participants' reported experiences. Uncovering this de facto language policy serves to provide policy-makers at the top level with bottom-up perspectives for future policy formulation which may lead to a more well-grounded language policy (Shohamy, 2009, p. 188).

Workplace relations like any social relation first and foremost have a moral dimension. Thus, if vocational education sees one of its major goals in helping apprentices to deal with moral issues, one of the core objectives in vocational education is the support of the apprentice's development of moral judgement competence. Since Lawrence Kohlberg has provided his cognitive-developmental approach we know a lot about moral development. But we know little about the influence of social environment on moral cognitive structures. With this paper the author intends to explore questions concerned with the developmental conditions of moral judgement within apprenticeship. To do so, the paper firstly provides a theoretical approach on certain social conditions for moral development; secondly gives some empirical evidence for this approach concerning data raised in context of a longitudinal study in Germany; and thirdly suggests some ideas for using this approach within the vocational education system.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine parental and students' decisions regarding participating in K-12 level study abroad programs in Manitoba, Canada. Design/methodology/approach: The study reports on data collected through document analysis and semi-structured interviews with 18 international students and 14 parents. Findings: The findings suggest that the key factors influencing decisions are perceptions of enhanced career prospects, changing global environments and broadened post-secondary education choices. Country-specific factors include quality and safety of the learning environment, multiculturalism and reputation associated with the country and people. Research limitations/implications: The participants were primarily students and parents from the EU countries associated primarily with horizontal mobility. Experiences of students from the main sending countries (China, South Korea and Japan) might differ. Practical implications: The results are relevant to educational managers in designing high-quality international programs and recruitment agents. Originality/value: The study adds important empirical evidence to the limited research that has been conducted on study abroad experiences at the K-12 level. It is one of the first in the Canadian context. It provides unique perspectives in USA and Canada comparisons for study abroad of school-aged children.

Online exchanges among learners are an important form of communication in language learning contexts. This is due to the affordances this medium of communication creates for learning as well as the growing interest in internationalization of curricula. In fact, online communication can foster connections between people, including learners, across the globe. This paper is based on a qualitative analysis of online chat communication between Canadian learners of German and German learners of English. We discuss how these learners negotiate closing sequences in their chats, considering that the patterns for closing sequences may be different in different languages or be culture-specific and learners need to make choices on a spectrum between business focus (i.e. staying on task) vs. personal focus (i.e. addressing personal information). Hence, learners must negotiate interactive patterns that they may not be familiar with in creative ways that establish and maintain interpersonal relationships. Research about online communication helps to better understand learner communication, especially in an international context. In addition, it helps raise language awareness for teacher training and provides impetus for sensitizing teachers and learners to the ways in which interaction works and how relationships are maintained in communication.

Objective: To evaluate a nurse-led decision coaching programme aiming to redistribute health professionals' tasks to support immunotherapy decision-making in people with multiple sclerosis (MS)., Methods: Cluster-randomised controlled trial with an accompanying mixed methods process evaluation (2014 - 2018). We planned to recruit 300 people with clinically isolated syndrome or relapsing-remitting MS facing immunotherapy decisions in 15 clusters across Germany. Participants in the intervention clusters received up to three decision coaching sessions by a trained nurse and access to an evidence-based online information platform. In the control clusters, participants also had access to the information platform. The primary outcome was informed choice after six months, defined as good risk knowledge and congruent attitude and uptake., Results: Twelve nurses from eight clusters participated in the decision coaching training. Due to insufficient recruitment, the randomised controlled trial was terminated prematurely with 125 participants (n = 42 intervention clusters, n = 83 control clusters). We found a non-significant difference between groups for informed choice favouring decision coaching: odds ratio 1.64 (95% CI 0.49-5.53)., Conclusions: Results indicate that decision coaching might facilitate informed decision-making in MS compared to providing patient information alone., Practice Implications: Barriers have to be overcome to achieve structural change and successful implementation., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest AR, EV, SK, GA, KL and JP declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper. CH declares the following financial interests/personal relationships which may be considered as potential competing interests: CH has received research grants from Merck, Novartis and Roche., (Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.)

In this paper, we trace selected strands of the German path to Education for Sustainable Development (ESD). We start by addressing pre-ESD research, and move to the concept of "Gestaltungskompetenz," the core concept of German ESD. The concept had to be realigned as to become more compatible with international research on learning outcomes (competencies). Compared to its beginnings, the meaning of "Gestaltungskompetenz" has much advanced, e.g., influenced by German competence research in science education, to which the Göttingen Model for socioscientific reasoning and decision making contributes. The paper presents a new competence dimension on "Evaluating and reflecting solutions quantitatively-economically" for this model. The contribution highlights the integrative and interdisciplinary scope of the educational challenges posed by Sustainable Development.