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This paper reports on the recent activity of the pan-European consensus of the ADEE Special Interest Group for Pre-Clinical Operative Skills. Following the previous recommendations from the group, and in order to support teachers and to harmonise the delivery of skills training across Europe, a more formal curriculum relating to pre-clinical operative skills needs to be created. This paper reports European consensus surrounding the categorisation (level of importance, and difficulty) of basic operative dental clinical skills within the undergraduate curriculum and provides recommendations relating to session structure and timing of curricular elements for basic operative dental clinical skills teaching., (© 2020 The Authors. European Journal of Dental Education published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background & Aims: Nutrition education is necessary in the training of healthcare professionals, including medical students. However, recent surveys showed that there is a high variability within Medical Schools in different countries. The aim of this ESPEN position paper is to identify a minimum curriculum knowledge in nutrition that serves to improve the training of the future doctors and how to solve the main barriers of its implementation in university centres., Methods: In 2017, the ESPEN Executive Committee launched the Nutrition Education in Medical Schools (NEMS) Project and formed a core working group including members of the ESPEN Nutrition Education Study Group (NESG) and representatives of several European Medical Schools. This group met in Brussels, on 19th July 2018 and decided to prepare a position paper on this topic., Results: Five main learning objectives and twenty-one topics on human nutrition, within its three domains (basic, applied and clinical nutrition) were identified to be fulfilled at the end of training in all Medical Schools. The experts showed the following key factors for its implementation: establish a nutrition curriculum committee, use different models of integration of the contents in the curriculum (vertical and horizontal), have a multidisciplinary and experienced faculty, incorporate a variety of teaching models, and evaluate the programme periodically., Conclusions: Nutrition Education is necessary and should be mandatory in all Medical Schools. This position paper aims at improving this gap knowledge and gives some clues for a successful implementation of the changes in the medical curriculum at university centres., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.)

The explosion in new knowledge in the last three decades has imposed important challenges in the training of all health workers, including dentists. These breakthroughs do not rapidly permeate educational cirricula. This is particularly relevant in Periodontology, because of recent breakthroughs in diagnostics and therapeutic approaches and by the advent of new knowledge on the implications of periodontal and peri-implant infections on systemic health and on ageing populations. Periodontology as one of the major oral health sciences requires a broad understanding of a spectrum of healthcare and basic sciences, together with specific education. In preparation for graduation, students must demonstrate a variety of acquired learning out-comes, which, in turn demand variety in learning and teaching methods. Based on the ADEE principles for dental education and in full respect of the Bolonga process, this paper describes the competencies and learning outcomes which are requested in periodontology for the dentist at graduation.

Undergraduate clinical orthodontic experience may be expressed in a variety of ways. The most common way (used, inter alia, in the DentEd school visits) is by number of curriculum hours. Other ways include the number of patients seen, or number of procedures carried out. Whilst any of these methods may allow comparison between cohorts of students within a school or between schools, none of them are suitable to determine how much experience is 'satisfactory', nor do they indicate what the student should know, understand, or be able to do, to be considered 'satisfactory', and hence fit to graduate. This situation may be addressed by the use of competences and/or learning outcomes, and in 2004 the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) adopted a document that contained one major competence and five supporting competences in orthodontics. This paper considers the shortcomings of conventional methods of recording orthodontic experience in relation to the acquisition of these competences, and some ways in which staff and students may assess competence.

Cardio-oncology is a rapidly growing field of cardiovascular (CV) medicine that has resulted from the continuously increasing clinical demand for specialized CV evaluation, prevention and management of patients suffering or surviving from malignant diseases. Dealing with CV disease in patients with cancer requires special knowledge beyond that included in the general core curriculum for cardiology. Therefore, the European Society of Cardiology (ESC) has developed a special core curriculum for cardio-oncology, a consensus document that defines the level of experience and knowledge required for cardiologists in this particular field. It is structured into 8 chapters, including (i) principles of cancer biology and therapy; (ii) forms and definitions of cancer therapy-related cardiovascular toxicity (CTR-CVT); (iii) risk stratification, prevention and monitoring protocols for CTR-CVT; (iv) diagnosis and management of CV disease in patients with cancer; (v) long-term survivorship programmes and cardio-oncology rehabilitation; (vi) multidisciplinary team management of special populations; (vii) organization of cardio-oncology services; (viii) research in cardio-oncology. The core curriculum aims at promoting standardization and harmonization of training and evaluation in cardio-oncology, while it further provides the ground for an ESC certification programme designed to recognize the competencies of certified specialists., (© 2023 European Society of Cardiology.)

The COVID-19 crisis has led to widespread temporary school closures and a deep economic recession. School closures have threatened children's ability to learn and later return to school well prepared. The impact of the economic recession is going to be even more devastating: first for students, but also for the ability of some Catholic schools to maintain their enrollment and remain sustainable financially in countries where they do not benefit from government support. This paper, the first in a set of two, looks at some of the likely impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on Catholic Schools in developed countries with a particular focus on the United States, a country not only hard hit by the crisis but also where Catholic schools are especially vulnerable to downturns. While Catholic schools may be able to respond to the immediate challenge of school closures among others through distance learning options, their ability to maintain enrollment during the economic downturn is less clear. How schools will respond to the twin challenges of ensuring learning during school closures and beyond, and remaining affordable for families at a time of economic stress, may affect whether they are able to maintain their comparative advantage. A key aim of the paper is to make Catholic school teachers and leaders aware of some of the discussions on how to respond to the crisis, and provide links to online resources that may be useful. [For Part II of the series, see EJ1278501.]

Background: The EAPC White Paper addresses the issue of spiritual care education for all palliative care professionals. It is to guide health care professionals involved in teaching or training of palliative care and spiritual care; stakeholders, leaders and decision makers responsible for training and education; as well as national and local curricula development groups. Methods: Early in 2018, preliminary draft paper was written by members of the European Association for Palliative Care (EAPC) spiritual care reference group inviting comment on the four core elements of spiritual care education as outlined by Gamondi et al. (2013) in their paper on palliative care core competencies. The preliminary draft paper was circulated to experts from the EAPC spiritual care reference group for feedback. At the second stage feedback was incorporated into a second draft paper and experts and representatives of national palliative care organizations were invited to provide feedback and suggest revisions. The final version incorporated the subsequent criticism and as a result, the Gamondi framework was explored and critically revised leading to updated suggestions for spiritual care education in palliative care. Results: The EAPC white paper points out the importance of spiritual care as an integral part of palliative care and suggests incorporating it accordingly into educational activities and training models in palliative care. The revised spiritual care education competencies for all palliative care providers are accompanied by the best practice models and research evidence, at the same time being sensitive towards different development stages of the palliative care services across the European region. Conclusions: Better education can help the healthcare practitioner to avoid being distracted by their own fears, prejudices, and restraints and attend to the patient and his/her family. This EAPC white paper encourages and facilitates high quality, multi-disciplinary, academically and financially accessible spiritual care education to all palliative care staff. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The importance of inclusive education receives global acceptance. The current paper presents a bibliometric analysis of 8398 papers dealing with inclusive education between 1980 and 2019. The research aim is to gain information on scientific productivity, international collaboration activities, and the conceptual structure of this research field. Descriptive analyses, co-authorship collaboration analysis and co-word analysis were conducted to obtain a comprehensive knowledge map of inclusive education research. The results show a fast growing body of research in inclusive education over the years with intensive international collaboration patterns. Six research clusters could be identified. Major and intensively studied research themes are disability issues, teacher professionalisation, teacher practices, attitudes towards inclusive education, social processes, support, curricular issues, student perspective, parent perspective, intercultural education, policy, etc. Research addressing inclusive education from a queer perspective, bullying, stigmatisation, digital education and emerging technologies in inclusive settings are under-represented and should be intensified in future studies.

The aim of this study is to describe, in a historical and philosophical context, the foundations and developmental lines of a tradition defined as curriculum science or "didactic" in Continental Europe, particularly in Germany and Scandinavia. The principal aim here is introducing a theoretical approach based on a different philosophy, in addition to the techno-scientific Anglo-American theoretical approach. Didactic tradition has been of particular interest for curriculum researchers especially in the past two decades. With such an interactive focus, this paper is divided into four sections. Because this paper traces historical and philosophical pathways of inquiry, its research method is purely qualitative, based on document analysis. The findings of this analytical study are expected to contribute to the wider recognition of a philosophical-pedagogical tradition, which has not hitherto been paid much attention in Turkey.

This paper presents a proposal of specific curriculum in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for high school students, which has been organized as a two-year subject. The curriculum was designed based on two premises. The first one is that, although the proposal is targeted to scientific programmes, the involved students and teachers do not have any previous knowledge about AI. Accordingly, the teaching units have been designed with the aim of supporting teachers in a new discipline for them and, in addition, providing an introductory level to students. The main didactical objective is to establish the fundamentals of AI from a practical perspective, learning technical concepts by using them to solve specific problems. The approach that has been followed in the teaching units is focused on developing embedded intelligence solutions, that is, programming real-world devices which interact with real environments. To this end, and to address a second fundamental premise of low investment capability at schools, it has been decided to use Smartphones as the central technological element to implement such embedded intelligence at classes. This curriculum has been developed within the Erasmus + project entitled "AI + : Developing an Artificial Intelligence Curriculum adapted to European High School". The project was carried out by a team of AI experts and high school teachers who created the teaching units, and a group of students that tested them for three years, providing feedback to make the curriculum feasible for its introduction in schools in the short-term. The main results obtained from its implementation within the project scope are presented and discussed here, with the aim of contributing to the AIEd community progress by means of a practical pilot experience. Although the curriculum has been designed and tested at European level, it has been created with a general perspective of AI education, so it can be applied worldwide.

Ethics and ethical behaviour are the fundamental pillars of a civilised society. The focus on ethical behaviour is indispensable in certain fields such as medicine, finance, or law. In fact, ethics gets precedence with anything that would include, affect, transform, or influence upon individuals, communities or any living creatures. Many institutions within Europe have set up their own committees to focus on or approve activities that have ethical impact. In contrast, lesser-developed countries (worldwide) are trying to set up these committees to govern their academia and research. As the first European consortium established to assist academic integrity, European Network for Academic Integrity (ENAI), we felt the importance of guiding those institutions and communities that are trying to conduct research with ethical principles. We have established an ethical advisory working group within ENAI with the aim to promote ethics within curriculum, research and institutional policies. We are constantly researching available data on this subject and committed to help the academia to convey and conduct ethical behaviour. Upon preliminary review and discussion, the group found a disparity in understanding, practice and teaching approaches to ethical applications of research projects among peers. Therefore, this short paper preliminarily aims to critically review the available information on ethics, the history behind establishing ethical principles and its international guidelines to govern research. The paper is based on the workshop conducted in the 5th International conference Plagiarism across Europe and Beyond, in Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania in 2019. During the workshop, we have detailed: (1) basic needs of an ethical committee within an institution; (2) a typical ethical approval process (with examples from three different universities); and (3) the ways to obtain informed consent with some examples. These are summarised in this paper with some example comparisons of ethical approval processes from different universities. We believe this paper will provide guidelines on preparing and training both researchers and research students in appropriately upholding ethical practices through ethical approval processes.

Background Childhood and adolescence are critical stages for a healthy life. To support countries in promoting health and development and improving health care for this age group, the WHO Regional Office for Europe developed the European strategy for child and adolescent health 2015-2020, which was adopted by all countries. This paper reports progress in the strategy's implementation until 2020. Methods A survey was sent to all ministries of health of the 53 Member States of the WHO European Region. Responses were received from 45 Member States. Results are presented in this paper. Results The European Region made overall progress in recent years, but increasing levels of overweight and obesity among children, adolescent mental health and low breastfeeding rates are recognized as key national challenges. Although forty-one countries adopted a national child and adolescent health strategy, only eight countries involve children in their review, development and implementation stages. Two-thirds of countries have a strategy for health-promoting schools and a school curriculum for health education. One-third of countries do not have legislation against marketing of unhealthy foods and beverages to children. Most countries reported routine assessment for developmental difficulties in children, but less than a quarter collected and reported data on children who are developmentally on track. There are major gaps in data collection for migrant children. Hospitalization rates for young children vary five-fold across the region, indicating over-hospitalization and access problems in some countries. Only ten countries allow minors access to health care without parental consent based on their maturity and only eleven countries allow school nurses to dispense contraceptives to adolescents without a doctor's prescription. Conclusions This paper shows the progress in child and adolescent health made by countries in Europe until 2020 and key areas where additional work is needed to move the 2030 agenda forward. The survey was undertaken before the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine. Both will likely exacerbate many of the observed problems and potentially reverse some gains reported. A renewed commitment is needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: Ultrasound education varies greatly across European healthcare systems. This paper focuses on ultrasound academic education as a part of wider suite of surveys on radiographers working in ultrasound. The aim was to investigate sonography educational levels, methods of training, course duration and other factors in European Federation of Radiographers Societies (EFRS) member countries., Method: In 2019 an online survey was sent to the 38 EFRS member societies to distribute to higher education institutions within their own country. The survey was in English and contained different types of questions such as closed questions, free text options, and scale responses, to investigate sonography education including academic course types and duration, curriculum content, learning and teaching methods., Results: A total of 45 responses were received, showing wide variation in the duration of training between the respective countries. Academic level 7 (part-time) ultrasound education was most frequently reported (n = 13), followed by direct entry ultrasound courses (n = 9) and bachelor's degree programmes at EQF level 6 (n = 7). The duration of part-time courses ranged from nine months up to four years., Conclusion: Sonography training and education varies among EFRS member countries ranging from short focused courses to postgraduate awards. Few countries offer sonography education leading to an award. The majority of clinical teaching and learning takes place in the learner's workplace., Implications for Practice: High quality academic and clinical education for radiographers extending their role into ultrasound is important to ensure safe, effective sonography practice and good patient care., Competing Interests: Conflict of interest statement The authors have nothing to declare., (Crown Copyright © 2024. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.)

Based on a study of 1689 high school teachers across 132 high schools in 12 countries, this paper discusses their views on spirituality for high school adolescents. In general, they favoured spirituality for adolescents and its inclusion in the curriculum. Specifically teachers from European countries, US, Canada and Australia attested the relational consciousness aspect of spirituality, which enabled adolescents to form and preserve meaningful social relationships and build their altruistic potential. Log regression analysis showed that spiritual assessment of adolescents was perceived as comprehending their spiritual starting point, specifically by those from European countries, US, Canada and Australia. Further, they perceived spirituality as an integral part of the moral science and value education curriculum, with the main curricular objective as cultivating adolescents' spiritual sensibilities and mindfulness. The study provides the nuances of such as curriculum on spirituality in the high schools in terms of knowledge, skills and attitude components.

Based on small case-study illustrations from a variety of European countries, this study aims to explore methodological aspects of the study of curriculum history by expanding its traditional research scope. In so doing, it is argued that sociolinguistic issues are essential to this discussion. The main argument is that sociolinguistics and curriculum history are more closely intertwined than has been proposed by previous academic literature. Under the examination are often two sides of the same coin which are viewed from different, albeit closely related, research angles. In effect, the curriculum's contextualisation is also structured and modified by sociolinguistic considerations. In the conclusion, it is maintained that citizenship education--understood here as the historical manifestation of the dominant cultural expectations towards the citizens as the bearers of a particular nation state during a specific timeframe--should be better informed by sociolinguistic literature, and by that, also placed against those language controversies that surround the curriculum. On this basis, by adding value to the study of the curriculum as part of educational history--and by blurring unnecessary academic boundaries--this paper provides interdisciplinary insights into the study of curriculum history vis-à-vis sociolinguistics, which have so far remained too separated.

Current approaches to science-technology-society (STS) education focus primarily on the controversial socio-scientific issues that arise from the application of science in modern technology. This paper argues for an interdisciplinary approach to STS education that embraces science, technology, history, and social and cultural studies. By employing a case study of traditional papermaking technology, it investigates how the interactions between technology and science can be explored in an authentic societal and cultural context across a historical time span. The term technology-society-science (TSS) is used to represent an alternative approach to linking technology, society, and science that aims to redress the imbalance between science and technology, and to resolve the tension between two diverging goals of STS education. The educational implications of this alternative approach to STS education are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore the relationship between educational orientation and employer influenced pedagogy and to consider some implications for work-based learning (WBL) higher education (HE) policy and practice in Europe. Design/methodology/approach – The paper draws on purposefully selected case studies to describe the key attributes of WBL related pedagogy associated with three HE programmes in Finland, Spain and the UK. Findings – The national regulatory environment has a key role to play in issues associated with WBL pedagogy. The case studies also demonstrate a pluralistic approach to pedagogy and the key role that employers play in both providing regular intelligence to inform curriculum design and contributing to pedagogy. Research limitations/implications – The small number of case studies limits the opportunity for generalisation and the level of analysis masks subtle and interesting differentiations in pedagogy worthy of further exploration. Practical implications – The paper highlights implications for government to provide the vision and regulatory environment to encourage WBL and for universities and academics to design and implement innovative, pluralist pedagogies. Originality/value – The paper provides a new framework and a unique analysis of programme level case studies from three European countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

H igh-quality cancer care is a key priority worldwide. Caring for people affected by cancer requires a range of specific knowledge, skills and experience to deliver the complex care regimens both within the hospital and within the community environment. In June 2022, the European Cancer Organisation along with 33 European cancer societies began working together to develop a curriculum for inter-speciality training for healthcare professionals across Europe. As part of the project, this research consisted of a qualitative survey distributed to the European Union societies via email. The aim of this paper is to disseminate the qualitative findings from healthcare professionals across Europe. Questionnaires were sent out to a convenience sample of 219 healthcare professionals and patient advocates with a response rate of 55% (n = 115). The findings identified that there were four key themes: 'What is inter-speciality training?', 'Barriers and challenges', 'Support throughout the cancer journey' and 'New ways of working'. These results are part of a larger needs analysis and scoping review to inform the development of a core competency framework which will be part of an inter-speciality curriculum for specialist cancer doctors, nurses and other healthcare professionals across Europe. Healthcare professionals will be able to access education and training through the virtual learning environment and workshops and by clinical rotations to other specialties., (© 2023. The Author(s).)

There has been a steady increase in popular music programs at Higher Music Education Institutions (HMEIs) across Europe. However, what students actually are supposed to learn at popular music bachelor/master programs has remained largely understudied. Based on 12 in-depth interviews with leaders in higher popular music education, this paper addresses: (1) how popular music is defined and possibly canonized, (2) what the position of popular music programs is, and (3) how the content of popular music programs is constructed—at HMEIs. First, participants struggle to provide a clear definition of popular music. Therefore, they differ in how they name their program – as popular music, pop music or something else. Because there is little consensus over a canon of popular music, our interviewees work from a mini-canon of British/American popular music, add local music to the curriculum, use jazz as a basis and/or work without a canon. Second, despite their growing popularity, popular music programs still struggle to position themselves, particularly at HMEIs with strong classical music departments. Third, program leaders navigate between different approaches of content construction within the constraints of their institution: (a) craft-centered (top-down, teacher-driven, skill-oriented), (b) arts-centered (bottom-up, student-driven, creativity-oriented), and (c) market-centered (side-to-side, industry-driven, commercially-oriented). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The Radiography Research Ethics Standards for Europe (RRESFE) project aimed to provide a cross-sectional view of the current state of radiography research ethics across Europe. This included investigating education and training in research ethics, and identifying the key challenges and potential improvements associated with using existing research ethics frameworks., Methods: This cross-sectional online survey targeting radiography researchers in Europe was conducted between April 26 and July 12, 2021. Descriptive and analytical statistics were used to identify research ethics education and training trends. Content analysis of qualitative responses was employed to identify significant challenges and proposed improvements in research ethics frameworks of practice., Results: There were 232 responses received across 33 European countries. Most (n = 132; 57%) respondents had received some research ethics training; however, fewer participants had received training on safeguarding vulnerable patients (n = 72; 38%), diversity and inclusivity (n = 62; 33%), or research with healthy volunteers (n = 60; 32%). Training was associated with a greater perceived importance of the need for research ethics review (p = 0.031) and with the establishment of EQF Level 6 training (p = 0.038). The proportion of formally trained researchers also varied by region (p = <0.001). Time-to-ethics-approval was noted as the biggest challenge for professionals making research ethics applications., Conclusion: Early and universal integration of research-oriented teaching within the radiography education framework which emphasises research ethics is recommended. Additionally, study findings suggest research ethics committee application and approval processes could be further simplified and streamlined., Implications for Practice: The survey contributes to a growing body of knowledge surrounding the importance of education and training in research ethics for assuring a high standard of research outputs in Radiography and has identified hurdles to obtaining research ethics approval for further investigation and address., Competing Interests: Conflicts of interest The authors declare that they have no known competing financial interests or personal relationships that could have appeared to influence the work reported in this paper., (Copyright © 2022 The Authors. Published by Elsevier Ltd.. All rights reserved.)

Background: The importance of defining and establishing professional standards for Clinical Microbiology (CM) in Europe has long been highlighted, starting with the development of a European curriculum. The first European Curriculum in Medical Microbiology (MM) was adopted by the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS) council in 2017., Objectives: This paper assesses how training programmes in CM in Europe align with the European curriculum, just under 5 years after its introduction, and reviews what methods of assessment are in use to assess the CM trainees' progress during training programmes., Sources: Using an internet-based platform, a questionnaire was circulated to the full, associate and observer members of the UEMS MM section. Information collected related to the structure, content and delivery of CM training in the participating countries, as well as methods of assessment used to evaluate training progress., Content: Twenty-one countries responded, from a total of 30 countries invited to participate. All had a structured CM training programme, with a curriculum, dedicated trainers and a record of training activities. Fifteen countries require trainees to pass an exit examination, and over 60% of countries participate in continuous workplace-based assessment. Of the participating countries, 57% meet the European Training Requirements recommendation that duration of specialist training is 60 months. Regarding core competencies, all trainees gain experience in laboratory skills and infection prevention and control, but the emphasis on clinical management and antimicrobial stewardship is more varied across countries., Implications: The UEMS MM curriculum has been largely adopted by 21 countries within less than 5 years of ratification, which speaks optimistically to a future of standardized quality training across Europe. The introduction of a pilot European Examination in Clinical Microbiology in 2021 is the start of a pan-European assessment of the success of the implementation of this curriculum and the first step in quality assurance for CM training in Europe., (Copyright © 2021. Published by Elsevier Ltd.)

Background: Global curricular homogenization is purported to have a multitude of benefits. However, homogenization, as typically practiced has been found to promote largely Western ideals. The purpose of this study was to explore the issue of representation in the development of global oncology curricula. Methods: This systematic review of global oncology curricula involved a comprehensive search strategy of eight databases from inception to December 2018. Where available, both controlled vocabulary terms and text words were used. Two investigators independently reviewed the publications for eligibility. Full global/core oncology curricular documents were included. Data analysis included exploration of representation across a number of axes of power including sex and geographic sector, consistent with a neocolonial approach. Results: 32,835 documents were identified in the search and 17 remained following application of the inclusion/exclusion criteria. Eleven of 17 papers were published from 2010 to 2018 and 13 curricula originated from Europe. The 17 curricula had 300 authors; 207 were male and most were from Europe (n = 190; 64%) or North America (n = 73; 24%). The most common curricular purposes were promoting quality patient care (n = 11), harmonization of training standards (n = 10), and facilitating physician mobility (n = 3). The methods for creation of these curricula were most commonly a committee or task force (n = 10). Over time there was an increase in the proportion of female authors and the number of countries represented in the authorship. Conclusion: Existing global oncology curricula are heavily influenced by Western male authors and as a result may not incorporate relevant socio-cultural perspectives impacting care in diverse geographic settings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Bologna Declaration of 1999 is the basis for continuing reforms in higher education intended to support international mobility in employment within the European Union. This paper describes the standardised structure and nomenclature for courses that have been implemented, together with a credit transfer system, a quality assurance regime, and the ERASMUS and MUNDUS programmes that support international student mobility. However, the European Commission has left crucial aspects of the implementation of the Bologna principles to Member States, and several issues have arisen because of national variations. The paper expresses concerns about differences in assessment standards and conventions, and questions the relevance of various attempts that have been made to produce model lists of competences and curricula. The European Union's international assistance programmes, TEMPUS and ALFA, have encouraged collaboration in assisting development in non-member states, but with limited effect, perhaps because of organisational changes that stemmed partly from the Bologna process. The changes in higher education stimulated the establishment of a pan-European association, EUCLID: the European association for library and information education and research, but the paper argues that the expectations of the founders of the association remain largely unfulfilled, and argues for more empirical research to review issues such as the academic level at which education for librarianship is undertaken, and the need for a European accreditation scheme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The description of individual course units is here presented as a privileged way to improve course quality by fostering teacher reflection. To that end, the paper presents a structured way to specify the several parts that compose the course unit descriptions. The most important parts are made strongly interconnected as a way to maximize coherence and force additional reflection during course design. The paper presents a concrete template that expands the recommendations and course unit data present in the ECTS User's Guide. Besides including the usual course data, the template guides the course designer towards the specification of several alignments between the data. These alignments make the course unit descriptions self justifying and internally coherent. Additionally,, a grading strategy is briefly presented and the intended learning outcomes are classified according to the European Qualification Framework for Lifelong Learning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The internationalization of universities and the aging of the global population are two current issues that converge and challenge undergraduate gerontology curriculum development in Canada. One response to this challenge is to envision an intercultural gerontology curriculum. What might this curriculum encompass? How might it be taught? An exploratory study was undertaken to address these two questions. This paper presents findings from this study based primarily on interviews with university-based stakeholders from Canada, the United States, and Europe. Thematic analysis of the interviews resulted in five themes: multiple perspectives on cultural diversity; the dynamic nature of cultural diversity and aging; flow of an intercultural curriculum; institutional culture and intercultural curricula; and principles and practice for intercultural gerontology. Framed by principles of gerontology theory and educational approaches, this paper focuses on the principles and practice suggested by study participants. Scaffolding learning, active learning strategies, experiential learning opportunities, teacher modelling, and internet-based learning are discussed as key to intercultural learning. An appendix includes a list of resources that may be useful to developing an intercultural gerontology curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction: The biomedical sciences (BMS) are a central part of the dental curriculum that underpins teaching and clinical practice in all areas of dentistry. Although some specialist groups have proposed curricula in their particular topic areas, there is currently no overarching view of what should be included in a BMS curriculum for undergraduate dental programmes. To address this, the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) convened a Special Interest Group (SIG) with representatives from across Europe to develop a consensus BMS curriculum for dental programmes., Curriculum: This paper summarises the outcome of the deliberations of this SIG and details a consensus view from the SIG of what a BMS curriculum should include., Conclusions: Given the broad nature of BMS applied to dentistry, this curriculum framework is advisory and seeks to provide programme planners with an indicative list of topics which can be mapped to specific learning objectives within their own curricula. As dentistry becomes increasingly specialised, these will change, or some elements of the undergraduate curriculum may move to the post-graduate setting. So, this document should be seen as a beginning and it will need regular review as BMS curricula in dentistry evolve., (© 2020 John Wiley & Sons A/S. Published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Aims: The European Society of Cardiology (ESC) guidelines state that heart failure nurse specialists (heart-failure nurses) with specific competences are essential for a successful heart-failure-management programme. Thus, the Heart Failure Association (HFA) of the ESC developed the heart failure nurse curriculum (HFA curriculum). Several ESC member states developed cardiovascular education programmes to enable nurses to deliver high specialist care, but little is known of whether these curricula are in line with the HFA curriculum. Therefore, this paper describes the extent to which cardiovascular education programmes in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany correspond to the HFA curriculum., Methods and Results: A case study approach was adopted to obtain an in-depth understanding of the programme contents in relation to the HFA curriculum. For this purpose, representatives of the educational programmes and/or delegates of the national cardiovascular nursing organization shared their educational curricula. All of the studied cardiovascular education programmes aim to provide heart failure and/or cardiovascular nurses with essential competences for implementation of evidence based and guideline derived care. However, every cardiovascular education programme has a different focus/area of attention. Cardiovascular education in Belgium discusses aspects of all core-learning objectives of the HFA curriculum and emphasizes mostly knowledge aspects of these. Learning objectives in cardiovascular education in The Netherlands focus on chronic diseases in general and on learning objectives concerning patient education, support in self-care and management of device and pharmacological therapy. Cardiovascular education in Germany discusses most learning objectives; however, not all learning objectives receive equal attention., Conclusions: Although local cardiovascular education programmes adopt certain aspects of the HF curriculum, the curriculum as a whole is not adopted.

Reports on the Council of Europe's joint European-American seminar that deals with teaching about the United States in secondary schools in Western Europe. (MD)

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The paper examines comparatively the curricula of six Physics MSc degrees from three countries (England, Portugal and Denmark) in the European policy context driven by the Bologna Process, which advocates degree comparability and student-centred learning. Degree programme descriptions were analysed and interviews were conducted with students and lecturers from the selected degrees, exploring their teaching and learning practices and experiences. Findings reveal predominantly country-based differences in degree curriculum regarding students’ freedom to decide their learning path. Curricular flexibility and student input appear high in the English and Danish degrees and low in the Portuguese ones, despite attempts – so far little feasible in practice – to empower students to tailor learning to their interests. In drawing attention to the force of national pedagogic traditions in shaping curricula, the paper has implications for the degree comparability and student mobility advocated by recent European higher education reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Purpose: The aim of this study was to compare differences in current orthopaedic and trauma training programs across Europe.Methods: A questionnaire was sent to the FORTE (Federation of Orthopaedic Trainees in Europe) representatives of 25 different European countries, of which 18 responded. The questionnaire included demographic information and information concerning the structure of the training programs, including duration, selection, and mandatory training requirements.Results: The number of trainees per specialist varied between countries from a ratio of 1:2 to 1:7. Residency was generally five to six years in all the countries. In more than half of the countries selection was interview-based. Nearly all countries utilized a logbook. About 80% of the participating countries had a final examination. When assessing the components of training it was found that only one country (the United Kingdom) had mandatory minimum requirements for (1) courses, (2) surgical procedures, (3) research and (4) leadership. Nearly 40% of the participating countries had only one or none of these four components as a mandatory training requirement.Conclusions: There are many similarities in training programs, but some important differences remain in overall requirements and final qualification. The main limitation of this study was that we were unable to get data from all the European countries. FORTE will continue to serve as a forum for sharing best practices with the ultimate goal of improving and harmonizing the level of orthopaedic training across Europe. Future studies should aim to include further details about training programs as well as to include data from more countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The social work profession in Albania is relatively young and social services in the country continue to develop. But over the past three decades, Albania has experienced significant growth and transformation in its social work education programmes. Nevertheless, there is very little published work on the Albanian social work education system and its implementation on the ground. Currently, the main sources of social work graduates are three Schools of Social Work in Tirana, Shkodra, and Elbasan. Programmes at the bachelor's and master's level all incorporate policy, research, and practice education. The social work curriculum, originally transplanted from the United States, has gone through reforms following the Bologna process and continues to be revised to meet local needs. Drawing from a multi-country study of the social service workforce in southeast Europe, this paper presents baseline data on social work education in Albania. 62 participants were interviewed using semi-structured interviews, case stories, and focus group discussions with consensus-building exercises. The findings highlight both the opportunities and challenges of this relatively young profession in Albania. Besides increasing understandings of social work education in Albania, this research adds to emerging regional and global themes in the development of social work education and practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development of adolescent health and medicine as a medical discipline lags behind in Europe compared with other regions of the world. This study aims to evaluate the structure and content of adolescent medicine and health training curricula for medical students, paediatricians, and other primary care physicians in the European region. A questionnaire survey was sent by e-mail to experts in the field from 36 European countries, addressing the content of adolescent health issues. Data was obtained from all 36 countries. At the undergraduate level, seven countries reported some mandatory stand-alone teaching (sessions dealing specifically with adolescents), while seven countries reported optional stand-alone teaching. In only 7 out of 36 countries were issues critical to adolescents covered as stand-alone sessions. At the postgraduate level, 15 countries delivered stand-alone mandatory training sessions to primary, secondary, or tertiary care paediatricians, covering most of the five critical areas listed in the questionnaire. In another 13 countries, such sessions were not mandatory and were inexistent in eight of them. The coverage among school physicians was similar but was much lower among general practitioners.Conclusion: Paediatric associations and academic institutions should advocate for a better coverage of adolescent health and medicine in the training curricula of health care providers. What is known: • In most European countries, adolescent medicine is still poorly represented as a discipline. • Experts have recently published recommendations regarding what form the structure and content of a training curriculum in this field should take. What is new: • This paper gives information on the extent and content of training in adolescent medicine and health as currently offered within under- and postgraduate European training curricula, in terms of stand-alone mandatory (versus optional) sessions. • In many European countries, both medical students and residents are poorly exposed to the basic knowledge and skills pertaining to adolescent health care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Education became a rallying cry in Luxembourg's general elections of 1974. For the first time in the country's post-war history, the Socialists and Democrats entered the government, with new plans for education. The unbroken rule of almost 30 years by the Christian Democrats was over. New 'global' educational concepts were employed to introduce changes in the national curriculum, the aim being a transformation from an elite to a mass system of participation. One of these changes was the idea of the comprehensive school, which divided the electorates, parties and press respectively. Yet, this fundamental change has received little attention in the academic literature. What were the differences between the parties when it came to education policy? By intersecting politics, globalisation and education, this paper examines the impact of the election events of 1974 on Luxembourg's political discourse. The conclusion points to the central role the parties played in the proliferation of new educational norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The European Biomedical Ethics Practitioner Education Project (EBEPE), funded by the BIOMED programme of the European Commission, is a five-nation partnership to produce open learning materials for healthcare ethics education. Papers and case studies from a series of twelve conferences throughout the European Union, reflecting the 'burning issues' in the participants' healthcare systems, have been collected by a team based at Imperial College, London, where they are now being edited into a series of seven activity-based workbooks for individual or group study. These draft workbooks are now being read by a network of critical readers across Europe, whose comments will be incorporated into the final versions of the workbooks. The result will be the first European-wide and Europe-centred resource for teaching students, practitioners, and members of ethics committees. Topics covered include: Resource allocation and rationing The rights of children and young people Long-term care of the elderly Mental health and mental illness Autonomy and patient choice Decisions at the end of life A study guide to using the workbooks. The collaborative nature of the project has highlighted differentiated national approaches in medical ethics. Against the British and Dutch rights-orientated approach have emerged two other alternative models: the Nordic preference for administrative resolution of entitlement disputes, and the southern European emphasis on deontological codes. A genuinely European reconstruction of autonomy and rights, using hermeneutic, feminist and narrative approaches to counterbalance individualistic models, is emerging across the workbooks. The programme has also uncovered national differences in how ethics should be taught, with the workbooks' style being an experiential approach. Thus the EBEPE project is developing new models in both substantive and pedagogic senses, about both what should be taught and how it should be presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose: This discussion paper aims to explore the need of a clarified definition of master's level mental health nursing competencies in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes in a European context. Mental health service users have, in spite of their right to equal overall health, higher rates of physical illness and are more likely to experience premature death than the general population. Implementation of a holistic concept of health comprising mental, physical and social aspects of health in mental health services has previously proved to be challenging., Methods: Master's level mental health nursing competencies in recent literature are discussed and illuminated in terms of knowledge, skills and attitudes in order to enable the promotion of equal overall health among service users in mental health services., Results: The discussion show contents, values and utility of master's level mental health nursing competencies in mental health services and contribute to reduced role ambiguity by distinguishing master's level responsibilities from undergraduate nursing tasks and obligations of other professionals in mental health care., Conclusion: This discussion paper shapes implications for developments in master's level mental health nursing education curricula.

The paper gives an overview of FLT in the German-speaking regions of Europe from medieval times to the present day, within a framework of language politics, communicative needs and educational ideologies. The languages addressed are French, Italian, Spanish, English, Russian and Turkish. Basic social and professional data of the various groups of teachers are provided. Formats of teaching discussed range from private tuition to state school curricula. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

For some time the theme of the ‘European dimension’ in education has had a prominent place in school curricula across Europe. In practice the implementation of a European dimension in primary-school education still shows significant shortcomings. In some school systems Europe is not taken into consideration at all, while other school systems focus rather on formal aspects concerning Europe such as facts, names and figures. Compared to this, the ideas, preconceptions and experiences of children concerning Europe or other European countries are rarely taken into account. This paper, therefore, aims to provide an up-to-date contribution to European education taking into account the voices of children. Based on research results about children's perceptions of the world and of European countries, the paper offers perspectives on and suggestions about the implementation of a ‘European dimension’ in education, with special attention given to peer-learning. Methods of intercultural group learning and peer assessment are thereby used to underpin the co-operative learning environment for children. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

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Engineering syllabi often lack courses covering occupational risk prevention. In Spain, professional competences are awarded along with the completion of a university degree. This means that new graduates are certified in areas in which they have received little or no training, such as occupational risk prevention. However, the academic reforms established by the Bologna Process, which strives to homogenize university degrees throughout Europe, compels European universities to design new syllabi. The main goal of this paper is to define a framework for including occupational risk-prevention education in the new engineering syllabi. This exploratory research applied the Delphi methodology to a panel of 59 experts, using questionnaires assessed with a four-point Likert scale through two rounds. A website supported the information flow. According to the experts who participated in this study, education and training in occupational risk-prevention is essential for improving the safety culture within a company or workplace. The experts concurred that this subject should be a separate mandatory course in all engineering degree programs. The participants recommended that an optional course should be considered only if a mandatory course is not approved. It was also deemed desirable to integrate occupational risk prevention as a cross-field subject in other technological courses, even if the curriculum already includes some related courses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an updated statement on behalf of the Association for Dental Education in Europe (ADEE) in relation to proposals for undergraduate Curriculum Structure, Content, Learning, Assessment and Student / Staff Exchange for dental education in Europe. A task force was constituted to consider these issues and the two previous, related publications produced by the Association (Plasschaert et al 2006 and 2007) were revised. The broad European dental community was circulated and contributed to the revisions. The paper was approved at the General Assembly of ADEE, held in Amsterdam in August 2010 and will be updated again in 2015. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper will focused on the actual situation in school PE and Sport in Europe, drawing attention to some issues and problems and provides one example of developments in one of new European Union member countries, the Slovak Republic. It is divided into three sections: (1) Problems of PE in European countries, the example of the Slovak Republic; As in the rest of the Europe, in Slovakia, PE in last three decades has gone through intensive development and many changes. In spite of attempts by PE professionals, PE teachers, pupils and parents still struggle, sometimes more, sometimes less successfully with a range of problems. Some of these will be presented in paper. (2) New PE school curricula in Slovak republic in solving problems in Slovakia, physical education should contribute to educational transformation. From 1st of September 2008, a new Act of Education replacing an almost 30-year-old law had come into force. Physical education was not excluded from innovation within the new school law. In paper we will present the most important changes in all educational system and in PE also. (3) Recommendations for better PE A fundamental question is what should be done to secure a sustainable future for school physical education and sport? One answer is to accept the situation for what it is and suffer the consequences. The other is to confront the situation and address available options to help resolve some of the problems not only in Europe but also globally. In last part of our paper we will present some recommendations for better PE. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents the profile and competences for the European Dentist as approved by the General Assembly of the Association for Dental Education in Europe at its annual meeting held in Helsinki in August 2009. A new taskforce was convened to update the previous document published in 2005. The updated document was then sent to all European Dental Schools, ministries of health, national dental associations and dental specialty associations or societies in Europe. The feedback received was used to improve the document. European dental schools are expected to adhere to the profile and the 17 major competences but the supporting competences may vary in detail between schools. The document will be reviewed once again in 5 years time. Feedback to the newly published document is welcomed and all dental educators are encouraged to draw upon the content of the paper to assist them in harmonising the curriculum throughout Europe with the aim of improving the quality of the dental curriculum. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fact of placing competences and outcomes learning at the heart of the academic activity means overhauling the curricular architecture of higher education in Europe. Some universities have undergone important transformations moving toward a competence-based learning environment, while others maintain traditional curriculum packaged formats. In the realm of the European Higher Education Area, this paper examines the use of competence-based initiatives in curricular development for engineering degrees with special focus to the Spanish case. Although the concept of competence and competence-based learning has a long history in education and training research, these terms are still very diffuse and demand a clear conceptualization. In the first part of this paper, we provide a conceptual overview and a critical reflection of competences as implemented in a wide range of settings, including its origins, key concepts, and definitions. Next, we discuss the purposes, principles, pitfalls, and processes that enable defining a map of competences within engineering education. Lastly, we present a pilot project involving curriculum development and faculty enhancement within a competence-based learning initiative in Electronic Engineering. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]