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Background: Inclusive research is studied mainly in short-term collaborations between researchers with and without intellectual disabilities focusing on practicalities. Structural study of long-term collaborations can provide insight into different roles of inclusive researchers, thereby contributing to a collective approach. Method: Interviews with inclusive research team members (n = 3), colleagues (n = 8), and managers (n = 2) and three group discussions within the inclusive research team were held. Data were analysed following membership categorization analysis (MCA) adapted to the needs of the inclusive research team. Results: This MCA provides insight into the complexity of inclusive research, reflected in the multitude of identified roles and activities. Analysis indicates that researchers with and without intellectual disabilities complement each other. Conclusions: The activities identified in this study provide valuable information for discussing roles and responsibilities from the outset, so that dialogue starts at the core of inclusive research: the process between researchers with and without intellectual disabilities.

Background Little is known about the health needs of people with intellectual disabilities who access out-of-hours primary care services, raising concerns about accessibility and quality of care for this group. This study aims to identify commonly presented health problems of people with intellectual disabilities in this specific setting compared with the general population. Method Cross-sectional study with routine data at two out-of-hours cooperatives with a total of 41,166 persons aged 20-65 requesting out-of-hours primary care in 2014, of which 315 persons were identified as having an intellectual disability. Results Having an intellectual disability was associated with a higher probability of presenting with epilepsy (OR 45.65) and concerns about, and adverse effects of, medical treatment (OR 23.37, and 8.41, respectively). Conclusions Given the high rates of epilepsy and medication-related concerns of people with intellectual disabilities, this study suggests that these issues require special attention to improve the accessibility and quality of out-of-hours primary care.

An increased interest in the resilience of complex socio-ecological and socio-technical systems has led to a variety of metrics being proposed. An overview of these metrics and their underlying concepts would support identifying useful metrics for applications in science and engineering. This study undertakes a scoping review of resilience metrics for systems straddling the societal, ecological, and technical domains to determine how resilience has been measured, the conceptual differences between the proposed approaches, and how they align with the domains of their case studies. We find that a wide variety of resilience metrics have been proposed in the literature. Conceptually, ten different quantification approaches were identified. Four different disturbance types were observed, including sudden, continuous, multiple, and abruptly ending disturbances. Surprisingly, there is no strong pattern regarding socio-ecological systems being studied using the "ecological resilience" concept and socio-technical systems being studied using the "engineering resilience" concept. As a result, we recommend that researchers use multiple resilience metrics in the same study, ideally following different conceptual approaches, and compare the resulting insights. Furthermore, the used metrics should be mathematically defined, the included variables explained and their units provided, and the chosen functional form justified. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To improve students' transitions between successive educational levels, continuing learning pathways are being designed and implemented in many countries. This study was carried out to examine the effects of the Green Lycea (GL) as critical cases of continuing learning pathways in vocational education in The Netherlands. The GL were compared with a traditional pathway (pre-vocational secondary education and secondary vocational education offered as separate programmes) in terms of students' learning performance and transitions. GL students and comparable students following the regular pathway yielded the same mean final exam scores for four core subjects in the first phase of their educational programmes, despite the fact that GL students took this exam one year earlier than regular students because of the acceleration of the learning trajectory in the GL programme. Regarding the students' transitions, the GL and the traditional pathway yielded comparable percentages of students who either did or did not obtain a pre-vocational secondary education diploma; For the GL, however, the percentage of students who proceeded in secondary vocational education was higher. To conclude, it seems to be possible to improve students' transitions between successive educational levels (with their learning performance being an important precondition) through continuing learning pathways such as the GL. In this regard, GL design characteristics as described and examined in this study can be valuable ingredients for continuing learning pathways internationally as well.

Research on the effectiveness of competence-based education (CB-education) across educational contexts and levels requires a new evaluation measurement. This study explores the face validity, construct validity, and robustness of a competency self-report instrument that is aligned with contemporary competence theory and with current educational practice based on CB-qualification frameworks. A pilot study showed face validity of the competency constructs and indicators according to students from various levels in tertiary education. The results of the principal components analyses and parallel analyses, using data from 351 secondary vocational education and academic students, show more construct validity and robustness for competency constructs that are concrete and easy to relate to specific situations (e.g., "applying expertise") compared with the abstract competencies (e.g., "deciding and initiating"). This article sets out implications for designing and administrating uniform competency self-reports across educational levels and discusses suggestions for subsequent research.

Inquiry-based science education is an important innovation. Researchers and teachers consider it to be stimulating for pupils' application of research skills, construction of meaning and acquiring scientific knowledge. However, there is ambiguity as to what competencies are required to teach inquiry-based science. Our purpose is to develop a profile of professional competence, required for effective inquiry-based science teaching in primary schools in the Netherlands. This article reviews literature and compares the outcomes to the American National Science Education Standards (NSES). In so doing, it seeks to answer the following research questions: What elements of competencies required by primary school teachers who teach inquiry-based science are mentioned, discussed and researched in recent literature? To what extent are the American NSES (introduced 15 years ago) consistent with elements of competencies found in recent literature? A comprehensive literature review was conducted using Educational Resources Information Centre and Google Scholar databases. Fifty-seven peer-reviewed scientific journal articles from 2004 to 2011 were found using keyword combinations. Analysis of these articles resulted in the identification and classification of 22 elements of competencies. This outcome was compared to the American NSES, revealing gaps in the standards with respect to a lack of focus on how teachers view science teaching and themselves as teachers. We also found that elements of competencies are connected and poor mastery of one may affect a teacher's mastery of another. Therefore, we propose that standards for the Netherlands should be presented in a non-linear, holistic, competence-based model. (Contains 6 figures.)

Interdisciplinary higher education aims to develop boundary-crossing skills, such as interdisciplinary thinking. In the present review study, interdisciplinary thinking was defined as the capacity to integrate knowledge of two or more disciplines to produce a cognitive advancement in ways that would have been impossible or unlikely through single disciplinary means. It was considered as a complex cognitive skill that constituted of a number of subskills. The review was accomplished by means of a systematic search within four scientific literature databases followed by a critical analysis. The review showed that, to date, scientific research into teaching and learning in interdisciplinary higher education has remained limited and explorative. The research advanced the understanding of the necessary subskills of interdisciplinary thinking and typical conditions for enabling the development of interdisciplinary thinking. This understanding provides a platform from which the theory and practice of interdisciplinary higher education can move forward.