Continuing professional development approaches such as professional learning communities (PLCs) could help schools to sustainably work on school improvement to meet the rapid changes in the world around us. Sustainability is achieved when the core components of the approach become a self-evident and functional part of the school (or: organizational routine), which is flexible and adaptive to ongoing work, and aimed at regular improvement. Achieving sustainability has been found to be a challenge for a lot of schools, however. Leadership is assumed to be crucial for sustainability. We studied leadership through a distributed leadership lens: all activities tied to the core work of the school that are designed by the school’s staff members to influence the motivation, knowledge, or practices of other members of the school organization were considered. As research into sustainability of professional development and leadership was scarce, this dissertation focused on the following question: What is the role of school leadership in schools that work sustainably on school improvement with PLCs? A case study design was used to gain in-depth insight into what leadership and sustainably working on school improvement with PLCs looks like in five Dutch secondary schools. The schools were intensively observed (approximately 160 hours per school), school (policy) documents were collected, social network questionnaires were administered, and the school leadership was interviewed. Based on four studies, that focused on leaders’ practices, knowledge brokerage, and beliefs, the role of school leadership appears to be threefold. They 1) adequately designed the organization for working with the PLC, 2) managed the teaching and learning program while considering the PLC, and 3) helped and supported the staff members’ development for working with the PLC. The way in which leaders carried out the triple role of leadership seemed to be related to different factors. These factors are situated at the personal, interpersonal, and school contextual levels. The dissertation shows what leadership practices were carried out in what way and provides practical implications resulting from that. The insights could inspire schools and school leadership to work sustainably on school improvement with PLCs too.
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Due to the changing technological possibilities of services, the demands that society places on the level of service provided by the Dutch Central Government (DCG) are changing rapidly. To accommodate this, the Dutch government is improving its processes in such a way that they become more agile and are continuously improved. However, the DCG struggles with the implementation of improvement tools that can support this. The research described in this paper aims to deliver key factors that influence the adoption of tools that improve the agile way of working and continuous improvement at the DCG. Therefore, a literature review has been conducted, from which 24 factors have been derived. Subsequently, 9 semi structured interviews have been conducted to emphasize the perspective of employees at the DCG. In total, 7 key factors have been derived from the interviews. The interviewees consisted of both employees from departments who already worked with tools to improve agile working and continuous improvement as well as employees from departments who haven’t used such tools yet. An important insight based on this research is that the aims, way of working and scope of the improvement tools must be clear for all the involved co-workers
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The COVID-19 pandemic has accelerated remote working and working at the office. This hybrid working is an indispensable part of today's life even within Agile Software Development (ASD) teams. Before COVID-19 ASD teams were working closely together in an Agile way at the office. The Agile Manifesto describes 12 principles to make agile working successful. These principles are about working closely together, face-to-face contact and continuously responding to changes. To what extent does hybrid working influence these agile principles that have been indispensable in today's software development since its creation in 2001? Based on a quantitative study within 22 Dutch financial institutions and 106 respondents, the relationship between hybrid working and ASD is investigated. The results of this research show that human factors, such as team spirit, feeling responsible and the ability to learn from each other, are the most decisive for the success of ASD. In addition, the research shows that hybrid working creates a distance between the business organization and the IT department. The findings are valuable for Managers, HR professionals and employees working in the field of ASD as emphasizing and fostering Team Spirit, Learning Ability, and a Sense of Responsibility among team members can bolster the Speed of ASD.
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Purpose Generations Uniting through Sport (GUS) stimulates mutual understanding between youngsters and elderly people with sports activities. The project aims to promote intergenerational relations and increased physical activity by setting up an innovative and sustainable program. The concept for the GUS program is to identify, recruit, train and support a cohort of experienced practitioners. These professionals and volunteers will facilitate local-scale collaboration projects between youngsters and elderly people to increase their participation in physical activity and sport. The program will bring together young and old beneficiaries, through trained practitioners. The aim of the current research was to generate a state of the art overview of available evidence and practices that facilitate the development and implementation of intergenerational programs. Methods The literature search consists of two parts. One part focuses on identifying scientific literature on working principles within intergenerational programs. The search will be performed in Google Scholar, Pubmed and PROSPERO and is restricted to literature from the year 2000 onwards and languages used within the consortium. Main search terms are ‘adolescent’, ‘elderly’, ‘intergenerational’, ‘activity’/’program’ and synonyms of these terms. The second part of the search is performed within the project consortium and focuses on good practices from national and local settings. Searches will be performed in grey literature and through personal networks in France, Spain, Bulgaria, United Kingdom and Slovenia. Literature analysis focuses on activities, target groups, involved stakeholders, behavioral change models, barriers and outcomes/impact. Results The literature search results in a set of principles for programs and activities tailored towards generations uniting through sport/movement in Europe. More specific, it synthesizes behavioral change models incorporating methodologies that motivate youngsters and elderly people to exercise together and reduces some of the motivational and structural barriers to intergenerational programs. Conclusions The final results and conclusions will be presented at the conference.
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Het boek ‘Create Health Ways of Working: Insights from ten eHealth innovation research projects’ presenteert inzichten uit het meta-onderzoeksproject ‘Create & Health Innovation WAys of Working Analysis’, ook wel CHIWAWA genoemd. Binnen dit meta-onderzoeksproject inventariseerden onderzoekers van de Hogeschool Utrecht (Lectoraat Onderzoekend Vermogen en Lectoraat Co-design) het gebruik van creatieve manieren van werken bij innovatieprocessen in de zorg, waarvoor zij tien onderzoeksprojecten van Nederlandse kennisinstellingen volgende in de periode 2018 – 2022. Deze tien onderzoeksprojecten en het meta-onderzoek waren onderdeel van het ZonMw-programma Create Health. Het boek presenteert case-portretten van de tien onderzoeksprojecten naar eHealth innovatie die zich concentreerden rondom de thema’s dementie, eenzaamheid en overgewicht. Vervolgens geeft het boek verdieping met betrekking tot de creatieve manieren van werken in de tien Create Health-onderzoeksprojecten, begrip van relationele processen bij het creëren van kennisuitwisseling en zicht op de impact die een dergelijke samenwerking heeft op de zorg- en welzijnssector en op de creatieve industrie. Het boek bevat aanbevelingen voor toekomstige onderzoeksconsortia, financiers en de praktijk (creatieve industrie, zorgsector en doelgroep) en sluit af met de beschrijving van een tool die gebaseerd is op het Research Pathway Model, dat als instrument gebruikt kan worden om het gesprek tussen stakeholders van innovatieprocessen in de zorg te ondersteunen.
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In 2019, the first "Atelier Book" was published . Since then, a few years have passed and numerous new Ateliers have emerged. With this new atelier book, through more than 30 portraits, the richness and variety of ateliers within our college are shown. The portraits are divided as follows: ateliers at the NHL Stenden locations, external ateliers and ateliers which the facilities are a strong determinant. These portraits show which issues are being worked on, how they cooperate with the field and researchers and what the added value of the Ateliers is. This atelier book also contains a number of in-depth articles that talk about working and learning in ateliers. The contribution in chapter 1 is about: what NHL Stenden aims at with ateliers, where do the ateliers differ and some experiences with ateliers. After the portraits in chapter 2, chapter 3 presents the 'Atelier Value Creation Model' and a model with design dimensions. Both provide tools for designing and evaluating ateliers. Chapter 4 zooms in on the effects of physical space on learning. Then, Chapter 5 discusses the outcomes of (current) research on ateliers.
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Abstract Background: Nurses are consistently present throughout the rehabilitation of older patients but are apprehensive about performing goal-centred care in the multidisciplinary team. Objectives: The aim of this review was to explore working interventions on setting goals and working with goals designed for nurses in geriatric rehabilitation, and to describe their distinctive features. Methods: We performed a scoping review. We searched MEDLINE and CINAHL through August 4, 2021. Search terms related to the following themes: nurses, rehabilitation, geriatric, goal and method. We used snowballing to find additional. From the selected studies, we systematically extracted data on means, materials and the nursing role and summarized them in a narrative synthesis, using intervention component analysis. Results: The study includes 13 articles, describing 11 interventions which were developed for six different aims: improving multidisciplinary team care; increasing patient centredness; improving disease management by patients; improving the psychological, and emotional rehabilitation; increasing the nursing involvement in rehabilitation; or helping patients to achieve goals. The interventions appeal to four aspects of the nursing profession: assessing self-care skills incorporating patient's preferences; setting goals with patients, taking into account personal needs and what is medically advisable; linking the needs of the patient with multidisciplinary professional treatment and vice versa; and thus, playing an intermediate role and supporting goal achievement. Conclusions: The interventions show that in goal-centred care, the nurse might play an important unifying role between patients and the multidisciplinary team. With the support of nurses, the patient may become more aware of the rehabilitation process and transfer of ownership of treatment goals from the multidisciplinary team to the patient might be achieved. Not many interventions were found meant to support thenursing role. This may indicate a blind spot in the rehabilitation community to the additional value of its contribution.
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Peatlands can be found in almost every country in the world, but we areonly just starting to realise their value and how to harness their potential asa powerhouse nature-based solution. The more we learn about peatlands,the more we value the important services they provide - controllingfloods, purifying and supplying water, safeguarding species,harbouring deep cultural meaning, inspiring creativity and offeringlivelihoods to millions of people. We cannot afford to lose them or abusethem. A lack of understanding of peatlands’ vital role in the landscape, combined with outdated policies and perverse incentives, means that peatlands continue to be drained and damaged around the world. Peatlands are our largest terrestrial organic carbon stock, and if we are to meet ourglobal goals and commitments, we must work hard to understand,protect, restore, and sustainably manage these vital ecosystems. This Peatlands Across Europe: Innovation & Inspiration Guide is a valuable step towards that reality – it captures important recommendations, shares the cutting edge experiences of peatland restoration pioneers, and identifies gaps, priorities and lessons from across Europe that can be taken up by peatland practitioners around the globe.
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Person-centered care interventions can improve the quality of life and decrease behavioral problems of people with dementia. Although not convincingly proven, person-centered care interventions may benefit the caregivers as well. This study aims to gain insight into how working with the Veder Contact Method (VCM) – a new person-centered care method – influences the job satisfaction of caregivers.
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