Despite the many benefits of club-organized sports participation for children, sports participation is lower among children from low-income families than among those from middle- or high-income families. Social safety experienced by parents from low-income families is an important facilitator for parents to request financial support for their children’s sports participation. Therefore, the first aim of this study was to better understand parental social (un)safety in the context of acquiring financial support for children’s sports participation and how to create a safe social environment for low-income parents to request and receive this financial support. The second aim was to describe the co-creation process, which was organized to contribute to social safety solutions. To reach these goals, we applied a participatory action research method in the form of four co-creation sessions with professionals and an expert-by-experience, as well as a group interview with parents from low-income families. The data analysis included a thematic analysis of the qualitative data. The results showed that from the perspective of parents, social safety encompassed various aspects such as understandable information, procedures based on trust, and efficient referral processes. Sport clubs were identified as the primary source of information for parents. Regarding the co-creation process, the study found that stakeholders tended to overestimate parental social safety levels. Although the stakeholders enjoyed and learned from the sessions, differences in prior knowledge and a lack of a shared perspective on the purpose of the sessions made it challenging to collaboratively create solutions. The study’s recommendations include strategies for increasing parental social safety and facilitating more effective co-creation processes. The findings of this study can be used to inform the development of interventions that contribute to a social environment in which parents from low-income families feel safe to request and receive financial support for their children’s sports participation.
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Financial Literacy is an essential competence in societies depending on individual responsibility and self-sufficiency. The purpose of this dissertation is to assess current levels of financial literacy among ninth-grade high school students in the Netherlands in order to identify which groups are particularly vulnerable to financial illiteracy. Once these baselines are established, the objective will be to systematically design, develop, and evaluate a financial education program to improve financial literacy among high school students in the pre-vocational track (VMBO) in the Netherlands. This dissertation consists of five studies. In the first study, we provide evidence of the effectiveness of existing financial education programs for children and adolescents and describe the key characteristics of the pedagogical design of successful programs. The second and third study describe the exploration of the financial literacy levels of high-school students, the factors that influence these levels, and an investigation of the relationships between the four different components of financial literacy in order to know the aspects of financial literacy that most influence financial decision-making among adolescents. The outcomes of the first, second and third study are used to systematically design, develop, and qualitatively evaluate a financial education program (study 4). In the last study, the effects of the financial education program on high school students’ financial literacy are examined. It is hoped that the insights gained will inform educational practice and policymakers in implementing and teaching financial literacy in schools, as well as shed light on the potential for further research.
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This Impuls 2020 proposal of ArtEZ University of the Arts focuses on strengthening the institutional structure and organizational infrastructure of its Research and Outreach Unit, by developing and building ArtEZ Research & Outreach. ArtEZ Research & Outreach is a centralized research incubation and development space to facilitate the large communities of researchers at ArtEZ. Based on the portfolio of diverse practices, disciplinary competences, and domain expertise, it explores and develops common grounds for new ways of shared, de-disciplined research and outreach activities across the university and with relevant external partners and stakeholders. The 2 key areas in which Impuls-activities will be performed are: 1. Strategic Research Programming and Networking – Aligning expertise, combining research resources and developing strategic networks Our first objective is to define a long-term Strategic Research Program, to set the directions of urgent and future-proof research topics, directly related to needs and demands from internal (research, education) and external (societal, industrial) stakeholders, with the ambition to create maximum value and impact for researchers, students and professionals and preserving the power of art. This area also includes networking, to develop diverse multi-stakeholder consortia within and around the selected strategic research topics. Our objective is to create multi-lateral exchanges, bringing people together in diverse communities for building consortia to prepare for joint practices of research, impact, accountability, and intervention towards collective research development. 2. Professional Research Support Infrastructure We need to develop and professionalize our research support infrastructure to facilitate professors and researchers in preparing, performing and managing (organizationally and financially) their research projects. The ambition is to increase ArtEZ’ participation in projects for research in the arts, from networking to dissemination and implementation of the research results and output, by developing a strong and sustainable research portfolio and financing strategy.
