A.General description on research questions, objectives, and theoretical framework.Research suggests that teachers and parents might be better equipped to tackle school bullying when they collaborate (Axford et al., 2015; Gaffney et al., 2021; Huang et al., 2019). Despite the various efforts to secure family-school partnerships, parents’ involvement in schools’ antibullying interventions remains limited (Gaffney et al., 2021).Motivated to improve their family-school anti-bullying collaboration, three Dutch primary school communities took part in a participatory action research (Brydon‐Miller & Maguire, 2009) project. From 2019-2021, educational professionals and parents worked together supported by researchers, to pinpoint areas for improvement, and develop targeted solutions for their schools. The applied approach was similar to ‘action teams for partnership’ (Epstein, 2018), which has been argued to increase parent engagement to attain schools’ development goals. In this study, we evaluated the project with participating parents, educational professionals, and researchers, to discover how they reflect on the process and its outcomes. Our aim was to find out whether (and how) the participatory action research approach helped school communities to work towards family-school partnership to tackle bullying. B.Methods/methodologySemi-structured interviews were conducted with participating parents (n=3/5), educational professionals (n=7/10) and researchers (n=3/3), through video calls which were recorded and transcribed. Content analysis was conducted to gain insight in participants’ experiences in the collaborative process of conducting research and designing solutions, and the perceived outcomes for themselves and their school.C.Expected outcome/resultsIn this contribution, we critically reflect on our participatory action research approach, aiming to offer some guidance to community members and researchers looking to conduct similar studies. Overall, participants valued the collaborative process, and mentioned beneficial outcomes for themselves and/or their schools. Evaluations of the developed solutions, however, were mixed. Participants’ experiences were mainly related to alignment of interests and goals, group and community building, and exchange and coordination, as well as school- and contextual factors. While securing long lasting change remains challenging, participatory action research seems to be a fruitful approach to work towards family-school partnership.D.ReferencesAxford, N., Farrington, D. P., Clarkson, S., Bjornstad, G. J., Wrigley, Z., & Hutchings, J. (2015). Involving parents in school-based programmes to prevent and reduce bullying: What effect does it have? Journal of Children’s Services, 10(3), 242–251. https://doi.org/10/gk4fqzBrydon‐Miller, M., & Maguire, P. (2009). Participatory action research: Contributions to the development of practitioner inquiry in education. Educational Action Research, 17(1), 79–93. https://doi.org/10/dqbbn3Epstein, J. L. (2018). School, family, and community partnerships: Preparing educators and improving schools. Routledge.Gaffney, H., Ttofi, M. M., & Farrington, D. P. (2021). What works in anti-bullying programs? Analysis of effective intervention components. Journal of School Psychology, 85, 37–56. https://doi.org/10/gh24fpHuang, Y., Espelage, D. L., Polanin, J. R., & Hong, J. S. (2019). A Meta-analytic Review of School-Based Anti-bullying Programs with a Parent Component. International Journal of Bullying Prevention, 1(1). https://doi.org/10/gjhzqj
BACKGROUND: Forming partnerships is a prominent strategy used to promote integrated service delivery across health and social service systems. Evidence about the collaboration process upon which partnerships evolve has rarely been addressed in an integrated-care setting. This study explores the longitudinal relationship of the collaboration process and the influence on the final perceived success of a partnership in such a setting. The collaboration process through which partnerships evolve is based on a conceptual framework which identifies five themes: shared ambition, interests and mutual gains, relationship dynamics, organisational dynamics and process management.METHODS: Fifty-nine out of 69 partnerships from a national programme in the Netherlands participated in this survey study. At baseline, 338 steering committee members responded, and they returned 320 questionnaires at follow-up. Multiple-regression-analyses were conducted to explore the relationship between the baseline as well as the change in the collaboration process and the final success of the partnerships.RESULTS: Mutual gains and process management were the most significant baseline predictors for the final success of the partnership. A positive change in the relationship dynamics had a significant effect on the final success of a partnership.CONCLUSIONS: Insight into the collaboration process of integrated primary care partnerships offers a potentially powerful way of predicting their success. Our findings underscore the importance of monitoring the collaboration process during the development of the partnerships in order to achieve their full collaborative advantage.
This article explores cooperation between a commercial supermarket chain and an environmental non-governmental organization linking it to consumer perception of the “The Super Animals” collectable cards promotion initiative. The case study focuses on one particular joint project involving Animal Cards that was initiated by the supermarket Albert Heijn and the World Wide Fund for Nature in The Netherlands. Based on this case, environmental non-governmental organizations’ strategic choices in the context of contesting discourses of sustainability and consumption, as well as implications for environmental education, are addressed. This article combines three strands of the literature – on sustainable consumption, on strategic cooperation between commercial companies and environmental non-governmental organizations and on environmental education. It is argued that the Animal Cards initiative presents an ambiguous case by both attempting to enhance environmental awareness and promoting consumption, opening up questions about the value of such cooperative ventures to the objectives of environmental education. It is concluded that cross-sector partnerships have the potential to lead to improvements in corporate social responsibility and environmental awareness among consumers but simultaneously pose the danger of undermining the critical stance toward consumption. https://doi.org/10.1177/1469540514556170 LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/helenkopnina/
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Digital transformation has been recognized for its potential to contribute to sustainability goals. It requires companies to develop their Data Analytic Capability (DAC), defined as their ability to collect, manage and analyze data effectively. Despite the governmental efforts to promote digitalization, there seems to be a knowledge gap on how to proceed, with 37% of Dutch SMEs reporting a lack of knowledge, and 33% reporting a lack of support in developing DAC. Participants in the interviews that we organized preparing this proposal indicated a need for guidance on how to develop DAC within their organization given their unique context (e.g. age and experience of the workforce, presence of legacy systems, high daily workload, lack of knowledge of digitalization). While a lot of attention has been given to the technological aspects of DAC, the people, process, and organizational culture aspects are as important, requiring a comprehensive approach and thus a bundling of knowledge from different expertise. Therefore, the objective of this KIEM proposal is to identify organizational enablers and inhibitors of DAC through a series of interviews and case studies, and use these to formulate a preliminary roadmap to DAC. From a structure perspective, the objective of the KIEM proposal will be to explore and solidify the partnership between Breda University of Applied Sciences (BUas), Avans University of Applied Sciences (Avans), Logistics Community Brabant (LCB), van Berkel Logistics BV, Smink Group BV, and iValueImprovement BV. This partnership will be used to develop the preliminary roadmap and pre-test it using action methodology. The action research protocol and preliminary roadmap thereby developed in this KIEM project will form the basis for a subsequent RAAK proposal.
Aeres University of Applied Sciences has placed internationalisation as a key driver in its overall strategy. By prioritising the internationalisation of education and educational consultancy the university has created solid opportunities for students, lecturers, and partners at regional, national, and international levels. Currently, more strategic development on internationalisation in applied research at Aeres is needed. There is an opportunity to utilise highly proficient researchers, state-of-the-art facilities, and an impressive national research portfolio, and for this, there is a need to develop international research agenda, a key priority for AeresResearch4EU. To address this need, Aeres University of Applied Sciences aims to strengthen its internationalisation efforts with its research activities, opening the door to many opportunities, and most importantly, creating an international research agenda spanning the university's three locations. The main objectives of AeresResearch4EU are to analyse the existing research strategy and professorships and develop them towards a global research agenda for the European Union. By focusing on international research projects, Aeres can further enhance its reputation as a leading institution for applied research in agriculture, food, environment, and green technologies. AeresResearch4EU aims to create new partnerships and collaborations with researchers and institutions across Europe, allowing Aeres to contribute to developing innovative and sustainable solutions to global challenges. With its strong commitment to internationalisation and its focus on applied research, Aeres University of Applied Sciences is poised to become an essential player in the European research landscape.
The project’s aim is to foster resilient learning environments, lessen early school leaving, and give European children (ages 4 -6) a good start in their education while providing and advancing technical skills in working with technology that will serve them well in life. For this purpose, the partnership has developed age appropriate ICT animation tools and games - as well as pedagogical framework specific to the transition phase from kindergarten to school.