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The educational expansion has led as a whole to an upgrade of the educational level of the population and, for the individuals, to educational improvement. This paper examines how sustainable these educational improvements are, in other words weather the children of the educationally improved have the same educational opportunities as the children of those whose level of education is traditionally high. The results show that the social heredity transmission of educational success is based on a mechanism that covers several generations, with the result that the educational level of the grandparents still has a considerable effect on the educational opportunities of the grandchildren, a low educational level of grandparents has a negative effect on that of their grandchildren. This phenomenon is demonstrated using the Socio-Economic Panel. An empirically-based outline explanation that takes the theoretical perspectives of Bourdieu as its starting point is then developed. The results show that the upward mobility due to educational expansion is to some degree only transient, which challenges the notion of the sustainability of educational improvement.     

A Therapeutic Summer Weekend Camp for Grieving Children: Supporting Clinical Practice Through Empirical Evaluation

Through collaborative action-oriented community research, agency-based clinicians, and university-based researchers engaged in a two-year theory-driven evaluation of a therapeutic summer camp for grieving children. The evaluation examined the camp practice model and children’s engagement in therapeutic camp activities and psychosocial functioning based on the camp staff and parental caregivers’ assessments. The first year findings led to a synergistic decision-making process that strengthened one of camp therapeutic activities. The overall results reveal a high consistency among staff on assessments of engagement and psychosocial functioning, and parental caregivers’ satisfaction with the camp. Limitations of research evaluation and implications for practice are considered.     

Lehramtsstudierende reflektieren und evaluieren ihr Unterrichtshandeln — zum Potenzial des Tagebuch-Ansatzes

The improvement in teacher education becomes more and more relevant in multiple perspectives. Mainly the development of teacher competencies in different phases of professional development is important. In practical studies these competencies already may be fostered very early in teacher education. This paper describes a concept based on the diary-approach. The concept combines self-reflection and self-evaluation of teacher students with a mentoring system, and represents an approach for improvement in teacher education.     

Family Policies and the Western European Fertility Divide: Insights from a Natural Experiment in Belgium

Countries in Northwestern Europe, including Belgium, report cohort fertility levels of close to two children per woman; whereas Central European countries, such as Germany, have levels of around 1.6 children. In seeking to explain these differences, some scholars have stressed the role of the social policy context, while others have pointed to variation in fertility‐related social norms. But because these influences are interdependent, it is difficult to isolate their effects on fertility trends. This study attempts to disentangle these two factors by drawing on a quasi‐natural experiment. After World War I Germany was compelled to cede the Eupen–Malmedy territory to Belgium. The population of this region has retained its German linguistic identity, but has been subject to Belgian social policies. We examine whether the fertility trends in this German‐speaking region of Belgium follow the Belgian or the German pattern. Our findings indicate that they generally resemble the Belgian pattern. This suggests that institutional factors are important for understanding the current fertility differences in Western Europe.     

Examining the Association of Welfare State Expenditure,Non-profit Regimes and Charitable Giving

This paper explores cross-country variations in charitable giving and investigates the association of welfare state policies with private philanthropy. Hypotheses are drawn from crowding-out theory and considerations about the influence of a country’s mixed economy of welfare. We add to the on-going discussion concerning the crowding-out hypothesis with empirical evidence by looking at specific charitable subsectors people donate to across countries. Using Eurobarometer survey data that include 23 countries, we find no evidence for a crowding-out effect, but rather a crosswise crowding-in effect of private donations. Moreover, giving behaviour differs between non-profit regimes.     

Public engagement with nonprofit organizations on Facebook

Explicating Facebook's engagement features, this study explored whether organizational message strategies based on the four models of public relations have an impact on the different levels of public engagement. The study found that publics demonstrate high levels of engagement with organizational messages when two-way symmetrical communication is used, compared to public information or two-way asymmetrical models. The study also provided practical implications for nonprofit practitioners to engage with publics via social media.