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This qualitative research attempts to explore Greek high school students’ social representations of the relationship between Greece and Europe as well as the relationship students develop with history. The theoretical framework of the research is based on the concepts of social representations, European ideas, Eurocentrism, and the European dimension in education. The data were collected through interviews with twenty-fivehigh school students and analyzed using the method of thematic analysis. The results showed that students represent their country’s relationship with Europe in three aspects: as a relationship of exploitation, of cooperation, and of exchanging ideas. Echoing other studies, this research highlighted that the construction of social representations is based on the state’s position of power. Regarding students’ relationship with history, the results indicated a connection between past, present, and future in which the past has a dominant role. Students do not treat history as a field of thought and expression; although they look for historical concepts, they do not know or think to apply them when talking about historical events. Moreover, two different things seem to happen simultaneously: students problematize school history but not their representations, and the latter seems to be legitimized from school history as students havenot learned to think historically. Nevertheless, students appear ready to redefine their relationship with history and redetermine their representations and views of the world.

This book is the first in-depth comparative study of Scottish devolution and the first to analyse the impact of the European dimension. With focus on the periods leading up to the referendums in 1979 and 1997, it investigates positions and strategies of political parties and interest groups and how these influenced constitutional preferences at mass level and ultimately the referendum results. Based on rigorous analysis of an extensive body of quantitative and qualitative sources, it builds a ground-breaking argument that challenges the widespread thesis that support for devolution was a consequence of Conservative rule between 1979 and 1997. It shows that the decisive factors were changing attitudes to independence and the role of the European dimension in shaping them. The book is essential reading for students and scholars of British, European and comparative politics from 3rd-year courses upwards and will also appeal to lay readers interested in contemporary affairs.

The paper puts forward the hypothesis that the ECE parties until the 2019 EP elections were inward-looking or nationally oriented, but the 2019 EP elections indicates an important turning point in East-Central Europe with the emergence of the Europeanized party system. Accordingly, earlier at the EP elections the internal-national issues dominated, and the European dimension of the elections was low, i.e. in the EU context they were \"second order elections\", while for the first time at the 2019 EP elections the EU issues mattered, and in some ways they became central in the electoral fight. In my former papers I have argued that the original ECE party systems collapsed around 2010 under the pressure of the global financial crisis, and the first party system turned to the second one in the early 2010s. Now I would argue that after this turbulent decade the second party system also underwent a serious change in 2019 that resulted in the emergence of the third ECE party system. This change took place under the dual pressure of the extremely polarized political camps in the ECE countries and the new global crisis in the late 2010s that strongly determined the electoral behaviour of their populations. This paper describes this turning point first in general terms in the ECE region, then it illustrates and documents this development at length in the Hungarian case.

Background The prevalence of workers with demanding physical working conditions in the European work force remains high, and occupational physical exposures are considered important risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders (MSD), a major burden for both workers and society. Exposures to physical workloads are therefore part of the European nationwide surveys to monitor working conditions and health. An interesting question is to what extent the same domains, dimensions and items referring to the physical workloads are covered in the surveys. The purpose of this paper is to determine 1) which domains and dimensions of the physical workloads are monitored in surveys at the national level and the EU level and 2) the degree of European consensus among these surveys regarding coverage of individual domains and dimensions. Method Items on physical workloads used in one European wide/Spanish and five other European nationwide work environment surveys were classified into the domains and dimensions they cover, using a taxonomy agreed upon among all participating partners. Results The taxonomy reveals that there is a modest overlap between the domains covered in the surveys, but when considering dimensions, the results indicate a lower agreement. The phrasing of items and answering categories differs between the surveys. Among the domains, the three domains covered by all surveys are “lifting, holding & carrying of loads/pushing & pulling of loads”, “awkward body postures” and “vibrations”. The three domains covered less well, that is only by three surveys or less, are “physical work effort”, “working sitting”, and “mixed exposure”. Conclusions This is the fırst thorough overview to evaluate the coverage of domains and dimensions of self-reported physical workloads in a selection of European nationwide surveys. We hope the overview will provide input to the revisions and updates of the individual countries’ surveys in order to enhance coverage of relevant domains and dimensions in all surveys and to increase the informational value of the surveys.

At the heart of the European integration process is the political economy debate over whether the EU should be a market-making project, or if it should combine this with integration in employment and social policy. What has been the impact of the 2004 and 2007 rounds of enlargement upon the political economy of European integration? EU enlargement, the clash of capitalisms and the European social dimension analyses the impact of the 2004 and 2007 enlargements upon the politics of European integration within EU employment and social policy. This book analyses the main policy negotiations in the field and analyses the political positions and contributions of the Central and Eastern European Member States. Through analyses of the negotiations of the Services Directive, the revision of the Working Time Directive and the Europe 2020 poverty target, the book argues that the addition of the Central and Eastern European states has strengthened liberal forces at the EU level and undermined integration with EU employment and social policy.

This article explores the extent to which young people in predominantly middle-class environments identify with Europe and considers the influence of European education policy, school ethos and curricula. We compare data drawn from individual and focus group interviews with students aged 15–17 at a state school and a European School in England. The empirical analysis was informed by post-structuralism and found that young people at both schools developed multidimensional, multifaceted identities. Students at the European School, which has an ethos of developing both national and European identities, identified themselves more as European than their peers at the state school, which integrated students on the basis of a common British citizenship. The findings suggest that the policy on the European dimension in education contributes towards developing students’ identification with Europe and to their knowledge of Europe, though not at the expense of their ethnic and national identities, which were stronger than their European identities. Lack of a European dimension in education (both in and out of school) seems to result in a lack of identification with and knowledge about Europe.

This article records and documents the historical development of e-learning policies at EU level by conducting a discourse and content analysis of four key e-learning policy documents drafted and implemented by the European Commission over the past 20 years: Learning in the Information Society: Action Plan for a European Education Initiative (1996), the eLearning Action Plan (2001), the eLearning Programme (2003) and the Lifelong Learning Programme (2006). The themes teased out from the analysis reveal a gradual consolidation of e-learning policy at EU level, indicating the emergence of an increasingly coherent and formal approach to supporting e-learning initiatives for the benefit of actors at Member State level. The forging of a ‘European dimension’ in e-learning projects represents the hallmark of these EU policies, but it remains to be seen whether the EU institutions will continue to devote similar attention to and place particular focus on e-learning as a distinct policy priority in the years to come.

Namen prispevka je predstaviti rezultate raziskave o evropski razsežnosti vzgoje in izobraževanja ter s tem povezano strokovno delovanje šolskih pedagogov na Hrvaškem, pri čemer nas bodo posebej zanimale njihove kompetence za uveljavljanje evropske razsežnosti vzgoje in izobraževanja, pa tudi poznavanje oz. seznanjenost s tem konceptom. Skladno s tem bomo v prispevku prikazali rezultate raziskave, ki je bila opravljena na Hrvaškem in ki kažejo, da številni šolski pedagogi še vedno niso v zadostni meri seznanjeni z evropskimi izobraževalnimi politikami ali pa jih neustrezno interpretirajo ter jim pripisujejo negativno konotacijo. Prav tako rezultati nakazujejo, da je pomembno zagotavljati kontinuirano promocijo koncepta evropske razsežnosti vzgoje in izobraževanja. Poudariti velja, da je raziskava pokazala tudi na nov element dojemanja evropske razsežnosti vzgoje in izobraževanja med šolskimi pedagogi, ki se nanaša na trg dela in delovno mobilnost.

This article discusses the emergence of a European E‐Learning Area (EELA) as a consequence of three factors that can be observed in the e‐learning developments over the past decade. The first factor consists of the carving of a policy sector in e‐learning via formal instruments such as the eLearning Programme, the Lifelong Learning Programme and an array of other e‐learning policy stipulations embedded in larger policy instruments at European level (e.g. Framework Programme). The second factor is represented by the mainstreaming of e‐learning activities, both through formal and informal measures across multiple domains. Finally, the proliferation and consolidation of interlinked networks of practice as incubators of e‐learning innovation and sharing of expertise act as the third factor in the shaping of EELA. The conceptualisation of EELA is substantiated through an analysis of the European e‐learning policy documentation and the findings of a questionnaire distributed to the coordinators of projects under the eLearning Programme. In light of the findings, theoretical and practical implications for EELA as a nascent policy domain are explored and offered as a basis for further debate on this theme.

Background Degenerative cervical myelopathy (DCM) can significantly impair a patient’s quality of life (QOL). In this study, we aimed to identify predictors associated with QOL improvement after surgery for DCM. Methods This study included 148 patients who underwent surgery for DCM. The European QOL-5 Dimension (EQ-5D) score, the Japanese Orthopedic Association for the assessment of cervical myelopathy (C-JOA) score, and the Nurick grade were used as outcome measures. Radiographic examinations were performed at enrollment. The associations of baseline variables with changes in EQ-5D scores from preoperative to 1-year postoperative assessment were investigated using a multivariable linear regression model. Results The EQ-5D and C-JOA scores and the Nurick grade improved after surgery ( P  < 0.001, P  < 0.001, and P  < 0.001, respectively). Univariable analysis revealed that preoperative EQ-5D and C-JOA scores were significantly associated with increased EQ-5D scores from preoperative assessment to 1 year after surgery ( P  < 0.0001 and P  = 0.045). Multivariable regression analysis showed that the independent preoperative predictors of change in QOL were lumbar lordosis (LL), sacral slope (SS), and T1 pelvic angle (TPA). According to the prediction model, the increased EQ-5D score from preoperatively to 1 year after surgery = 0.308 − 0.493 × EQ-5D + 0.006 × LL − 0.008 × SS + 0.004 × TPA. Conclusions Preoperative LL, SS, and TPA significantly impacted the QOL of patients who underwent surgery for DCM. Less improvement in QOL after surgery was achieved in patients with smaller LL and TPA and larger SS values. Patients with these risk factors may therefore require additional support to experience adequate improvement in QOL.