This thesis explores the opportunities for developing and assessing learners’ EFL oral skills in pre-vocational classrooms in the Netherlands. The thesis contains four studies. First, we evaluate the oral interaction practice offered in EFL coursebooks. In the second study, we explore ways to assess …

In our time, professions are passed on form father to child less and less, and some professions related to craftsmanship are disappearing, being replaced by industrial production. I come from a family of wooden artisan, and I witness what happened to my grandfather when he could not work anymore: deprived …

Background Over the past few years, the complexity of the health care system in which nurses are required to practice has increased considerably, magnifying the need for excellent professionals with a specific set of knowledge, skills and attitudes. However, the characteristics that distinguish an excellent …

Rationale: Head and neck cancer (HNC) patients often have adverse changes in body composition. Loss of muscle mass and strength frequently occur, even when dietary intake is adequate. Nascent evidence suggests that a healthy lifestyle, including adequate physical activity (PA) and diet, may prevent muscle …

Since October 2015, four European universities of applied sciences and three youth care organisations in Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands and Scotland, have been working as partners to develop education and training for (future) professionals. The goal of this partnership is to help (future) professionals: …

With only one in five secondary-school aged children attending secondary school, a quarter of teenaged girls being pregnant or already having a child (Uganda Bureau of Statistics, 2012), and one out of every five people living below the poverty line in Uganda (CIA, 2013) statistics show the ever prevalent …

Over the years the industrial production was transformed by steam power in the 19th century, by electricity in the early 20th century, and by automation in the 1970s (Lorenz, et al., 2015). Today’s society is on the verge of the fourth industrial revolution, the Smart Industry. The impact of the Smart …

Background In the Netherlands, there has been a strong increase in diversity among students in recent decades. Even though access for previously underrepresented groups based on economic status, ethnicity or culture has been realised to a certain extent, differences in student performance between groups …

Objective: To explore and describe the intensive wheelchair training method ‘Drivkraft’, and describe the evidence base. Method: Two wheelchair classes were both actively- and passively observed over a period of eight days. Based on these experiences, two semi-structured interviews were held with the …