The Quality of their Education: School Leavers’ Views of Educational Objectives and Outcomes. ESRI General Research Series Paper No. 153, October 1991

Modern educational systems have very important and complex objectives. Socialisation into the highly complicated cultural, and ever evolviilg "technical-rational", characteristics of the economic, social and political arrangements of their societies are amongst the most important objectives. But individual and personal development, preparation for work and aduh life, and the classification and certification of individuals’ attainments are ahnost equally important. This study investigates the success of the Irish educational system in achieving some of its more important stated objectives, as measured b)’ school leavers’ assessments of the effectiveness of their own education

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries

A Comparative Analysis of Transitions from Education to Work in Europe. ESRI WP118b. August 1999

No Abstrac

A note on the causal relationship between defence spending and growth in Greece: 1955-93

The causal relationship between economic growth and defence spending has attracted considerable attention and has been the subject of many empirical studies. This paper investigates the existence of a causal link between military expenditure and economic growth in the case of Greece for the period 1955-93. By European Union standards, Greece allocates substantial human and material resources to defence. At the same time, Greece is the poorest European Union member facing chronic economic problems. Using the concept of Granger-causality, the findings reported herein suggest that neither variable Granger-causes the other disclosing thereof the absence of any causal ordering between them.Granger causality, Unit roots, Structural breaks, Greek military spending, Economic growth,