Possessing 21st-Century Skills and Building Sustainable Careers: Early-Career Social Sciences Graduates’ Perspectives

In today’s complex labor market, social sciences graduates encounter various challenges and negative experiences in their current jobs and job transitions, which may threaten the sustainability of their careers. Possessing 21st-century skills is considered important in supporting their career sustainability. Employing a cross-sectional survey design, this study investigated which 21st-century skills help social sciences graduates build a sustainable career after their graduation. The sample consisted of 129 early-career social sciences graduates. We utilized both a variable-centered (path analysis) and a person-centered (latent profile) approach to data analysis. The path-analysis results showed that collaboration, creativity, and problem solving, but not communication and critical thinking, related to career sustainability. The results also revealed a suppressor effect of problem solving on the positive relationships between creativity and health-related problems, suggesting that problem solving may prevent creative individuals from developing health-related issues. Furthermore, latent-profile analysis demonstrated two profiles: sustainable and non-sustainable careers. While both profiles exhibited similar productivity levels, individuals from the non-sustainable profile reported lower happiness and higher health problems. Partly corroborating the path-analysis results, graduates with sustainable careers differed in communication and collaboration skills. This study enhances the understanding of 21st-century skills’ role in career sustainability and validates the model of sustainable careers

Learning environment, interaction, sense of belonging and study success in ethnically diverse student groups

The purpose of this paper was to investigate a model for describing the relationships between the extent to which learning environments are activating and students' interaction with teachers and peers, sense of belonging, and study success. It was tested whether this model holds true for both ethnic minority students and ethnic majority students. A total of 523 students from four different universities completed a questionnaire. Structural equation modeling (Amos) was used to test the model. The model that best describes the relationships in the group of ethnic minority students (N = 145) was shown to be different than the model that best fits the group of majority students (N = 378). Ethnic minority students appeared to feel at home in their educational program if they had a good formal relationship with teachers and fellow students. Ethnic minority students' sense of belonging to the institution nevertheless did not contribute to their study progress. On the other hand, in majority students, informal relationships with fellow students were what led to a sense of belonging. In these students, the sense of belonging did further academic progress

Literatuurstudie risicojongeren: onderwijs, arbeid, zorg en veiligheid

De Directie Jeugd & Onderwijs Rotterdam wil graag meer inzicht krijgen in de definitie van de groep risicojongeren, de precieze omvang van deze groep, de aard van de problematiek en de mogelijke oplossingen. Bovendien heeft de Directie Jeugd en Onderwijs Rotterdam behoefte aan wetenschappelijk inzicht in de (on)mogelijkheden van een integrale benadering van risicojongeren. In opdracht van de Directie Jeugd en Onderwijs Rotterdam heeft de Kenniswerkplaats Rotterdams Talent (KWP) voorliggende studie uitgevoerd naar de problematiek en aanpak van risicojongeren in Rotterda

The work–study interface: similarities and differences between ethnic minority and ethnic majority students

Given the poorer academic outcomes of non-Western ethnic minority students compared to ethnic majority students, we investigated whether differences exist in work–study interface between ethnic groups. We tested a work–study interface model, in which the work-related factors work–study congruence, job control, job demands, work hours, job involvement and job support were antecedents to work–study facilitation (WSF) and work–study conflict (WSC). WSC and WSF, in turn, were expected to predict students’ study effort and subsequently students’ grades. This model fitted well for the full sample and both non-Western ethnic minority students (N = 167) and ethnic majority students (N = 666) separately at a large Dutch university. Results showed that work–study congruence, job control, job involvement and job support led to WSF, which in turn led to more study effort and higher grades. Job control decreased WSC and both job demands and the number of work hours increased WSC. WSC was negatively associated with study effort which resulted in lower grades. These structural relationships, as depicted in the conceptual model of work–study interface, were similar for both the group of non-Western ethnic minority students and the group of ethnic majority students. However, ethnic minority students worked more hours per week than ethnic majority students, which partly explained—via WSC and study effort—the lower academic outcomes for this group

The role of the assessment policy in the relation between learning and performance

__Context:__ Optimising student learning and academic performance is a continuous challenge for medical schools. The assessment policy may influence both learning and performance. Previously, the joint contribution of self-regulated learning (SRL) and participation in scheduled learning activities towards academic performance has been reported. However, little is known about the relationships between SRL, participation and academic performance under different assessment policies. __Objectives:__ The goal of this study was to investigate differences in average scores of SRL, participation and academic performance of students under two assessment policies: (i) a conjunctive lower stakes, lower performance standard (old) assessment policy and (ii) a compensatory higher stakes, higher performance standard (new) assessment policy. In addition, this research investigated whether the relationships between academic performance, SRL and participation are similar across both assessment policies. __Methods:__ Year-1 medical students (i) under the old assessment policy (n = 648) and (ii) under the new assessment policy (n = 529) completed the Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire on SRL, and additional items on participation. Year-1 performance was operationalised as students’ average Year-1 course examination grades. manova and structural equation modelling were used for analyses. __Results:__ Generally, students under the new assessment policy showed significantly higher Year-1 performance, SRL and participation, compared with students under the old assessment policy. The relationships between Year-1 performance, SRL and participation were similar across assessment policies. __Conclusions:__ This study indicates that the higher academic performance under a compensatory higher stakes, higher performance standard assessment policy, results from higher SRL and participation, but not from altered relationships between SRL, participation and performance. In sum, assessment policies have the potential to optimise student learning and performance