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Teacher collaboration is regarded as a central feature of school quality that promotes students’ learning processes, teachers’ professional development, and school improvement. Although the phenomenon is complex, studies often use global constructs and measures. To meet the research demands, the purpose of this paper is to take a differentiated perspective on teacher collaboration, its particular school conditions and effects on instructional development.

Data were collected through a survey of 1,105 teachers at 36 secondary schools in North Rhine-Westphalia (Germany). Using multivariate analysis of variance and structural equation modeling, the occurrence of three different forms of teacher collaboration and their relations to activities of instructional development, structural and cultural working conditions, represented by appropriate scales and indexes, are analyzed.

The results show that teachers use less resource-intensive forms of collaboration more often and practice more demanding forms of collaboration less frequently. More demanding forms of collaboration not only depend on the working climate but also on individual self-efficacy, institutionalized teams, collaborative and instructional principal leadership and in turn promote the development of interdisciplinary curricula and concepts for individual support.

This study provides evidence for the importance of distinguishing different forms of teacher collaboration. Furthermore, by relating different collaborative activities of teachers to certain school conditions and instructional development, this study makes a contribution to research by emphasizing the relativity of teacher collaboration regarding its desired outcomes as well as its necessary requirements.

The purpose of this paper is to show production process developments and innovations that resolve many of the issues faced with certain process steps for printed circuit board (PCB) manufacturing following “green” practices.

Several key PCB manufacturing processes have been developed or studied with respect to new environmental legislations and practises.

The introduction of new legislations designed to protect the environment require changes to laminate materials, solders, and PCB manufacturing techniques. The effect of new laminate materials on the desmearing and metallising processes have been assessed and recommendations given. The effect of increased thermal stress on plated copper has been assessed. Developments in adhesion enhancement for black oxide alternatives have been made and are presented with their suitability for the newer green laminate materials. The development of a new laminate manufacturing technique to reduce environmental impact is introduced. The capabilities of different surface finishes in relation to new lead‐free soldering techniques is investigated and presented.

This is a short paper covering several major PCB processing steps and covers experiences and development results.

The paper details how “green” PCB manufacturing affects some key processes, developments to improve results and environmentally friendlier innovations in laminate manufacturing techniques.

Purpose – This contribution draws on the processually proceeding historico-genetic theory developed by Günter Dux, in order to reconstruct the emergence of normativity as a central mode of human social organization from nonnormatively ordered prehuman societies.

Design/methodology/approach – In the first step, some of the most important premises and core arguments of historico-genetic theory are being explicated, as well as its conception of society. These are then illustrated with reference to the socio-genesis of normativity and of morality as a special kind of normativity. The chapter concludes with an attempt to evaluate the productiveness of historico-genetically oriented explanations.

Findings – According to sociological accounts, only human beings are able to develop mentally construed sociocultural forms and worlds, which are mediated through thought and language, and stabilized and secured by means of normativity. For the modern, natural scientifically shaped antimetaphysical understanding of the world, however, the normative constitution of human social forms of cultural organization as a distinguishing mark of the conditio humana can only be understood as a successor organization to a natural-historical precursor.

Originality/value – This chapter introduces the theoretical perspective of contemporary German social theorist Günter Dux to English-speaking readers, and provides a critical assessment of his work.

This chapter examines the origins and institutionalization of sport sociology in Germany and Switzerland and provides an overview of the current state of research. It shows how academic chairs and research committees were established and how the first textbooks, anthologies, and journals appeared from the 1970s onwards. The institutionalization process of German-speaking sport sociology proceeded parallel to the establishment of sport science. With regard to its theoretical and empirical basis, German-speaking sport sociology is rooted in theories and concepts of general sociology. Studies using a system theory perspective, conceptualizing sport as a societal sub-system and examining its linkage with and dependence on economy, media, or politics are particularly common in the German-speaking region. In addition, actor theoretic perspectives are very popular, and French sociologists such as Bourdieu and Foucault have had a marked influence on German-speaking sport sociology. A large number of sport sociology studies are concerned with the changes in leisure and elite sports. In this context, the emergence of new trends in risk sports as well as the fitness boom and its implications on body perception are of special interest. Further areas of research refer to sport participation and the impact of social inequality, particularly with respect to gender differences and social integration. Finally, organization research focusing on change at the level of sport associations and clubs has a long tradition. Major challenges for the future of German-speaking sport sociology include its internationalization and an enhanced international linkage in order to improve the visibility of research results.

The purpose of the study was to identify the economic impacts of landmine clearance on household livelihoods and to present the qualitative findings of a study undertaken in the Kurdish region of Iraq.

The sampling method followed a case series, purposive sampling design. Five recipient households were interviewed from different districts. In addition, purposively selected program staff (N = 4) and local community leaders (N = 2) were interviewed. When undertaking the thematic analysis of the Kurdish household qualitative interviews, it became very apparent that the Kurdish informants did not talk in terms of economic outcomes as a result of demining. The data were then re-analyzed using a narrative framework and reported in this paper.

While the research sought a link between demining, livelihoods, poverty reduction and economic development, the respondents told another story. Their story focused on the social consequences of returning to their “grandfather’s land”. Participants’ narratives told of resilience resulting from negotiation with the environment and the importance of regaining one’s identity and hopes to heal in the face of adversity.

The findings cannot be generalized to all mine action program recipients but have salience for rural households in the site of inquiry.

The paper is rare in illustrating the social benefits of post-conflict demining and its links with social capital and collective resilience.

This brief history of the International Study Association on Teachers and Teaching (ISATT) documents developments and trends during the decade 2013–2023. To situate recent ISATT history, we begin with an overview of the association's first 30 years (1983–2012). The dominant theme of those early years was developing ISATT as a recognized and influential professional organization connecting researchers on teaching and teacher education from a growing list of nations and regions of the world. During the most recent decade, there has been a concerted effort toward broad internationalization through biennial conferences and regional meetings, and a growing network of national representatives from across the world. Also, the ISATT journal, Teachers and Teaching: Theory and Practice, the journal, which began in 1995, has published hundreds of peer-reviewed articles written by more than 1000 authors and coauthors, contributing to a growing body of knowledge about teaching and teacher education in many cultures. In the last 20 years and especially in the past 10, the locations of ISATT meetings have become significantly more diverse, following a trend of greater internationalization compared with ISATT's European and North American beginnings. At the same time, the number of ISATT members remains stable and small thereby preserving a collegial and collaborative tone in our exchanges. In sum, ISATT's recent decade finds the association intellectually healthy, successful in managing the challenges of the Covid-19 pandemic, and enriched by the proliferation of multinational points of view and styles of research.

The representation of economic and financial crimes in the mass media can have a significant impact on readers’ and citizens’ perceptions of illegality and on a firm’s propensity to invest in different areas of the country in question. This paper aims to study the possible geographical media bias regarding tax evasion in Italy.

The empirical analysis considers 618 articles on tax evasion published between 2012 and 2016 in two top Italian newspapers, La Repubblica (based in Rome) and Il Corriere della Sera (based in Milan).

Excluding Insular Italy (Sicily and Sardinia), the articles on tax evasion in Southern Italy are systematically shorter. A further analysis shows that La Repubblica is largely responsible for this bias. This result holds after controlling for other events (bank robberies) and for the identity of journalists.

Previous studies considered the possible media bias regarding particularly dramatic criminal events, for example, terrorism acts or murders. This paper considers a less dramatic though more pervasive crime. In addition, an assessment of media attitude towards tax evasion is more complex, because the news reports both the crime and the successful actions that combat it.