No / This article explores the need for a framework that will assist social workers to identify when religion and belief are significant in the lives and circumstances of service users and how to take sufficient account of these issues in specific pieces of practice. It outlines the Furness / Gilligan framework and suggests that such frameworks should be used as a part of any assessment, while also being potentially useful at all stages of intervention. It reports on feedback gathered by the authors from first and final MA Social Work students who were asked to pilot the framework. It analyses their responses, in the context of national and international literature. It concludes that such a framework provides the necessary structure and challenge to assist social workers in acknowledging and engaging with issues arising from religion and belief that otherwise may remain overlooked, ignored or avoided, regardless of how significant they are to service users.

The fourth industrial revolution brought a change in the scope of skills sets required for today's job market. To be part of today's digital society there is a widely recognized need for developing digital competence which requires new and relevant knowledge, skills and attitudes. The labor market demands a high level of technical professionals who have skillsneeded for the jobs of the digital age. However, many scholars discussed that the problem with shortage of professionals lies deeper in educational structure. The European Commission issued the European Digital Competence Framework where they proposed empowering digital competences among students in schools. Since Croatia did not explicitly introduce empowering digital competence into their curriculum from the year 2018/2019, there was an association that offers workshops to K12 students in order to empower digital competence in primary schools and it is offered as extracurricular activities.      Master thesis aims to investigate the potential of makerspace and digital educational tools for empowering digital competence among students in Croatian primary schools, and whether they fit requirements that are suggested in the European Digital Competence Framework.     Based on a focused ethnographic approach, participants of Croatian Makers workshop were interviewed and observed. Empirical data was analyzed according to Thematic analyses and four themes were emerged and discussed together with suggestions of literature review.     Results of this master’s thesis showed that digital educational tools and maker approach have potential in empowering digital competences through following skills: learning by using maker tools, curiosity and maker mind, problem solving skills, collaboration and communication. However, based on empirical findings, the environment of a maker workshop can be far from reality or practice. Furthermore, digital skills empowered through maker workshops fits the requirements proposed in European Digital Competence Framework except one which fits partially and it is related to protection of personal data and privacy.     Suggestion for future work is to investigate how a maker workshop could empower digital competence but at the same time be the environment as similar as possible to external and market conditions. Second topic is related to protection of personal data and privacy, since it is a very important competence that deals with the digital age. Suggestion is to investigate how maker workshops empower digital competence and at the same time include this important factor as well.

While human capital is repeatedly recognized as the most critical source of organizational capabilities, transformational changes to business environments are causing challenges related to human resource development. Against the backdrop of this, the emerging European Lithium-ion battery industry is facing headwinds in supplying critical engineering talent with the right skill set to enable the significant predicted growth of the industry. To bridge skill gaps, and reduce such bottleneck, studies suggest that mapping competencies is critical. However, there is a lack of consensus regarding the definition of competence, and few empirical studies providing concrete meaning to it. Hence, the purpose of this qualitative case study is to identify competencies and perceived skill gaps in the context of a leading European battery player, catering to the need of both the industry and the researched field. The secondary data of the study includes a literature review consolidating existing literature on occupational competence and approaches to competence in a conceptual framework. The framework consists of twenty-two competence components and five competence dimensions: cognitive competence, functional competence, methods-and process competence, meta competence, and social competence. The primary data consists of interviews with managers and recruiters at the case company. Collected data was analyzed along the dimensions of the conceptual framework. The study reveals common competency requirements and skill gaps across multiple roles. Competencies include, but are not limited to structured problem solving, electrochemistry, Lithium-ion battery knowledge, and autonomy, while skill gaps include serial manufacturing and quality standards. The theoretical implication of the study encompasses accuracies and challenges related to the number of dimensions used for defining derived competencies. The practical implications relate to synergies in competence development efforts. / Humankapital har ständigt erkänts som den mest kritiska resursen hos organisationer. Samtidigt orsakar omvälvande förändringar i affärsmiljöer utmaningar relaterade till säkerställandet av dessa resurser. Givet detta, möter den framväxande Europeiska Litium-jon batteri-industrin motvind gällande identifiering och rekrytering av talanger med rätt kompetens, vilket krävs för att möjliggöra den stora tillväxten industrin står inför. För att lyckas överkomma denna flaskhals och utveckla de kompetenser som krävs, tyder studier på att kartläggning av kompetens är avgörande. Det råder dock brist på samförstånd kring definitionen av kompetens, med få empiriska studier som konkretiserar ämnet. Därav är syftet med denna kvalitativa fallstudie att identifiera kompetens och kompetensgap hos en ledande Europeisk batteri-spelare, vilket avser att tillgodose behoven hos både industrin samt det undersökta forskningsområdet. Studiens sekundära data inkluderar en litteraturöversikt som sammanställer befintlig litteratur kring definitionen av yrkeskompetens och kompetensramverk i ett konceptuellt ramverk. Ramverket består av tjugotvå kompetenskomponenter och fem kompetensdimensioner: kognitivkompetens, funktionell kompetens, metod- och processkompetens, metakompetens och socialkompetens. Primär data består av intervjuer med chefer och rekryterare hos uppdragsgivaren. Insamlad data analyserades i relation till dimensionerna i det konceptuella ramverket. Studien påvisar gemensamma kompetenser och kompetensgap hos flera roller. Kompetenserna inkluderar exempelvis strukturerad problemlösning, elektrokemi, kunskap om litium-jon batterier och autonomi, medan kompetensluckor inkluderar serietillverkning och kvalitetsstandarder. Det teoretiska bidraget av studien är en analys av det presenterade konceptuella ramverket. Analysen påvisar både möjligheter och utmaningar relaterat till antalet dimensioner som används för att definiera kompetenser. Det praktiska bidraget av studien avser synergier i kompetensutvecklingsinsatser.

<p>This research proposes a model for equitable and accessible competency-based regulatory sciences education in sub-Saharan Africa. Access to safe, quality, and effective medical products in sub-Saharan Africa is contingent on strong National Medicines Regulatory Authorities (NMRA) and a strong, highly skilled workforce of regulatory scientists. The literature acknowledges that sub-Saharan Africa has a critical skilled workforce gap in regulatory scientists and an immediate need to develop strategies for sustained human capacity development in regulatory sciences. This need is significantly heightened because of rapidly evolving advances in health and medical product technologies. And as the continent moves towards regulatory harmonization and the deployment of the African Medicines Agency, the continent needs to have a skilled and portable workforce. First, using the framework synthesis type of systematic review of the literature and the survey of experts in regulatory sciences, the research developed a comprehensive competency framework (CF) to serve as the bedrock for developing a competency-based curriculum and training. Next, an online, fully asynchronous proof-of-concept (POC) competency-based regulatory sciences education (CBRSE) module was designed and deployed based on the learning sciences theories. The purposive sampling technique recruited seventeen (n = 17) participants from the Purdue Masters’ Biotechnology Innovation and Regulatory Sciences (BIRS) African cohort to engage in the POC module. The module was evaluated using an end-of-module survey (a modified Student Assessment of Learning Gains (SALG) instrument), indices of students’ engagement, and performance assessments. The CF has eighty-eight (n = 88) competence statements in five clusters, eighty-six (n = 86) of which were ranked as mandatory and two as supplementary competencies. Fourteen (n = 14) students completed the POC module. The triangulation of results from the end-of-module survey, indices of students’ engagement, and performance assessments show that the POC module assisted students in achieving the desired competencies. The research also shows that the dialectics component of the module was not a great enabler of students’ learning. Future researchers, developmental partners, and NMRA could use the competency framework and the CBRSE module’s model to develop education and continuous professional development training in sub-Saharan Africa. </p>