Rudaitienė, Rasa

As life expectancy increases, societies need to implement strategies that support healthy ageing in place. Community mobility is a vital part of this, as older adults need access to healthcare, shops, and local amenities to maintain their health, independence, and social engagement. Aim: The COST Action BOPALIM (Building Opportunities for Participation and Accessibility through Lifelong Community Mobility) aims to create a framework to guide European and country-specific efforts related to the provision of accessible and user-friendly transport options for older adults. Method: Subtask 3.3 has collected case studies from COST Action members regarding appropriate and affordable public transport solutions under the umbrella of community mobility. These case studies were synthesised to create 5–10 vignettes, combining narrative and thematic approaches. Preliminary findings: The collected case studies address themes related to the usability, safety, and accessibility of public transport. They also explore how technological advancements can function either as additional barriers or as practical solutions for participation, often embedded within broader political issues such as cost and environmental concerns. These findings are consistent with the literature review but add a more nuanced understanding of contextual factors and personal experiences of mobility issues of older adults in Europe and beyond.

Darbuotojų sauga, sveikata ir gerovė yra vienas svarbiausių šiuolaikinės organizacijos veiklos veiksnių. Užtikrinti sveikatai nekenksmingas ir psichologiškai saugias darbo sąlygas – tai ne tik darbdavių pareiga, bet ir kiekvieno žmogaus teisė, įtvirtinta nacionaliniuose ir tarptautiniuose dokumentuose. Praktikoje ši pareiga įgyvendinama per profesinės rizikos valdymą. Rizikos veiksniai gali būti fiziniai ar psichosocialiniai, todėl jų atpažinimas ir kontrolė sudaro būtinas sąlygas saugiai darbo aplinkai. Visgi darbuotojų gerovė apima daugiau nei rizikos prevenciją. Siekiant kurti ne tik organizacijai naudingą, bet ir darbuotojams palankią aplinką, taikomos sveikatingumo programos, kurios stiprina darbuotojų atsparumą, motyvaciją ir produktyvumą. Vadovų ir personalo specialistų vaidmuo čia itin svarbus – jie užtikrina, kad gerovė būtų ne pavienė iniciatyva, o nuosekli organizacijos strategija. Geroji praktika rodo, kad organizacijos, kurios investuoja į darbuotojų gerovę, stiprina reputaciją ir konkurencingumą. Tuo tarpu organizacijos, kurios nepaiso saugos ir sveikatos reikalavimų, rizikuoja prarasti darbuotojų pasitikėjimą, silpninti savo reputaciją ir kelti grėsmę ilgalaikiam veiklos tęstinumui.

Gender inclusion has emerged as a key component of equitable and democratic education systems. While this principle is widely recognised in policy discourse, its practical implementation varies across countries and educational settings. Understanding how gender-inclusive education is promoted in different contexts can offer important lessons for improving institutional practices and shaping future initiatives. As national reforms continue to evolve, international collaborative projects and strategies provide concrete examples of how gender-inclusive education can be successfully embedded across diverse educational landscapes. This study explores practices in promoting gender equality in education. Its aim is to discover how gender-inclusive approaches were conceptualised, implemented, and evaluated within selected initiatives. The study employs a qualitative research design, using a multiple case study approach. Data collection methods include document and content analysis of selected EU-funded and international programmes. The analysis seeks to identify core strategies, challenges, and transferable elements that have shaped inclusive pedagogical environments. A key insight from this study is the importance of adapting gender inclusion strategies to the communicative and media dynamics of post-digital society. This includes a nuanced understanding of how children and adolescents—particularly from Generation Alpha—interact, communicate, and form values. Narrative- based tools, such as storytelling, along with media strategies that promote engagement and meaning- making, are anticipated to be central components in successful gender-inclusive approaches. The conclusions provide a common conceptual framework for these projects, identifying key elements for their implementation and evaluation. By highlighting the structural and cultural factors that support gender equality in education, the study aims to provide relevant input for educators and policymakers. These findings can contribute to the advancement of inclusive education frameworks by offering cross- national perspectives on practical implementation and long-term sustainability.

Inclusive education has become a core principle in contemporary educational discourse. Nevertheless many classrooms continue to face challenges in addressing both gender equality and disability inclusion in meaningful ways. Despite policy-level advancements, there is limited understanding of how teachers personally engage with these issues in their everyday practice. This study addresses the gap by exploring how primary and secondary school teachers construct and interpret inclusion practices related to gender and disability in educational environments. The main objective of this qualitative research was to uncover the values, experiences, and decision-making processes that shape inclusive teaching approaches. Using a narrative inquiry methodology, data were collected through semi-structured interviews with 12 teachers in Lithuania. While the study aimed to include participants from diverse school contexts and teaching roles, selection was influenced by accessibility and participants’ availability, following a purposive-convenience sampling approach. The survey revealed how teachers talk about diversity and inclusion in their schools. The attitudes towards gender and disability inclusion were discussed and practical insights shared. The research further explored how storytelling is used to raise awareness of diversity, both in the context of personal experiences and pedagogical practices. Attention was also given to whether teachers discuss these issues with colleagues and whether they feel supported by the school management, especially when their own gender or disability identity becomes relevant. The teachers' narratives revealed their personal and professional experiences, the meanings they give to inclusion, and how their identities are shaped in the context of various diversity challenges. The study showed how inclusion is lived and reflected upon in everyday school life, from personal beliefs to practical solutions in the classroom. These insights can enrich further research on diversity and inclusion in the school environment and contribute to the development of more context-sensitive solutions for teacher training and curriculum development.

This article addresses the limited integration of disability-related topics into management research, with a focus on inclusive career development. While diversity and inclusion are frequently emphasized in strategic organizational goals, disability remains an underexplored dimension. The aim of this study is to identify research trends, conceptual gaps, and emerging directions in academic literature on disability in the context of management and career studies. Using bibliometric analysis of 1325 articles from the “Web of Science” database, this research distinguishes dominant themes, author networks, and temporal shifts in focus. The findings reveal that most studies approach disability from a health or policy angle, with weak integration into strategic human resource or talent management discourse. The study high- lights the need for a paradigmatic shift from a deficit-oriented to an empowerment-based approach and proposes directions for future inquiry in inclusive talent and career management.