Serving families who face economic and related adversities: the '5 As' of effective ECEC service delivery

IntroductionFamilies with young children who face economic and related adversities are the most likely group to miss out on the advantages of regular sustained participation in high quality early childhood education and care. In Australia, there are an estimated 11% of children assessed by teachers to have two or more developmental vulnerabilities and many of these children are living in economically disadvantaged contexts. Government policy in Australia aspires to provide universal access to Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) services to support children's outcomes and ensure workforce participation, but policy falls short of ensuring all families can take up high quality early childhood education and care. Government responses to the Covid crisis saw significant changes to the ECEC policy and funding mechanisms. It is timely therefore to reflect on the level of 'competence' in the Australian ECEC systems. Coined this term to refer to a system that is sustainable, inclusive, and effective for all families. MethodsUsing a Delphi methodology, we coalesced the insights of high-level stakeholders who have expertise in delivering services to families experiencing adversities and noted points of consensus and of divergence among these stakeholders. We have taken up the challenge of considering the Australian system from the point of view of families who typically find services hard to use. Results and ConclusionWe put forward a model that frames the characteristics of services that can inclusively engage with families - Approachable, Acceptable, Affordable, Accessible and Appropriate. We argue that more needs to be known about appropriateness and what effective pedagogy looks like on the ground for families and children.

Interactive Cultural Activities in Virtual Study Abroad during the Pandemic and Beyond

Some of the simplest affordances of study abroad became unavailable when students stayed stateside because of the pandemic-induced disruptions to international travel. These ranged from touring city and historical/cultural landmarks, having spontaneous and chance interactions with locals, participating in the performance of traditions and practices, visiting homes, engaging in "domestic" activities with host families and local peers, and developing a sense of community with other fellow students. This paper reports on three alternate, virtual cultural activities that were launched during the pandemic between a U.S. university and its study abroad partner institution in Morocco in order to help compensate for the health disruption. Survey responses, cultural products, and reflections from 118 participants were collected for this study over two Arabic summer intensive programs at the stateside university. The study explores the effectiveness of these activities in promoting intercultural competence and student engagement during this period and speculates on how they can be integrated into the regular programming post-pandemic in order to further enhance immersion.

Bioscience laboratory practicals, projects and placements in a Covid-19 world

The aim of this review is to discuss alternatives to the traditional practicals, undergraduate projects and student placements that are presently being disrupted by Covid-19. We focus on bioscience higher education (biology, biomedical sciences) with an emphasis on the laboratory sciences. In the context of a shifting environmental and political landscape, we consider whether higher education institutions can deliver the latest bioscience skills and knoweldge sought by employers through the use of virtual learning. To take the pressure off being in the laboratory, we suggest that there may be opportunities to reduce lab teaching, and in doing so, meet industry needs for more computational and policy-related knowledge. There may be opportunities for academic teams to build relationships with local businesses and industry partners to find new solutions, and think about how agility can be incorporated into curriculum design to accommodate the rapidly changing external environment. In this paper we share examples of how the authors work together to enhance student employability. Further research is required to understand the views of each stakeholder – student, academic and business or industry partners - in order to fully understand the context of the problems and possible solutions. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Biological Education (Routledge) is the property of Routledge and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Think Like a Scientist and Engineer: Schools, University, and Community Partnerships Using an Aquaponics Project During COVID-19

One way to expand the time spent teaching science in elementary grades and teacher access to science resources is through partnerships with local universities. This article examines one collaboration that aimed to help students "Think Like a Scientist and an Engineer " using aquaponics. This self-sustainable garden combines aquaculture (fish farming) and hydroponics (growing plants in water). The Biological Sciences Curriculum Study (BSCS) 5E Instructional Model was used to introduce the aquaponics project. This article first discusses the University-School partnership, highlighting the project logistics, successes, challenges, and lessons learned, andfollows up with recommendations for future STEM teaching projects.

Public-Private Partnerships with No Contractual Base Case: Adjusting for the Impacts of Covid-19

The purpose of this article is to discuss a method for compensating a private concession-aire for cash flow losses related to Covid-19 suffered in 2020 and 2021. The analysis is based on a public-private partnership (PPP) set up to exploit surface parking lots, signed between a Portuguese municipality and a private corporation. The contract has no financial base case. The article concludes that a base case is not an obstacle to calculate this type of compensation, that the previous performance of the contractor is a reasonable basis to estimate losses and the forecasts extending to 2026 are a good schema with which to estimate the extension of the concession period claimed by the Petitioner. The arbitration court deciding the corporation's claim has valid reasons for an equitable decision. © 2023, Lexxion Verlagsgesellschaft mbH. All rights reserved.

Narrative Encounters of Pedagogic Partnership, and the Development of Collegial Capital in Higher Education

Purpose: The study explores the relational encounters of five higher education tutors and programme leaders, working in collaboration across contrasting institutions--one, a modern, civic university in the Global North, and the other, a parastatal institution in the Global South. The purpose of the study is to deepen the understanding of evolving collegiality within a transnational partnership, stimulated by the COVID-19 pandemic related shift to online teaching and learning. Design/methodology/approach: The inquiry is informed conceptually by the concept of narrative encounter as a site of learning, with inductive, meta-analysis undertaken across our individual reflective narratives. Findings: The narratives reveal three emergent themes--shared purpose, shared responsibility -- through focus, routinised dialogue and concreteness;collective and individual risk-taking -- through negotiated decision-making;and trust in self and in peers -- through reciprocity, caring, duality and building on stable practices. Research limitations/implications: The data from which this paper is developed and its related central thesis of collegial capital are limited and partial. However, when agility within higher education partnerships is at a premium, this paper is a useful touchstone for further reflection. Originality/value: The paper seeks to further the concept of collegiality and collegial capital, a dialogical affordance which enabled the partnership to build on previous collaborative successes.

A Pandemic Partnership: Preservice Teachers and Fourth Graders Engage in Virtual Book Clubs

When preservice teachers were no longer able to visit schools due to the pandemic, their university professor partnered with an alum who teaches fourth grade to design and implement virtual book clubs. The preservice teachers created book trailers for the fourth graders to view and choose from for their book club. The groups connected using a variety of digital platforms and modalities to discuss the selected books. Through this virtual experience, the preservice teachers learned how to individualize their responses using the Four-N-Framework as a guide to nurture and nudge each reader through virtual book club conversations.

Mental Health and Higher Education in Australia

This book addresses a broad range of issues related to mental health in higher education in Australia, with specific reference to student and staff well-being. It examines the challenges of creating and sustaining more resilient cultures within higher education and the community. Showcasing some of Australia's unique experiences, the authors present a multidisciplinary perspective of mental health supports and services relevant to the higher education landscape. This book examines the different ways Australian higher education institutions responded/are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic, with reference to domestic and international students. Through the exploration of practice and research, the authors add to the rich discourses on well-being in the higher education. © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022.

Innovation, Collaboration and Wine Tourism in Canada's Okanagan Valley: The British Columbia Beverage Technology Access Centre

Wine tourism is an important component of the wine industry in Canada's Okanagan Valley. This chapter discusses the role of the federally funded British Columbia Beverage Technology Access Centre in assisting small to medium enterprises in the development of their wine tourism business specifically and their sustainability in general. The chapter identifies and discusses the benefits and challenges faced by public organizations in collaborating with private sector operators. It also discusses the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the operation of wine tourism in the Valley and how the Centre has responded to this major impact. Finally, the chapter also discusses the interaction between Okanagan College, the Centre's primary sponsor, its faculty and students with the wine industry including the ways in which this interaction has benefitted wine tourism in the region. © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2023.

A critical review of public–private partnerships in the COVID-19 pandemic: key themes and future research agenda

PurposeUndoubtedly, coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has released unprecedented disruptions and health crisis on people and activities everywhere. The impacts extend to public–private partnership (PPP) arrangements in the construction industry. Concomitantly, PPP pacts are contributing to combat the pandemic. However, literature on the PPP concept in the COVID-19 era remain under-researched. This study aims to review the current literature on PPPs in the COVID-19 pandemic and present the key themes, research gaps and future research directions.Design/methodology/approachIn this study, 29 highly relevant literature were sourced from Web of Science, Scopus and PubMed search engines within the systematic literature review (SLR) methodology. With the aid of qualitative content analysis, the 29 articles were critically analysed leading to the extraction of hot research themes on PPPs in the coronavirus pandemic.FindingsThe results of the SLR produced eight themes such as major changes in PPP contracts, development of the COVID-19 vaccines, economic recession, facemasks and testing kits, governance and sustainability of PPPs. In addition, the study reveals seven research gaps that need further investigations among the scientific research community on mental health and post-pandemic recovery plans.Research limitations/implicationsThe articles selected for this review were limited to only peer-reviewed journal papers written in English excluding conference papers. This restriction may have taken out some relevant literature but they had insignificant impact on the overall outcome of this research.Practical implicationsTo improve the understanding of practitioners in the construction industry on key issues on PPPs in the COVID-19 pandemic, the study provides them a checklist of relevant themes.Originality/valueAs a novel literature review relating PPPs to the coronavirus, it sets the foundation for further research and contributes to practical measures to control the virus.

Special educators' use of culturally responsive family-professional partnership practices with refugee families

Refugee families who have children with disabilities encounter numerous systemic barriers that impact their opportunities to partner with schools and special educators. This study explored early childhood special education and elementary special education teachers use of culturally responsive family-professional partnership practices with refugee families and the impact of current events (e.g. political and immigration rhetoric and COVID-19) on special educators' partnerships with refugee families. Fourteen special educators who taught students in early childhood (n = 8) or elementary (n = 6) levels and worked with at least one student whose family was from a refugee background in the past five years completed an online questionnaire. Nine special educators also engaged in semi-structured interviews to obtain input on their experiences supporting refugee families before and during Individualized Education Program (IEP) meetings. First, the data highlighted contextual factors, such as teachers' understanding of families' backgrounds, teachers' perceptions of families' experiences in special education, and access to interpreters, that highlighted the need for family-professional partnerships. Second, teachers reported high rates of using family-professional partnership practices with refugee families but reported lower rates of helping refugee families gain skills and information to assist their child in their special education programming. Third, teachers shared strategies that they used before and during IEP meetings to engage and partner with refugee families. Fourth, teachers discussed how changes to immigration laws and rhetoric had minimal impact on their partnerships with refugee families, but there was significant impact on partnerships due to COVID-19. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The Moby Bookmobile: Providing Health Education Materials in Wyoming Indian Country.

The COVID-19 pandemic made it difficult for Native American populations to access health information. Through funding from the Network of The National Library of Medicine Region 4, a community library was able to enhance their native and nonnative health collections for distribution on the Wind River Reservation in Central Wyoming. The book mobile was originally funded by the Wyoming State Library through American Rescue Plan Act of 2021 funding to increase literacy efforts during the pandemic. Materials were distributed at multiple locations throughout the reservation and individuals indicated they appreciated the materials being provided. This program was successful in distributing health information to an underserved priority population within the United States. Hopefully, similar programs would be successful in enhancing health education programs with other priority populations in both the United States and the world.

Navigating Disruptive Times: How Cross-Sector Partnerships in a Development Context Built Resilience During the COVID-19 Pandemic Outbreak

This article explores how cross-sector partnerships (CSPs) operating in a development context built resilience during the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Based on a qualitative analysis of eight partnerships operating in East-Africa, Central America, and Indonesia, I show how CSPs engaged in three practices of resilience building (i.e., forming unconventional alliances, mobilizing digital technologies, and building subnetworks), which allowed them to remain functional despite facing adversity. In addition to fostering their resilience, my findings show how engaging in these practices enabled the CSPs to develop new capabilities (i.e., improved abilities to engage with beneficiaries) that benefit them in the long run. Based on these insights, I advance our understanding of resilience building by unpacking this concept on a CSP level. Furthermore, by unfolding the relevance of incidental learning in a cross-sectoral setting, I widen our knowledge of learning processes in CSPs.

Evaluation of augmented reality technology in global urologic surgery.

BACKGROUND: The COVID-19 pandemic drastically reduced opportunities for surgical skill sharing between high-income and low to middle-income countries. Augmented reality (AR) technology allows mentors in one country to virtually train a mentee in another country during surgical cases without international travel. We hypothesize that AR technology is an effective live surgical training and mentorship modality. METHODS: Three senior urologic surgeons in the US and UK worked with four urologic surgeon trainees across the continent of Africa using AR systems. Trainers and trainees individually completed post-operative questionnaires evaluating their experience. RESULTS: Trainees rated the quality of virtual training as equivalent to in-person training in 83% of cases (N = 5 of 6 responses). Trainers reported the technology's visual quality as "acceptable" in 67% of cases (N = 12 of 18 responses). The audiovisual capabilities of the technology had a "high" impact in the majority of the cases. CONCLUSION: AR technology can effectively facilitate surgical training when in-person training is limited or unavailable.

Inclusive Community Aquatics Programming for Children with Developmental Challenges: A Community Participatory Action Research

Background: Children who are neurodiverse have traditionally been segregated from their peers in community-based programs, despite evidence of health benefits of inclusive education. Objectives: This community-initiated project aims to explore barriers and facilitators to inclusive aquatics programming for children with developmental and/or mental health challenges. Methods: Using a participatory-action research methodology, semi-structured interviews and focus groups were conducted with 14 participants from various stakeholder groups, including parents of children who are neurodiverse, helping professionals, and community programmers. Results: Participants described unique definitions of inclusion, from integration with neurotypical peers, to individualized goal-setting and achievement. Major facilitators include adequate resources, flexibility around accommodations, and motivated staff. Major barriers include social stigma, financial limitations, and lack of communication between caregivers and service providers. Conclusions: Participants felt strongly about the need to improve inclusion practices within aquatics—and other community-based—programs. Increased collaboration between families, community programmers, and helping professionals can foster better inclusion and outcomes for children who are neurodiverse. By incorporating various perspectives into the design of future programs, program administrators can ensure more equitable access such that all children are able to participate.

The collapse of democratic principles in implementing school-based management in Islamic elementary schools during the COVID-19 pandemic

During the COVID-19 pandemic, abnormal conditions potentially lessened community partnerships in school-based management (SBM), such as democratic erosion at the decision-making or policy-making levels at school. To address these issues, this study aimed at investigating the implementation of SBM at an Islamic elementary school in Indonesia. In this study, a mixed-method research design was used, with 510 participants surveyed for quantitative data and 50 participants interviewed for qualitative data. During the pandemic, it was discovered that SBM did not perform as expected. Moreover, school principals had to make a majority of important decisions regarding the organization of school activities. They were also in charge of putting decisions and policies into action. These findings indicate that democratic principles were violated in the implementation of SBM during the pandemic. In other words, the principals and school committee partnership did not run well since the headmaster dominated the policy making on any activities without considering the voice of the school committee. Through these findings, it can be recommended that the government conduct a comprehensive evaluation of the implementation of SBM at the Islamic school level during the pandemic, and bring together principals and school committees in intense joint meetings. © 2023 Conscientia Beam. All Rights Reserved.

Re-imagining International Higher Education Partnerships in the Aftermath of COVID-19

This chapter explores how international higher education partnerships can be re-imagined in the aftermath of COVID-19. From the perspective of South Africa, it considers the impact COVID-19 has had on the country's higher education sector and explores how lessons learnt from the pandemic can inform the re-imagining of higher education internationalisation. In doing so, the pandemic is discussed as a phenomenon that simultaneously reaffirms the importance of internationalisation of higher education, functions as an accelerator of innovation, and has the potential to deepen existing inequalities. The pandemic is understood in this context as a crisis that has disrupted higher education in unprecedented ways. However, it is also considered an opportune moment to critically reflect on higher education internationalisation, particularly regarding inequalities in traditional internationalisation activities and partnerships. In this sense, the pandemic becomes ‘a portal', in the words of Roy (2020), an opportunity to break with the past of imbalanced partnerships. Focussing on both people and technology, partnerships can be a powerful tool in the process of imagining higher education internationalisation anew. © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2022.

The perspectives of EL parents on the family-school partnership during remote learning

COVID-19 impacted the entire world, including the partnership between English learners' (EL) families and schools. The purpose of the study was to analyze and evaluate the impact of remote learning on EL families and how family-school partnerships were enabled or disabled in the remote learning environment. In this study a questionnaire was distributed to EL parents via social-media, 80 of which met the criteria and completed the survey. An embedded, mixed method, research design was used. SPSS was used to evaluate the quantitative data using descriptive statistics, one-way ANOVAs, and t-tests. Blending, including deductive and inductive coding, was used to evaluate the qualitative data. Findings indicated communication and helping students learn at home had the highest average of means, followed by Parenting, Volunteering, and Decision-Making. The findings also indicated that there was no significant statistical difference in the survey responses for parent's education, employment status, years living in the United States, English language level, and EL parent meeting attendance in relation to family-school partnerships during remote learning. Additional findings revealed technology assistance, non-technical supports, the role of parents, and teaching children responsibility helped EL parents feel supported in their efforts to be engaged. Furthermore, technology issues, instructional issues, culture and language barriers, socioemotional issues, and parental challenges were identified as perceived challenges reported by EL families in supporting their children to learn at home while engaged in remote learning. Finally, findings indicated schools' provision of basic needs, technical and instructional support, communication, and planning assistance were ways parents felt most supported in their partnership with their children's school amidst COVID-19. These findings provide valuable insight to policy-makers, administrators, Department of Education and educators, as they can use the information to understand the resources EL families need to effectively partner with their children's school during times of remote learning. This information can provide additional insight so that curriculum developers in higher education and continuing education can review and refine curriculum to address any areas in which additional support may be needed to ensure that home school partnerships with EL families maximize learning opportunities for EL students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Place and the Structuring of Cross-Sector Partnerships: The Moral and Material Conflicts Over Healthcare and Homelessness.

Local places, such as communities, cities, and towns, host many cross-cross sector partnerships, many geared primarily toward alleviating local social and environmental issues. Yet, existing literatures focus predominantly on largescale systemic impact and global challenges such as climate change, paying scant attention to the role of local, geographically bounded dynamics in shaping these partnerships. In this article, I conceptualize places as geographic locations imbued with specific meaning systems and material resources to unpack how local embeddedness shape the structure of cross-sector partnerships. Specifically, I investigate how place-based conflict, arising from tensions between the moral and material aspects of a partnership, can shape formalized aspects of organizational structure. These include the scope of operations, partners' roles, and shared resources. I unpack these relationships using a case study of Occupy Medical, a local partnership between the civic society and the local government in Eugene, Oregon, tackling the problem of providing healthcare to the homeless and other marginalized and disenfranchised communities. The analysis covers the nine-year period of 2011-2020 and spans three major restructurings of the organization, the latest prompted by the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020. I theorize two forms of structural arrangements for cross-sector partnerships, confined and leveraged, and further elaborate on the role of cross-sector partnerships in crises response on the local level.