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This paper discusses key themes of the 15th biennial conference of the Association for Language Awareness (2020), with a focus on increasing digital engagement in language education. The COVID-19 pandemic occasioned an abrupt transition to emergency remote language teaching and learning (ERLTL) worldwide. The ALA 2020 conference was also affected by this transition; originally planned as a located conference in Geelong, Australia, it was eventually held online, a first in ALA's conference history. The current paper engages with contemporary debates of language teaching and learning in two ways. Firstly, it traces recent discussions by presenting key findings from five papers given at the conference, and secondly, via a scoping review of literature focusing on critical lessons from the pandemic regarding language teaching and learning. The review captures recent research from the Australasian region. Key debates identified in the literature include the needs of teachers and learners during the transition to online learning, and how student engagement was affected. The literatures highlight that both educators and students have been developing new practices in teaching and learning resulting from the shift to online and blended modes, which may continue to shape language education and new pedagogies in the future.

Before the COVID-19 outbreak, universities were already exploring the potential of online education. Colleges and universities throughout the world became more reliant on online learning management systems (LMSs) and videoconferencing tools like "Zoom" and "Microsoft Teams" during the 2020-2021 campus' lockdowns. The transition from traditional face-to-face teaching to online learning presented significant difficulties for universities, particularly those that depended heavily on international students. The project reported in this paper was undertaken in Australia in 2021 at the request of a private higher education institution. A new student-centric version of the Moodle learning management system (LMS) was created to maximise the platform's pedagogical, communicative, and informational capabilities. The purpose of this article is to demonstrate how online learning platforms that are flexible, utilise embedded interactive features and resources, and are freely available can enhance and support the delivery of quality online education. The paper discusses how well-designed learning management systems have the capacity to motivate, engage and retain students in online learning. Academics, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, as well as those working in curriculum development and information technology at institutions of higher learning, may find this article to be of interest and value.

This paper is an adapted version of the Brian Nettleton Lecture given at the Outdoors Victoria Conference, 2022. It explores how the last two decades have seen an ever-accelerating Digital Revolution which has impacted on almost every aspect of human experience to the point that it is now omnipresent. Life is now mediated through the screen. As a result, children and young people have become hyper-vigilant, overly anxious, experience a sense of climate trauma, and have decreasing access to, and time spent in, the outdoors. In addition, children have just experienced two years of isolation as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and evidence suggests that they are already experiencing significant mental health issues as a result. This paper considers the implications of this for Outdoors Victoria and Outdoor Education.

Oral language is the primary means through which a child controls, describes, organises, and evaluates their life experiences and their ability to use oral language which effectively impacts their future literacy development. Currently, the world is awash with dynamic change and constant disruption. These include natural disasters such as the ongoing Australian floods and bush fires, droughts, the global COVID-19 pandemic, the pervasive use of digital technologies, continuing global unrest, and impacts on economic and social adversity. Many of these disruptions are having a negative impact on the development of children's oral language and ongoing communication capacities. This is interesting given the prioritisation in many western nations, including Australia, of learning to read and write over learning to talk and communicate. This paper serves as an example of what makes good classroom literacy research. It outlines the elements of robust research including a research proposal structure. In this instance, our research investigates educator perceptions of children's developing oral language and communication skills and practices in birth to 8-year-old education contexts within the current backdrop of extreme disruption. The paper includes a literature review, our proposed research methodology which includes interviews from participants in birth to 8-year-old education settings, in both national and global contexts sourced via snowball sampling. The data analysis uses Fairclough's Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) of the contextualised interview responses from educators within a socio-cultural global malaise of disruption and power. We outline future plans and funding sources, including publications and potential school resources in the spirit of collegial cooperation to support excellence in literacy classroom research.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on doctoral education. Pandemics throughout history have generated new educational theories and practices, accelerated some trends and signalled the abrupt end of others. The unpredictable effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have particularly impacted upon First Nations and transcultural communities and People of Colour throughout the globe. A second significant recent global trend that occurred at the height of the pandemic was the reignited #BlackLivesMatter (#BLM) protest campaign. This campaign drew attention to the vast inequities faced by black, transcultural (migrant, refugee, culturally diverse and international) and Indigenous peoples and triggered rapid action in higher education institutions against racism and unconscious bias. Design/methodology/approach: This conceptual paper draws upon postcolonial/decolonial theory to demonstrate how the COVID pandemic and #BLM movement prompts us to revitalise doctoral education. Findings: These two issues have created renewed urgency around the need to decolonise higher education and a desire to transform the "business-as-usual" geopolitical power dynamics that continue to privilege Northern knowledge over culturally diverse knowledge systems from First Nations and transcultural contexts. A key site where special opportunities exist to effect this transformation lies in doctoral education. Doctoral education is a significant location of new knowledge creation and the development of the world's future researchers. Research limitations/implications: Applying post/decolonial theory enables one to rethink how doctoral education should be changed to work towards greater decolonisation. Originality/value: This study applies Santos' ideas about "the sociologies of emergence" in the global South to think about how doctoral education should be reconstructed as a liberated zone of decolonisation and epistemic justice.

The COVID-19 pandemic and the move to remote education exposed old and new inequities, yet it also represented an opportunity to rethink inclusive education. This paper presents findings from a one-year project "DIGITAL in a time of Coronavirus" and draws upon policy analysis and interviews with teachers, principals, and community leaders from six countries in the Global North and South (Italy, England, Malaysia, Australia, United States and Chile). By mobilising education assemblage theory to challenge binary divisions (included/excluded, modern/colonial, local/global), it presents five concepts to rethink inclusion and its relationship with technologies. It illustrates how during the pandemic alternative entanglements of digital and non-digital technologies challenged narrow and Eurocentric constructions of the digital divide enabling inclusive subjective experiences. Drawing upon local possibilities and histories, re-habilitating non-scientific knowledges, especially in view of future experiences of blended education, the paper seeks to provide policy tools to rethink current understandings of inclusive education.

In 2022, after two years of the COVID virus profoundly interrupting social connection, learning, work and human mobility, governments worldwide turned material and rhetorical attention to life 'post-pandemic'. Understandably, teachers who were central in keeping communities virtually connected during the pandemic--are positioned as core to a return to the quality of life and to gaining social futures beyond COVID-19. This is reflected in the theme of the 64th ICET World Assembly Building Creative Global Teacher Education Communities Post-Pandemic. This conceptual paper, given initially as a keynote at this conference, argues that for teachers, the state of crisis has not abated, rather, post-COVID educators are 'returning' pre-existing and enduring social, environmental and workforce crises that have been amplified during the global health crisis (Rosehart et al. 2022). The paper contends that for teachers to respond to the major social and environmental justice issues of our time, it is important to examine the structures and practices which standardise and regulate teachers and teaching and limit the creativity required for powerful knowledge building. Drawing on recent research, the paper offers an example of the ways in which teachers might be supported to reimagine disciplines and subjects in order address and respond to the major crises of our time.

Higher education informatization (HEI) is an interdisciplinary field that examines the use and integration of information and communication technologies (ICTs) in higher education. This paper provides a bibliometric and visual analysis of the research trends, patterns, and topics in this field. Using the Web of Science database, the authors selected and analyzed 199 SCI and SSCI papers on HEI published from 2000 to 2023 by VOSviewer and CiteSpace software. The results indicate that the publication volume of HEI research has grown significantly in recent years. The author network shows the collaboration and contribution of different researchers and institutions, while the journal network reveals the multidisciplinary nature and scope of the field. The keyword network and the burst keyword analysis identify the main research themes and the emerging hot topics in HEI. The co-citation network of sources illustrates the theoretical and methodological foundations and influences of the field. The paper concludes with some implications and suggestions for future HEI research.

Australian academics are being squeezed from all sides, facing ever-intensifying bureaucratic expectations around research output, coupled with increased teaching commitments and mounting administrative duties. These demands are occurring in an environment where most academics are still employed under traditional arrangements whereby, notionally, 40 per cent of their workload is allocated to research, 40 per cent to teaching and the final 20 per cent to service or administration. Such figures are no longer -- and perhaps never were -- a realistic representation of average workloads. This paper discusses how Australian academics in the discipline of English have been working within and around the 40/40/20 model, as well as the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their workload. Discussion here is built on interviews with English academics, but the same concerns are applicable across the tertiary sector because employment conditions tend to be standardised at the institutional level rather than at a disciplinary level.

The COVID-19 pandemic, the Australian government's response, and longer-term influences within Australia's higher education sector, provided the background and rationale for this study in an Australian public university. From a context of how Antipodean University (AU) dealt with the revenue crisis, this paper describes how a sample of staff were affected through job loss or redeployment. It describes reported experiences of 77 AU staff, who either departed AU or who transferred to other jobs within AU, and who provided narratives describing their leaving/redeployment experiences. Respondents had been academic and professional staff, and most of those leaving did so in December 2020. An inductive reflexive thematic analysis of online survey responses revealed six themes: Relevant features of the external environment, AU's organisational culture and values, Parties involved with respondents' leaving experience, Leaving/redeployment processes encountered, Respondent's personal agency, and Past/present condition in/directly attributed to changed employment status, with 25 subthemes.

Universities across the globe are considering how to effect meaningful change in their higher education (HE) delivery in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic and shifting student learning preferences. This paper reports on a descriptive case- study of whole-of-institution curriculum reform at one regional Australian university, where more traditional 13-week semesters have been replaced with a 6-week immersive block model known as the Southern Cross Model. Based on a synthesis of literature in best practice HE pedagogy and principles, the case study draws on both a review of policy and staff interviews (N = 5) to outline the key changes necessary for successful HE transformation. Analysis revealed themes related to the vital roles of leadership, capacity building, monitoring the transition, staff adoption, and adequate technical systems in implementing a radical, multifaceted institutional transformation. Implications for practice at institutions considering reforming their curriculum model are also discussed. The findings from this case study indicate that an institutional transformation to an immersive block model requires both a considered change in institutional policy and process, as well as the appropriate resourcing of roles, governance committees, technical solutions, and, importantly, communities of practice.

This paper examines the response by a Vocational Education and Training (VET) provider in the Northern Territory (NT) of Australia to the travel and social distancing restrictions brought about by COVID-19. The paper commences with a description of the impact of COVID-19 on the VET sector. The paper then describes the VET regulatory environment prior to February 2020 and the responsibility of VET providers to comply with the requirements of the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA), in the delivery of VET programs to domestic and international students. A discussion of the lack of a specific vocational education pedagogy, the complexity of delivering VET programs online as well as current research findings in this area follows. A description of the College provides the context to examine the impact of COVID-19 on the delivery of programs in the Northern Territory VET sector. The paper describes how the College, which had a high international student cohort, migrated their courses online in order to remain viable in the highly volatile and unforeseen circumstances brought about by COVID-19. In order to ascertain the effectiveness of the online delivery of course offerings, a questionnaire and a series of face to face and telephone interviews were conducted with key stakeholders. The mixed method approach employed in this research was consistent with contemporary social and educational research. The paper concludes with the call for a new paradigm and policy shift in Vocational Education and Training post COVID-19.

This paper examines the ways that Australian school leaders made sense of and responded to situations of crisis and uncertainty that resulted from the COVID-19 global pandemic. The paper draws on a qualitative study of the subjective experiences of eight school leaders and uses a sensemaking theoretical approach applied to crisis leadership to contribute to understanding leadership in unprecedented situations. Data were collected through individual semi-structured interviews undertaken in the middle of 2020. At that time participants were working through significant changes resulting from community lockdowns that required their schools to move to remote provision of education. The findings revealed these school leaders engaged in rapid processes of sensemaking and change implementation. They assessed and managed risks, relationships and resourcing in environments where usual processes of change leadership were not available to them. They reported that their attention was predominantly directed to the well-being of their communities. They noted an increase in the community leadership aspect of their role and the requirement of effective, timely and honest communication. They also demonstrated prospective sensemaking orientations in their capacity to reconfigure for a positive and productive future that could emerge from these disruptive experiences.

This paper explores the interconnectedness between Australian teachers' literacy practices and their pedagogic identity during the global pandemic. In doing so, the paper presents pedagogic identity as a dynamic, ever-evolving construct involving teachers and their teaching environment. Findings are reported from a case study of early years and primary teachers. Semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect qualitative data. From teachers' self-reported teaching experiences, we identify three orientations to pedagogic identity: The Driver; The Collaborator; and The Apprentice. Drawing on analytic work, the paper finds that the online delivery of literacy teaching brought opportunities for teachers to shift between pedagogic identities, allowing for rich pedagogic variation, and in consequence, demonstrate the pluralistic nature of pedagogic identity. This paper is of benefit to teachers, specifically beginning teachers as well as early career teachers, to help them better understand the changing nature of, and influences on, their pedagogic identity.

The study aims to understand the foremost challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. The study adopts the PRISMA approach to screening the selection of journal articles and review papers according to the research aims and the inclusion criteria. The journal articles and review papers were extracted and stored in Microsoft Excel and Google Scholar, Academic. Microsoft, Semantic Scholar, Elsevier, and Emerald Insight databases searched relevant documents using formulated keywords. A statistical technique was applied using the M.S. Excel analysis tool (PivotTable and an independent t-Test) to analyze data and determine the differences between teachers and students. The review revealed the evidence that the majority of the studies were primarily focused on the individual developing countries and results from other developing countries were not considered. In addition, the foremost challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic were inadequate skills and training, inadequate Internet/Infrastructure, lack of supporting resources and lack of online student engagement and feedback. Finally, the independent t-test reveals there is no statistically significant difference in challenges in the transition to online teaching and learning during the COVID-19 pandemic. Both teachers and students encounter similar challenges. The systematic review raised concerns that higher learning needs to effectively implement long term strategies and support teachers and students in getting into online teaching and learning.

The COVID pandemic forced universities worldwide to shift to remote and online formats of teaching delivery. In design education, this shift has impacted Experiential Education (EE) pedagogical approach to studio teaching, an approach that gives students an opportunity to apply theory to a concrete experience in a reflective manner and provides cross-disciplinary learning opportunities. This paper discusses Global Design Studio (GDS), a collaborative cross-disciplinary teaching initiative between three design disciplines across three continents: Industrial Design in Australia, Interaction Design in Canada, and User Experience Design in Germany. The objective was to develop a support framework during emergency situations to facilitate cross-disciplinary EE to design students. This paper discusses the three teaching experiences as case studies that offer opportunity for deep analysis and reflection of challenges and enablers to EE education in the shift from traditional design studio to remote and online delivery. While navigating COVID-19 barriers to EE education, GDS aimed to achieve these objectives by sharing resources, ideas, and expertise across the three universities. Each unit dedicated the entire academic term to a first exploration of GDS through a semester-long project 'Interactive Mannikin for children to learn CPR techniques'. This article discusses the context and outcomes of EE teaching and learning experiences at each unit. This paper also reviews the lessons design educators learned about: inter disciplinarity, inter-intra-cultural issues, group working, timing, remote collaboration, and proposing a GDS model for cross-disciplinary EE.

Purpose: This paper aims to provide an overview of a peer-supported writing and wellbeing pilot program for higher degree by research (HDR) students in Australia. It proposes a six-month program is a beneficial service to HDR students that improves not only their productivity and writing confidence but assists with their perceived mental wellbeing as well. Design/methodology/approach: This paper offers a perspective of the piloted writing and wellbeing program for HDR students during the recovery period during the COVID-19 global pandemic. It includes generalized reflections of participation, content, and structure alongside future directions and further implementation. Findings: This research includes generalized, anonymous data regarding the success of the writing and wellbeing pilot program for HDR students and components to improve upon. It suggests that the overwhelming response from participants was positive, especially during various COVID-19 related lockdowns and travel restriction measures. Research limitations/implications: As this paper involves a small cohort of preliminary impressions from the pilot study, results will lack generalizability. Therefore, it is acknowledged that further research will ensue to examine the program further. Practical implications: The success, measured by adherence and wellbeing improvements, of the Write Smarter: Feel Better program can influence the way in which universities address and protect mental wellbeing of their HDR students. Originality/value: This paper fulfills an identified and growing need for mental wellbeing to be strengthened among HDR students.

This paper reports on the findings of a visual text analysis of selected infographics and data visualisations used in news websites during the COVID-19 pandemic in Sydney, Australia. Infographics and data visualisations used in news website articles disseminated and communicated local and national information to the public about the COVID-19 pandemic and related social implications. For the first time live data, animation and interaction were used in reporting health and societal information to a general news readership, contributing to the knowledge base and visual literacy of the public. The information presented was not only clear but also aesthetically appealing. This paper examines the styles of news digital infographics and data visualisation of three longitudinal studies using lessons learned from Grainger "et al." (2016), Dick (2020) and Tufte (2001) and contextualises the context, narrative, aesthetics, communication, data, functionality and examines the collaboration between communication designers, journalists and the development team. The implications for communication design education are explored in the context of skills, tools and teamwork needed for future communication design students.

Crisis makes bold policy actions possible. In responding to socioeconomic and technological ruptures, policymakers create new imaginaries or revitalise existing ones. With the Australian Government's Job-Ready Graduates (JRG) reform during the COVID-19 pandemic as an empirical case, this paper shows how crisis instrumentalism and policy imaginaries intersect to effect swift policy changes. Drawing on a thematic analysis of key documents that constitute the JRG reform, we highlight three findings. First, the reformers used a new crisis context to repackage pre-existing policy agendas. Second, in justifying the timeliness of the reform, rather than constructing new imaginaries, the Government reactivated old neoliberal visions of society and the economy. Finally, the reform agendas are characterised by reductionist accounts of the value of university education, a nativist view of the future workforce, and the omissions of key issues: research training, social justice, and the urgency of decarbonising the economy. We close the paper by arguing that "crisis" makes swift "reform" possible to the extent that key actors can mobilise new or pre-existing policy "imaginaries."

By examining seemingly contradictory reactions to the COVID-19 pandemic and relating these to the basic income debate in Australia, this article explores the potential that the socio-economic crisis provoked by COVID-19 presen ts for a transformation of welfare systems. Drawing on ethnographic observation, the article describes the emergence of grassroots forms of solidarity in response to the pandemic. Within the context of the increasing hardship experienced by Australians, ongoing failures of existing welfare systems, and inadequate government responses to COVID-19, the groundswell of solidarity may coalesce with increasing support for a basic income, creating a conjunctural movement that propels radical social transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 has transformed higher education learning and teaching practices globally. Tertiary students, internationally face both opportunities and challenges in learning and adapting to this paradigm shift in the delivery of education. It remains unclear how students in international contexts are responding to these changes in digital learning during and post-COVID-19. This paper aims to compare student perceptions of digital competence, confidence, and resilience in present times using data from surveys of tertiary students from Australia, Cambodia, China, India, and Malaysia. There are disparities not only in the teaching and learning pedagogies amongst these countries but also in the levels of technological advancement, infrastructure support, and pace of digital innovation in the delivery of courses. These differences have put in focus students' both digital competencies and resilience as they pursue higher education on various digital learning platforms. Resilience includes the ability to bounce back or adapt from stress (Smith et al., 2008). Digital resilience is students' tech-savviness and preparedness to adapt to different digital environments as they pursue higher education. This paper examines the perceptions of tertiary undergraduate students from these countries in this emerging new digital learning norm. A total of 687 tertiary students from the aforementioned countries participated in a survey to questions related to digital competence, confidence in using and/or adapting to digital innovation, and resilience. Statistically significant attributes are identified to help better understand the challenges these culturally diverse students perceive in digital learning environments. This study will reveal barriers that impact the digital transformation of undergraduate students which can be used to recommend necessary teaching and learning support frameworks to enhance their digital competence and resilience. This will help tertiary institutions better equip all stakeholders in adapting to the new normal of higher education in the future.

Distance or online learning is more than simply uploading and delivering learning resources to learners but in fact, it is a process that provides learners with autonomy, responsibility, flexibility and choice. This can be a challenge for many academic teachers. In 2020, as universities globally shifted to online learning, in response to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a variety of staff have supported colleagues to develop e-learning techniques 'just-in-time' for effective delivery to students in fully online platforms. This has required a transformation of educational development and faculty support globally. This paper will reflect on mechanisms of support demonstrating tailored staff support to transform education in three case scenario contexts, during the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in three different countries. Our case studies illustrate that support lies beyond technological capability building to also incorporate the essentials of holistic well-being and resilience reinforcement. This paper demonstrates temporary solutions to a global crisis in online education and reflects on lessons learnt and how e-teaching and e-learning support may transform beyond the pandemic.

The impacts of COVID-19 have been widespread, and the education sector has not been immune to its effects. In March 2020 Australian universities were forced into a shutdown, which prompted an unanticipated, sudden shift in education, from on-campus and face-to-face to an off-campus and online mode of teaching and learning. This paper describes the experiences of two Sydney-based university unit coordinators, from two different institutions, who rapidly shifted their units online as a result of COVID-19. In particular, it applies reflection as a research method, to share what the authors' encountered as successful, and what was challenging about teaching online. Motivating and retaining students was a key challenge identified by the authors. Therefore, the paper discusses the authors' application of various digital programs and tools in their response to this challenge of motivation and engagement. It is hoped that our experiences might benefit those looking to integrate programs and tools in the online teaching and learning space. Although Australia is currently one of the most successful countries in their handling of COVID-19, there is still great uncertainty about the future. Globally the pandemic shows no signs of abating, as many countries struggle to manage high levels of transmission and infection rates, which in turn have an impact on the education sector more broadly. Consequently, online learning may be the 'new normal' for many institutions in the near future. Therefore, it is important for educators to share their online teaching experiences that can contribute to greater understandings of this space.

This paper positions Open Educational Practices (OEP) as adding significant value to pandemic-era online learning. Much of online learning during COVID was characterised as being low quality, and an emphasis on providing care began to override the impact that reformed pedagogy could have in caring for students. Concepts of Indigenous Knowledge Authority, consent, collaboration, situated knowledge in communities of practice can help to frame how caring pedagogy and cognitive compassion can be cultivated. This paper shares the redevelopment and evaluation of a unit of learning called Cultural Capabilities amidst "pandemic pedagogy" rhetoric in which care for knowledge and online learning is discussed. The focus of this study was to refine the concept of care and compassion pedagogy whilst developing a sustainable model for caring for knowledge as higher education professionals. The learning design process and emergent outcomes of the evaluation for learning design are shared. Student feedback showed significant appreciation for the learning design, affective experiences of the deeper learning facilitated by OEP and relational learning. Australian COVID lockdowns allowed for new approaches to open engagement to practical care and compassionate practices for learning and knowledges. This paper argues that successful OEP can be cultivated with cognitive compassion as a focus instead of a panic-induced care narrative for more sustainable caring academic and professional capabilities as we continue to learn online.

The role of gamification in Australian higher educational learning has gained increasing currency in recent years, with many proponents promoting its usefulness for improving the university student experience by increasing progression and lowering attrition, particularly among first year students (Charles, Charles, McNeill, Bustard, & Black, 2011). However, some students express reservations that the inherently competitive nature of some gamified learning activities negatively impact their learning experience, especially when compared to classic instructional methods (Charles et al., 2011). This discussion and instructional paper undertakes a review of the gamification literature within the Australian higher education context, concurrently exploring what it means and how to use gamification to enhance student learning. The paper provides a short biographic summary of the positive impact selected popular gamified activities has had on improving student engagement, participation and retention in tertiary settings.

This rapid systematic review aims to examine emerging evidence on the effects of COVID-19 on educational institutions and assess the prevalence of e-learning changes in the sector. This paper reviews literature on learning, teaching, and assessment approaches adopted since the COVID-19 outbreak, and assesses the impact on the sector, staff, and students, summarizing findings from peer-reviewed articles. It categorizes these into five key themes: (1) digital learning; (2) e-learning challenges; (3) digital transition to emergency virtual assessment (EVA); (4) psychological impact of COVID-19; and (5) creating collaborative cultures. This represents the first systematic review of COVID-19's impact on education, clarifying current themes being investigated. The author suggests that the term 'emergency virtual assessment' (EVA) is now added for future research discussion. Finally, the paper identifies research gaps, including researching the impact on lesser developed countries, the psychological impact of transition, and the important role of leadership and leadership styles during the transition and handling of the pandemic.

There is a strong focus to connect theory with practice in initial teacher education (ITE). This discussion paper explores how we shifted teaching modes and assessment tasks in light of the Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19) when digital technologies were unexpectedly catapulted to the main delivery mode for the preparation of future teachers. During this time, connecting theory to authentic practice became a complicated issue. Globally, teacher educators were faced with the challenge of providing authentic learning opportunities for ITE without the ability to be physically present in school and classroom environments. Tertiary institutions were swiftly and unprecedently required to re-think and re-imagine their pedagogical practices. This change affected the self-efficacy and confidence of many academics who were underprepared for this major shift in teaching as they created, transitioned and implemented online material for their students under strict timelines. Our reflections in this paper present a guide and example for others to follow.

In recent decades, the aims and objectives of education -- and therefore public discourse on the appropriate skills and attributes of mathematics teachers -- have been rapidly shifting due to forces from outside the teaching profession. The forces driving change in mathematics are as diverse as the emergence of "Industry 4.0" and "STEM," new directions in transnational education policy making, and the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper contributes to a growing literature seeking to empower teachers to respond to the complexity of such multifaceted change expansively rather than defensively. It does so through the refinement and application of practical theories of educational change and approaches to building actionable practice knowledge. Specifically, this paper will argue for the use of the "epistemic object" as a practical focus for changes to practice chosen by the profession. This argument will be made within the framework of "practice architectures" offered by Kemmis and others. The paper first considers the impact of some recent disruptions on teaching and then provides a "worked example" of using mathematical proficiencies as an epistemic object able to practically support teachers to develop actionable knowledge grounded in the specifics of their own professional context.

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused major disruption to education and highlighted the importance of effective leadership during times of crisis. This paper considers the impact of the pandemic on school leaders in Australia, Fiji, and New Zealand. A secondary analysis of data from five interpretivist, qualitative studies was conducted. The aim of the study was to investigate the similarities and differences between the leaders' experiences across school settings, states/provinces, and countries. Our findings place renewed importance on understanding the role of schools within the community and the vital role school leaders play in helping schools respond to volatile and dynamic circumstances. The findings show how leaders' roles and responsibilities adapted to respond quickly and effectively to the urgency of the crisis, regardless of the context. Furthermore, common practices such as attending to wellbeing and providing clear and timely communication were revealed. The analysis also revealed some interesting nuances in the leaders' responses because of the duration of the crisis, the particular needs of the community, and government requirements. Papers like this provide insights into what leaders do and how schools and systems might prepare and support leaders to lead during times of crisis.

Presenting research findings outside of the form of a traditional research report requires different modes of making and communicating. This paper offers an account of how "The #FEAS Report," a satirical news video, was made to communicate the findings from interviews and a survey as part of the mixed-methods study, "Sexism, Higher Education, and COVID-19: The Australian Perspective" to a wider public. Three creative tactics for research communication were used: "DIY aesthetics," "humour," and "situated bodies." These communication tactics enabled the researchers to think differently about what research findings mean, and how to articulate them in ways that are intelligible. The paper shows how these tactics worked to bring findings to audiences beyond the academy and ask audiences within the academy to think differently about research reporting and knowledge communication. The paper considers how performing research in this way generates different conversations that compliment those started by more common ways of presenting research findings, and most importantly, how crucial it is for feminist researchers to make space for the creative within contemporary higher education.

This paper is based on personal narratives of three transnational women academics of colour, within education faculties in Australian universities. As postcolonial subjects we focus, on providing spaces for future educators, to find multiple ways of knowing, being, and relating. Reflecting upon our pedagogic practices, we analyse the empowerment afforded by our individual positionings in facilitating a deeper understanding of social justice and inclusion in our classrooms. Using collaborative autoethnography, we outline our endeavours to raise critical queries through Freire's notion of "conscientizacao." We unpack our own pedagogic frailties while enacting 'pedagogy of discomfort', as we subvert the proliferation of educational hegemonies considering it may lead to erasures of certain epistemologies. This paper conclusively highlights our efforts to ensure the creation of "conscientizacao," in ourselves and our students, while concomitantly abnegating 'pedagogy of rupture' and being mindful of our individual positionings and our students' varied contexts.

This paper reports on a project conducted between July 2020 and March 2021 that was developed within the context of COVID-19 and explored the ways in which Australian universities responded to the pandemic and the gendered effects of these responses. This paper demonstrates that sexist and gender discriminatory practices were amplified by the pandemic and that the gendered division of labour within higher education was made more apparent. We contribute to a growing body of work on gender and the COVID-19 crisis by reporting on a survey conducted in Australia. The survey asked participants to reflect on their experiences qualitatively. It is this qualitative element that has been missing from much of the research in the field thus far. In addition, the diversity of participants means that we bring an intersectional lens to the ongoing effects of the pandemic upon higher education, including exploring the experiences and reflections of academics who identify as culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD), LGBTIQA+, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences and reflections. This paper, therefore, reports on some of the key findings from the survey and focuses upon the gendered dimensions of the pandemic, domestic life and pandemic living-working, and affect, emotion and wellbeing.

Purpose: This paper explores the economic and social effects of human capital investment in the 20th century. As well as drawing on census data and statistical yearbooks in Australia and Aoteoroa/New Zealand, the paper develops its argument by an intersection of scholarly work in sociology, economics and the history of education to consider the effects of increased human capital investment on economic growth but also on the experiences of childhood, work discipline and the present climate crisis. Design/methodology/approach: This paper considers the implications of what economic historian Claudia Goldin has described as the "human capital century" for the history of school and university education. By reconsidering education in the settler colonies, especially Australia and Aoteoroa/New Zealand, as "stimulus", this helps explain key aspects of contemporary human capital investment, which the paper argues should be understood as constituted by children's and young people's free labour at school, university and across the economy. Findings: This research argues that children's and young people's free labour, performed in educational institutions, constitutes a large portion of Australia and Aoteoroa/New Zealand's national investment in human capital. At key points, this investment has acted as an economic stimulus, promoting surges of profitability. The effects were not confined to young people. Systematised, educational expansion also became the foundation of environmental degradation, labour market exploitation and a relentless increase in service-sector productivity that is worn on professional bodies. Productivity increases have been associated with reduced professional autonomy as a managerial class coerced professionals into working harder, though often under the guise of working "smarter" -- a fiction that encouraged or coerced even greater personal investment in collective human capital. This investment of personal time, effort and selfhood by children and the professionals they grew into can thus be seen, in Marxian terms, as a crucial vector of capitalist exploitation in the 20th century. Practical implications: The paper concludes by suggesting that a reduction of managerial influence in educational settings would improve learner and professional autonomy with improved labour and environmental conditions. Originality/value: The paper makes a unique contribution to the history of education by exploring education as stimulus as a key component of education's role in 20th and 21st century capitalism. It interrogates exploitative aspects of human capital investment, especially in the midst of environmental catastrophe and the recent COVID crisis.

Purpose: Framed within the bioecological model, this autoethnographic case study explores the author's experiences as a working mother of two children with disability prior to, during and after emerging from compulsory remote learning arrangements in Victoria, Australia due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue. The intention of this paper is to share the author's experiences. Design/methodology/approach: Bronfenbrenner's bioecological model was overlaid on the author's experiences to explore direct and indirect impacts on her agency, educational priorities and personal values through each level of the model. Findings: This research presents a new perspective for examining how the global COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the equilibrium typically experienced by individuals across the education system. Originality/value: This research presents a new perspective for examining how the global COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted the equilibrium typically experienced by individuals across the education system.

Increasingly, competing discourses shape tensions between the role of the contemporary university and the global markets in which universities must exist. This paper draws on the examination of interviews with nine education academics in Australia to illuminate the construction of 'global' in the production of the global graduate (GG). Discourse analysis is used to explore how, against the backdrop of COVID 19, participants construct different identities variously related to current and future orientations for the GG. This paper uses two big 'D' discourses -- efficiency as centralised imperative and boundless productivity -- to explore knowledge production and accountabilities, neoliberalism, internationalisation and the construction of marketised universities operating in global knowledge economies. We conclude, the GG is an elusive notion, which draws mobile and multiple positionings to reveal unsettled and often ambiguous constructions of 'university' and 'teacher', with related tensions for the role and identity of education academics.

Provision of early childhood education and care services for refugee families took on heightened challenges during COVID-19 restrictions. We undertook a small-scale study to explore how Australian educators worked with and cared for refugee families during the COVID-19 outbreak in an urban Australian setting. This paper emerges from a larger project that aimed to support social inclusion and cultural and linguistic diversity for refugee families in Australia. The paper draws on two group interviews conducted during a COVID-19 lockdown with four educators working with refugee families in early childhood education and care. Data analysis is framed by the ethics of care work of Carol Gilligan and Nel Noddings. On the basis of these theories and the interview data, two vignettes on an ethics of care were developed. The importance of being cared for and cared about and genuinely listening were identified as crucial aspects of the care provided to refugee children and their families.

Early childhood (EC) professionals are valuable educators and teachers, and their work involves being caregivers, yet the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have highlighted the lack of 'caring about' and 'for' EC professionals. With the increasing focus on educator wellbeing, this paper explores how eight EC professionals understand the role of care for their wellbeing. Drawing upon a feminist ethics of care, this paper interrogates the role of care in the everyday professional work lives of educators. The findings reveal that while EC professionals understand the importance of self-care, however, their self-care is more likely to be prioritised when it is promoted by leadership (e.g., centre directors, organisational). This study also found that EC professionals need to receive care through recognition by parents, centre leaders and colleagues.

Purpose: This paper emerged from the challenges encountered by both authors as academics during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. Based on their subsequent reflections on inclusion in education for minoritised academics in pandemic-affected institutional contexts, they argue that beyond student-centred foci for inclusion, equity in the field, is equally significant for diverse teachers. Working as tempered radicals, they contend that anything less is exclusionary. Design/methodology/approach: Using a reciprocal interview method and drawing on Freirean ideals of dialogue and education as freedom from oppression, the authors offer dual perspectives from specific positionings as a non-tenured woman academic of colour and a tenured staff member with a disability. Findings: In framing this work dialogically and through Freirean ideals of conscientização, the authors' collective discussions politicise personal experiences of marginalisation in the teaching and researching of inclusion in education for preservice teachers, or more pointedly, in demonstrating the responsibility of all to orientate towards context-dependent inclusive practices. They assert that to enable educators to develop inclusion-oriented practice, the contextual frameworks need to ensure that they question their own experiences of inclusion as potentially precarious to enable meaningful teaching practice. Research limitations/implications: It offers perspectives drawing on race, dis/ability and gender drawing on two voices. The bivocal perspective is in itself limitation. It is also located within a very Australian context. However, it does have the scope to be applied globally and there is opportunity to further develop the argument using more intersectional variables. Practical implications: The paper clearly highlights that universities require a sharper understanding of diversity, and minoritised staff's quotidian negotiations of marginalisations. Concomitantly inclusion and valuing of the epistemologies of minoritised groups facilitate meaningful participation of these groups in higher education contexts. Social implications: This article calls for a more nuanced, empathetic and critical understanding of issues related to race and disability within Australian and global academe. This is much required given rapidly shifting demographics within Australian and other higher education contexts, as well as the global migration trajectories. Originality/value: This is an original research submission which contributes to debates around race and disability in HE. It has the potential to provoke further conversations and incorporates both hope and realism while stressing collaboration within the academic ecosystem to build metaphorical spaces of inclusion for the minoritised.

The COVID-19 crisis has led to widespread temporary school closures and a deep economic recession. School closures have threatened children's ability to learn and later return to school well prepared. The impact of the economic recession is going to be even more devastating: first for students, but also for the ability of some Catholic schools to maintain their enrollment and remain sustainable financially in countries where they do not benefit from government support. This paper, the first in a set of two, looks at some of the likely impacts of the COVID-19 crisis on Catholic Schools in developed countries with a particular focus on the United States, a country not only hard hit by the crisis but also where Catholic schools are especially vulnerable to downturns. While Catholic schools may be able to respond to the immediate challenge of school closures among others through distance learning options, their ability to maintain enrollment during the economic downturn is less clear. How schools will respond to the twin challenges of ensuring learning during school closures and beyond, and remaining affordable for families at a time of economic stress, may affect whether they are able to maintain their comparative advantage. A key aim of the paper is to make Catholic school teachers and leaders aware of some of the discussions on how to respond to the crisis, and provide links to online resources that may be useful. [For Part II of the series, see EJ1278501.]

COVID-19 calls for new approaches and frameworks for the delivery of work-integrated learning (WIL). Standalone WIL opportunities are also increasingly difficult to realize, with the current economic climate limiting industry resources available for placements and WIL partnerships. The hybridized WIL model presented in this paper thus proposes the scaffolding of simulated WIL experiences into core undergraduate design curriculum to promote deep, authentic, transformational learning, fostering broader student employability. Noting a gap in design educational research relating to embedded scaffolded WIL, the paper refers to examples of scaffolded WIL experiences across core design studio subjects of a four-year embedded honors interior architecture program. Conceived as a way to prepare students for more significant standalone, cross-disciplinary and cross-national WIL, the authors argue that this model develops the professional skills required by industry and better prepares students to navigate the dynamic real-world problems that societies face, particularly during the pandemic.

As the world reacts to the impact of COVID-19, work-integrated learning (WIL) programs globally are similarly affected. Across Canada and Australia, thousands of WIL students either shifted to working remotely or dismissed from their WIL experience. This disruption impacted student learning, program delivery, risk management, staff capability, and industry engagement, and posed significant challenges for institutions. This paper presents the responses to COVID-19 by the University of Waterloo, Canada, and RMIT University, Australia, each guided by quality WIL principles and different WIL organizational structures. This paper outlines how each institution: mobilized staff, introduced program changes while maintaining quality, engaged industry partners and presented WIL program-based solutions to COVID-19 challenges. The paper concludes with discussion on challenges and opportunities that events such as COVID-19 has upon WIL programs, implications for other institutions and student outcomes. Consideration is given to post-COVID scenarios, and how WIL might need to be re-imagined.

As the fear of mortality struck humanity, a new age dawned in the relational styles, processes, and interactions amongst people. COVID-19 has caused a major shift in the educational landscape. While most teaching and learning activities moved online, field placement units which are fully invested in industry engagement, and once highly sought, came to a dramatic pause. For students, this produced uncertainty around completion of their degrees and for institutions who became entangled in the changing requirements of accrediting bodies as they grappled with the changing landscape. Our final year counselling and psychotherapy students on placement were instructed to retreat from their placements while some 'lucky few' joined the drifting warriors working from the safety of their homes with their assigned agencies. Crisis and contemporary times call for openness and innovation grounded in practical wisdom. But the tyranny of COVID-19 times highlighted a growing gap between professional standards and community realities. This paper alludes to the struggles of counselling postgraduate University students on placement who are caught up in the mismatch between professional standards of accreditation bodies and the emerging community expectations and practices. It draws on literature to highlight the impact of historic controversial discourses involving online counselling and face-to-face counselling on current practices. This paper aims to reflect on lessons dispensed by COVID-19 to the professional bodies and universities in order to work together in creating innovative, non-placement work-integrated learning (WIL) practices that reflect the realities within the current landscape.

The fieldtrip has long been a key component of the geography curriculum, described as a 'touchstone' for learning in, on and about place. Learning on Country provides an opportunity to embody Indigenous knowledges and experience places and people in field classes. However, such opportunities are increasingly under threat as the costs and risks of running field trips have risen, and more recently, faced challenges such as those presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. In this paper, we describe the transformation of a third-year undergraduate geography field trip into a virtual field trip using online resources. We reflect on the processes and challenges of doing so in ways that privilege and respect Aboriginal pedagogies and practices in educational design. Drawing on the philosophies and frameworks of Jindaola, an Aboriginal way of embedding Indigenous knowledges into the curriculum, we show how the virtual field trip, as a form of non-placement work-integrated learning, can embed place-based experiential learning into online learning contexts. This paper outlines how the design, articulation and practice of that process is grounded in Country, culture and customs.

Aim: To explore the health beliefs of clinical and academic nurses from Japan, Australia and China regarding wearing paper masks to protect themselves and others, and to identify differences in participants' health beliefs regarding masks. Background: The correct use of face masks and consensus among health professionals across the globe is essential for containing pandemics, and nurses need to act according to policy to protect themselves, educate the public and preserve resources for frontline health workers. Paper masks are worn by health professionals and the general public to avoid the transmission of respiratory infections, such as COVID‐19, but there appear to be differences in health beliefs of nurses within and between countries regarding these. Methods: This qualitative descriptive study used content analysis with a framework approach. Findings: There were major differences in nurse participants' beliefs between and within countries, including how nurses use paper masks and their understanding of their efficacy. In addition, there were cultural differences in the way that nurses use masks in their daily lives and nursing practice contexts. Conclusion: Nurses from different working environments, countries and areas of practice hold a variety of health beliefs about mask wearing at the personal and professional level. Implications for nursing policy and health policy: The COVID‐19 pandemic has sparked much discussion about the critical importance of masks for the safety of health professionals, and there has been considerable discussion and disagreement about health policies regarding mask use by the general public. Improper use of masks may have a role in creating mask shortages or transmitting infections. An evidence‐based global policy on mask use for respiratory illnesses for health professionals, including nurses, and the general public needs to be adopted and supported by a wide‐reaching education campaign. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

COVID-19 pandemic impacted all aspects of life including faith communities around the globe. It has taken musicians and worshippers out of their comfort zones challenging the traditional delivery of church services. Music forms an important aspect in worship and is a vital link that connects parishioners to God and each other. Thus, in times of trials and tribulations, music and worship can positively enhance wellbeing. In this paper, the authors draw on autoethnographic narratives, sharing personal memories and reflective journals from March 2020 to October 2022 from two different church settings in Australia. Through their shared emotions, challenges and experiences, they discuss two themes (discordant moments and harmonious reflections) that describe the meaning of how playing music in church during this time affected their commitment and connection to faith. Whilst recommendations are offered, they acknowledge that generalisations to other faith settings and musicians cannot be made. As music plays a significant role in the lives of church musicians in faith communities, the authors continue to strive to 'keep the faith and play on'.

Educators constantly need to make adjustments to their pedagogy and learning activities to reflect the fast changes in society, the economy and industry. This has been clearly demonstrated throughout the world in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic required fully remote delivery of tertiary education. The aim of this study was comparing the experiences and perceptions of tertiary students in a fully online and a blended delivery mode, particularly in response to their laboratory skills and development of graduate attributes. Pedagogical aspects were kept consistent across delivery modes to minimise the differences in learning activities across cohorts. A comparison was made between the 2020 fully online cohort and the 2021 blended delivery cohort. The students were asked about their perceptions of how well they thought the course developed their graduate attributes; how authentic they thought the course was; and how easy the content was to navigate and understand. A mixed methods approach was used, where both quantitative and qualitative data was gathered. The blended delivery mode students appeared to benefit from having a specific reflective task, which allowed them to see their learning in a broader context. The paper discusses the blending and online learning from the students' perspectives of developing graduate attributes and experiential learning. Specifically, where hands on skills are required, students need further guidance in "learning how to learn" or metacognition. A key challenge for future blended learning is getting the balance right between achieving efficiency in online learning and lack of social and dynamic interactions aspect of the online community.