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Children and young people with disability are a "vulnerable" population within a pandemic context as they face structural inequities and discrimination as a result of their impairments. In this paper, we report research that sought to examine the learning experiences of children and young people with disability during the COVID-19 pandemic. We wanted to understand how this group fared and whether different interventions impacted on these experiences. Data were collected from an online survey organized by Children and Young People with Disability Australia (CYDA) that garnered responses from more than 700 families. The study contributes empirical evidence to the growing literature about COVID-19-related impacts on learners already recognized as experiencing multiple disadvantages in schooling. We find some significant gaps in supports offered to students with disability and their families. Notwithstanding that some students did not receive any support from their schools, where supports were offered, social supports had the greatest positive impact on feelings of learner engagement. Our findings support key propositions in the social and emotional learning literature, namely that particular resourcing should be dedicated to social interaction and feelings of belonging as these are crucial to learners engaging in learning processes. There are clear implications of these findings in terms of what educational institutions might do to help engage students with disability in remote learning.

: Objectives: Describe perceptions of COVID‐19, COVID‐19 vaccines, information sources, and levels and reasons for vaccine hesitancy among disability support workers (DSWs). Methods: Cross‐sectional survey of 252 DSWs from across Australia, between early March and early April 2021. Perceptions of risk of COVID‐19; government and media representations; vaccination status (Y/N); vaccine intentions (when offered, delayed vaccinators, vaccine refusers); reasons for hesitancy; confidence in safety and efficacy of vaccine; and information sources. Results: At the time of the survey, fewer than 1% of DSWs had been vaccinated and 17% had been offered vaccination. Of those who had not had the vaccine, 47% said they would get it as soon as it was offered; 19% would not get the vaccine; 12% would have if required; 13% hadn't decided; and 8% would wait until it was available for a while. Reasons for hesitancy included inadequate safety data (70% delayed vaccinators, 79% vaccine refusers), side effects (63% delayed vaccinators, 58% refusers), and distrust in the government (17% delayed vaccinators, 52% refusers). DSWs most trusted sources of information were their own doctor, Chief Medical Officers, and governments. 61% believed that COVID‐19 will only stop if most of the community is vaccinated and 53% agreed the chances of them or their clients getting COVID‐19 would be reduced if they were vaccinated. Conclusions: Tailored information is needed to reduce vaccine hesitancy and increase confidence in COVID‐19 vaccines among DSWs. The importance of getting vaccinated to prevent COVID‐19 among people with disability should be emphasised., Disability support workers (DSWs) are at significant risk of being infected and transmitting SARS‐CoV‐2 (hereto referred to as COVID‐19) due to the nature of their work, which often involves close [...]

Background: Many countries use market forces to drive reform across disability supports and services. Over the last few decades, many countries have individualised budgets and devolved these to people with disability, so that they can purchase their own choice of supports from an available market of services. Key points for discussion: Such individualised, market-based schemes aim to extend choice and control to people with disability, but this is only achievable if the market operates effectively. Market stewardship has therefore become an important function of government in guiding markets and ensuring they operate effectively. The type of evidence that governments tend to draw on in market stewardship is typically limited to inputs and outputs and has less insight into the outcomes services do or do not achieve. While this is a typical approach to market stewardship, we argue it is problematic and that a greater focus on outcomes is necessary. Conclusions and implications: To include a focus on outcomes, we argue that market stewards need to take account of the lived experience of people with disability. We present a framework for doing this, drawing on precedents where people with disability have contributed lived experience evidence within other policy, research, knowledge production and advocacy contexts. With the lived experience evidence of people with disability included, market stewardship will be better able to take account of outcomes as they play out in the lives of those using the market and, ultimately, achieve greater choice and control for people with disability.

The use of markets has a long history in the delivery of social services. Market‐based arrangements are used worldwide with the goal of increasing choice, efficiency, and cost effectiveness in public service delivery. However, government‐run markets or 'quasi‐markets' do not behave as regular markets and therefore require interventions and stewardship in order to function efficiently and meet the social goals they aim to achieve. We assess the usefulness of functional network analysis (FNA) (a form of social network analysis) for identifying market gaps and market failure in quasi‐markets to assist governments in their stewardship roles. We test the utility of this approach within an Australian quasi‐market for disability services, where data were collected via surveys with disability providers in two case study sites. In this proof‐of‐concept study, data were analysed using FNA techniques. We find that FNA techniques can generate insights to identify quasi‐market problems. We find that FNA can be augmented with organisational characteristics such as size, profit margin, and 'for profit' status, enabling evaluation of the potential risks occurring within a particular quasi‐market structure. Points for practitioners: Functional network analysis provides a method for identifying thin markets in quasi‐market systems such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).Authorities have not made data available regarding NDIS thin markets, so this research conducts a survey to replace data; however, the survey is incomplete and so must only be used as a proof of concept for the functional network analysis method.Functional network analysis provides promise for identifying thin markets in the NDIS. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

People with disability are an 'at‐risk' group in a pandemic context for various clinical and structural reasons. However, in the early stages of the COVID‐19 pandemic, people with disability were not identified as a priority group, which exacerbated this risk, particularly for those living in congregate settings. This paper examines inter‐organisational issues during the second wave of the COVID‐19 pandemic in disability residential settings gathered from senior managers, team leaders, and disability support workers. We use Victoria as a case study since several Victorian disability residential settings were in mid‐transition from state provision to non‐profit organisations. We argue that residential settings in mid‐transition had clearer lines of organisational accountability and communication, which was thought to reduce the impact of outbreaks compared to residential settings in other States and Territories with multiple lines of communication and blurred accountability. The paper contributes to the literature on inter‐organisational collaboration by reinforcing the necessity of clear lines of accountability and leadership in collaborative governance during emergencies. The evidence suggests how government and disability residential settings could better support residents and staff in future COVID‐19 outbreaks or other pandemics. Points for practitioners: People with disability, particularly those living in congregate settings, are often at heightened risk during public health emergencies.Clearer lines of responsibility, administrative, and communication arrangements across organisations and governments, alongside tailored responses within residential settings, are required to keep 'at‐risk' individuals safe.Emergency management block funding could be designed to alleviate the financial pressures identified in this study for residential disability services in future pandemic responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implementation has long been a vexed issue in the mainstream public policy literature. The literature has remained more concerned with the design of policy and evidence of its impact than on the process by which it plays out. While implementation is often portrayed as a simple process of adopting best practice, experiences indicate that it is a far more complex process involving a range of actors translating policy into practice under varying conditions. Substantial changes to public service environments over the past few decades, both incremental and disruptive, have compounded this complexity. Commentators argue that it is time to look beyond current 'best practice' for new conceptual tools to tackle implementation challenges, particularly relating to those that take place around the many boundaries of public services (Dickinson and Sullivan, 2014a). In this paper we consider how post-structural feminist perspectives, with scope to actively challenge orthodoxies and embrace diversity and competing views, might further contemporary policy implementation research and practice.

People with disability represent a significant proportion of Australia's prison population; however, little is known about their experiences or the institutional barriers they may face. Drawing from 24 in-depth interviews with 28 participants and one written submission, this article explores the impacts, challenges and consequences of imprisonment for people with disability in Australia. By bringing together disability and criminological research, we highlight the impacts of subjecting people with disability to a 'thoughtless' and ableist prison environment, regime, and culture that simultaneously overlooks, compounds and further punishes their disability. Identifying three key areas of 'institutional thoughtlessness', we offer substantive insight into a group of people in prison often forgotten by researchers and policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on governance often assumes that governance requires combinations of hierarchical, market and network co-ordination. However, governance versatility – understood as the existence of a repertoire of different modes of coordination – is not a characteristic of all instances of governance. The aim of this paper is to offer a more thorough analysis by exploring existing levels of governance versatility and how these are influenced by institutional profiles. Our comparative study of primary care performance across six jurisdictions suggests that higher levels of governance versatility can be shaped by very different institutional profiles. Our analysis raises important questions for future studies of governance versatility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Publishing in journals is crucial in the creation of knowledge within the public administration field and the career advancements of individuals. Each year, more articles enter journal publishing systems, and it is becoming more difficult and time consuming for editors to secure reviewers. A range of technological applications have been developed that apply automation techniques to various aspects of the peer review process and these are explored in this paper. We find some potentially promising applications in terms of assessing aspects of quality and in identifying potential reviewers. The replacement of humans in review processes is less clear cut and there are dangers in exacerbating inequities within the field. The value of peer review is particularly important for early career researchers and building a community of scholarship in the public administration field. It is crucial we recognise this and do not lose positives of peer review processes to address some of the issues currently experienced. Points for practitioners: Academic journals help create knowledge within the field of public administration and play a role in career advancement of individual academics. Yet, there are a number of well‐established challenges with peer review processes.Recent advancements in technologies such as Artificial Intelligence offer the potential to automate some processes associated with peer review.Several automation processes are already available and in use around some areas of peer review processes and these are explored in this paper.But it is unlikely that automation will replace humans in peer review processes, and it is important that the public administration community revisits the importance of these processes and considers how these are valued and rewarded. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]