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Technological advances have the potential to support educational partnerships between schools and parents. While the positive benefits of technology for these partnerships have been reported in the literature, there is still incomprehension about how to best use this technology to meet the needs of Indigenous parents. Given the intergenerational impacts of colonisation, socioeconomic stress, structural barriers in schooling, and other critical challenges experienced by Indigenous parents, the use of technology as a tool for partnering with Indigenous parents requires careful consideration of their experiences. Therefore, the aim of this narrative review was to describe key attributes of the use of technology in home-school partnerships with Indigenous parents. Findings revealed that technology integration was beneficial to increasing Indigenous parental engagement, as it was connected to the wellbeing and future of Indigenous young generations. However, it could also exacerbate divide, raise cultural tensions, and bring undesirable consequences. Therefore, as a practical implication, schools should embed culturally appropriate approaches when adopting technology in their partnerships with Indigenous parents.

While embedding Academic Language and Literacies (ALL) instruction in discipline-specific courses is known to be effective, it is difficult to enact across the siloed university. Moreover, the move to online/ remote delivery during COVID-19 has necessitated greater focus on the development of online supports. This article reports on an effort to embed digital ALL support in a mandatory social research methods course, which we argue is particularly suited to academic literacies instruction. A series of digital videos were created to complement a literature review assignment, and were evaluated using video analytics, end-of-course student surveys, and individual interviews with tutors. Quantitative analysis of viewing patterns demonstrated that the majority of students accessed the videos multiple times, while qualitative data suggest that students generally had positive responses to the videos. However, thematic analysis of interviews with tutors showed that while they considered the content helpful, they also had reservations about the length and use of the videos. These findings clearly demonstrate the extent of the unmet need to integrate these types of approaches into undergraduate courses. We also argue that if universities wish to maintain currency in a shifting, globalised world, they must do more to foster the types of collaborative partnerships that facilitate effective ALL instruction in undergraduate coursework. These findings carry particular relevance for teaching and learning literacies in the wake of COVID-19, because digital video has become even more integral to higher education.

This study examines public opinion about the National Assessment Program--Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) in Australia, based on an online survey conducted with a sample of New South Wales (NSW) residents (n = 2,017). Our study participants did recognize the benefits of NAPLAN despite their opinion generally trending toward negative viewpoints of the testing program. The views about the positive aspects of NAPLAN varied across socio-demographic groups, but there were more similar views concerning the negative views of NAPLAN. As predicted by the social-cultural and institutional performance models, those living in metropolitan areas and those from high SES groups tended to possess stronger positive views. Political party preference was a strong predictor of the perceptions about NAPLAN. Overall, this study offers possible explanations for the underlying mechanisms explaining sub-group differences in attitudes toward large-scale standardized national testing.

Although there has been intense criticism of NAPLAN in educational policy debates in Australia, little scholarly efforts have been made to understand the underlying cognitive mechanisms that contribute to the public narrative about the national testing program. We aim to provide tentative evidence about the way public perceptions about NAPLAN may be formed. Our results show empirical support for the incentive, interpretative, and institutional effects, which suggest ways that national testing program can be improved. That is, it needs to (a) provide a diverse range of incentives to promote people's self-interest (incentive effect); (b) demonstrate good alignment with the core values, social norms, and attitudes of the given society (interpretative effect); and (c) build a consensus about the institutional use of the test results (institutional effect). We conclude with practical implications and recommendations about seeking public support for the seemingly unpopular national educational policy.

The vital role of parents in Indigenous children's education has long been recognised in the school system; however, there is still limited understanding of the complex challenges experienced by parents in their educational engagement. This systematic review synthesised evidence from 41 studies to provide an understanding of Indigenous parents' perceptions about their educational engagement and strategies used by schools to facilitate their engagement. By employing a qualitative thematic synthesis, we identified three main themes: (1) the self-perceived roles of Indigenous parents; (2) factors that hinder educational engagement; and (3) strategies that can support Indigenous parents. The findings suggest that cultural issues greatly influence the way parents perceive their role and are at the root of the hindering factors and effective strategies for increasing parental engagement. Schools' personnel can create opportunities for authentic collaboration with parents by undertaking a comprehensive identification of impeding factors and employing a strength-based framework that acknowledges the importance of integrating cultural aspects and culturally responsive approaches.

Genomic information is essential for taxonomic, phylogenetic, and functional studies to comprehensively decipher the characteristics of microorganisms, to explore microbiomes through metagenomics, and to answer fundamental questions of nature and human life. However, large gaps remain in the available genomic sequencing information published for bacterial and archaeal species, and the gaps are even larger for fungal type strains. The Global Catalogue of Microorganisms (GCM) leads an internationally coordinated effort to sequence type strains and close gaps in the genomic maps of microorganisms. Hence, the GCM aims to promote research by deep-mining genomic data.

The disparity of access to suitable social services for people from culturally diverse backgrounds is receiving increased attention. Coproduction between service users and providers has the potential as an approach to improve the cultural responsiveness of social services. What remains unknown is how social service organizations can facilitate and support coproduction with people from culturally diverse backgrounds. This article examines how three disability support organizations in Australia worked with peer support groups run by people with disability and their families from Chinese background to improve the organizations' service provision. We collected qualitative data through observations of activities in the groups and semistructured interviews with group members and organization staff. We found that organizing peer support groups facilitated knowledge exchange between people from culturally diverse backgrounds and organizations to inform practice development. Five contributors to the knowledge exchange were as follows: (1) assigning staff responsibility for exchange and trust with the group; (2) encouraging the group to challenge practice and cultural norms; (3) identifying and supporting the capacity of peer facilitators; (4) fostering trust within the group; and (5) collaborating with other organizations. Cultural responsiveness means incorporating people's cultural preferences in support provision and addressing the negative influences of cultural norms on people. Highlights: Organizations can coproduce quality services by working with service‐user‐led peer support groups.Managerial and community leadership building for peer facilitators ensures sustainable coproduction.Multicultural peer support groups should be encouraged to address negative cultural norms.Culturally responsive services reflect people's cultural preferences and address negative norms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]