Reading the local and global: teaching literature in secondary schools in Australia

Recently Australia has witnessed a revival of concern about the place of Australian literature within the school curriculum. This has occurred within  a policy environment where there is increasing emphasis on Australia’s place  in a world economy, and on the need to encourage young people to think of  themselves in a global context. These dimensions are reflected in the  recently published Australian Curriculum: English, which requires students to read texts of ‘enduring artistic and cultural value’ that are drawn from  \u27world and Australian literature’. No indication, however, is given as to how the reading and literary interpretation that students do might meaningfully be framed by such categories. This essay asks: what saliences do the categories of the ‘local’, the ‘national’ and the ‘global’ have when  young people engage with literary texts? How does this impact on teachers’  and students’ interpretative approaches to literature? What place does a  ‘literary’ education, whether conceived in ‘local’, \u27national’ or ‘global’  terms, have in the twenty-first century

Antimicrobial resistance among migrants in Europe: a systematic review and meta-analysis

BACKGROUND: Rates of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) are rising globally and there is concern that increased migration is contributing to the burden of antibiotic resistance in Europe. However, the effect of migration on the burden of AMR in Europe has not yet been comprehensively examined. Therefore, we did a systematic review and meta-analysis to identify and synthesise data for AMR carriage or infection in migrants to Europe to examine differences in patterns of AMR across migrant groups and in different settings. METHODS: For this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched MEDLINE, Embase, PubMed, and Scopus with no language restrictions from Jan 1, 2000, to Jan 18, 2017, for primary data from observational studies reporting antibacterial resistance in common bacterial pathogens among migrants to 21 European Union-15 and European Economic Area countries. To be eligible for inclusion, studies had to report data on carriage or infection with laboratory-confirmed antibiotic-resistant organisms in migrant populations. We extracted data from eligible studies and assessed quality using piloted, standardised forms. We did not examine drug resistance in tuberculosis and excluded articles solely reporting on this parameter. We also excluded articles in which migrant status was determined by ethnicity, country of birth of participants' parents, or was not defined, and articles in which data were not disaggregated by migrant status. Outcomes were carriage of or infection with antibiotic-resistant organisms. We used random-effects models to calculate the pooled prevalence of each outcome. The study protocol is registered with PROSPERO, number CRD42016043681. FINDINGS: We identified 2274 articles, of which 23 observational studies reporting on antibiotic resistance in 2319 migrants were included. The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or AMR infection in migrants was 25·4% (95% CI 19·1-31·8; I2 =98%), including meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (7·8%, 4·8-10·7; I2 =92%) and antibiotic-resistant Gram-negative bacteria (27·2%, 17·6-36·8; I2 =94%). The pooled prevalence of any AMR carriage or infection was higher in refugees and asylum seekers (33·0%, 18·3-47·6; I2 =98%) than in other migrant groups (6·6%, 1·8-11·3; I2 =92%). The pooled prevalence of antibiotic-resistant organisms was slightly higher in high-migrant community settings (33·1%, 11·1-55·1; I2 =96%) than in migrants in hospitals (24·3%, 16·1-32·6; I2 =98%). We did not find evidence of high rates of transmission of AMR from migrant to host populations. INTERPRETATION: Migrants are exposed to conditions favouring the emergence of drug resistance during transit and in host countries in Europe. Increased antibiotic resistance among refugees and asylum seekers and in high-migrant community settings (such as refugee camps and detention facilities) highlights the need for improved living conditions, access to health care, and initiatives to facilitate detection of and appropriate high-quality treatment for antibiotic-resistant infections during transit and in host countries. Protocols for the prevention and control of infection and for antibiotic surveillance need to be integrated in all aspects of health care, which should be accessible for all migrant groups, and should target determinants of AMR before, during, and after migration. FUNDING: UK National Institute for Health Research Imperial Biomedical Research Centre, Imperial College Healthcare Charity, the Wellcome Trust, and UK National Institute for Health Research Health Protection Research Unit in Healthcare-associated Infections and Antimictobial Resistance at Imperial College London

Surgical site infection after gastrointestinal surgery in high-income, middle-income, and low-income countries: a prospective, international, multicentre cohort study

Background: Surgical site infection (SSI) is one of the most common infections associated with health care, but its importance as a global health priority is not fully understood. We quantified the burden of SSI after gastrointestinal surgery in countries in all parts of the world. Methods: This international, prospective, multicentre cohort study included consecutive patients undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection within 2-week time periods at any health-care facility in any country. Countries with participating centres were stratified into high-income, middle-income, and low-income groups according to the UN's Human Development Index (HDI). Data variables from the GlobalSurg 1 study and other studies that have been found to affect the likelihood of SSI were entered into risk adjustment models. The primary outcome measure was the 30-day SSI incidence (defined by US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention criteria for superficial and deep incisional SSI). Relationships with explanatory variables were examined using Bayesian multilevel logistic regression models. This trial is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT02662231. Findings: Between Jan 4, 2016, and July 31, 2016, 13 265 records were submitted for analysis. 12 539 patients from 343 hospitals in 66 countries were included. 7339 (58·5%) patient were from high-HDI countries (193 hospitals in 30 countries), 3918 (31·2%) patients were from middle-HDI countries (82 hospitals in 18 countries), and 1282 (10·2%) patients were from low-HDI countries (68 hospitals in 18 countries). In total, 1538 (12·3%) patients had SSI within 30 days of surgery. The incidence of SSI varied between countries with high (691 [9·4%] of 7339 patients), middle (549 [14·0%] of 3918 patients), and low (298 [23·2%] of 1282) HDI (p < 0·001). The highest SSI incidence in each HDI group was after dirty surgery (102 [17·8%] of 574 patients in high-HDI countries; 74 [31·4%] of 236 patients in middle-HDI countries; 72 [39·8%] of 181 patients in low-HDI countries). Following risk factor adjustment, patients in low-HDI countries were at greatest risk of SSI (adjusted odds ratio 1·60, 95% credible interval 1·05–2·37; p=0·030). 132 (21·6%) of 610 patients with an SSI and a microbiology culture result had an infection that was resistant to the prophylactic antibiotic used. Resistant infections were detected in 49 (16·6%) of 295 patients in high-HDI countries, in 37 (19·8%) of 187 patients in middle-HDI countries, and in 46 (35·9%) of 128 patients in low-HDI countries (p < 0·001). Interpretation: Countries with a low HDI carry a disproportionately greater burden of SSI than countries with a middle or high HDI and might have higher rates of antibiotic resistance. In view of WHO recommendations on SSI prevention that highlight the absence of high-quality interventional research, urgent, pragmatic, randomised trials based in LMICs are needed to assess measures aiming to reduce this preventable complication

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Why India matters : literature and global citizens

When it comes to fostering greater understanding between two countries, literature can help students gain an understanding of culture and place in a unique way. Literary texts enable students to make the links between their own lived experiences and the experiences of their counterparts in other countries, providing a nexus between theory and practice. The new Australia India Institute will provide an exciting opportunity to use the Indian context to explore these possibilities further, but it work is significant beyond the realm of literature education. The institute\u27s goal is to nurture Australia\u27s relationship with India; it recognises the growing importance of India in world affairs. Drawing on the resources of Australian universities and partner organisations in India, the Australia India Institute is ideally placed to inform curriculum design and implementation, which will mutually benefit both the Australian and Indian education systems. [Author abstract, ed

Building a Continuity of Learning Framework: What is it and why does it matter?

While continuous engagement in quality education is known to significantly impact on life opportunities for young people, learners continue to slip through the cracks and can become disengaged with education. In vulnerable communities, this lack of continuity of learning has a profound impact on learners’ pathways and their future employment choices. This paper reports on an extensive 3-year project undertaken in Australia, in collaboration with the Northern Territory government, to design a Continuity of Learning Framework from Birth-Year 12. This paper will share the framework, its core and enabling dimensions that are intended to support a learner’s engaged and connected learning experience. The presentation also shares the audit tools and templates that assist early childhood, school leaders and teachers to plan for and assess the consistency of a child’s coherent learning journey from birth through to year 12. The paper will also discuss the scope and scale of the research, and the ways in which the Framework was iteratively designed across the NT through a situational analysis and collaborative focus groups and through the alignment of the research to the current policy and practice of the NT government. Drawing on case studies from the pilot undertaken in 2022, the paper will share the broader impact of the Framework and this research on early childhood and school leadership, teacher practice and community and learner engagement

Editorial

It is hard to talk about anything in 2020 without mentioning the COVID-19 pandemic. Writing this editorial in the second half of the year, as the incoming and outgoing editors of this journal, we may wish to be able to get back to talking about education in English, and in Australia, using various frames. But asour colleagues increasingly refer to 2019 and earlier years in terms such as ‘the Before Time’, the magnitude of 2020 as a social turning point cannot be writtenaround.When we wrote our editorial for issue 54.3, opening our series of papers on the Futures for English theme in a dedicated special edition, we reflected on the continued situation of crisis in Australia as the pandemic followed an intense and brutal period of bushfires across the nation. Writing now for issue 55.1, the pandemic continues to dominate world and local news..

What do we want students to know from being taught a poem?

This paper uses a Gwen Harwood poem to open up questions of “knowing” around the teaching of Literature. Following our own brief reading of the poem, we particularly discuss ways in which questions of knowing/knowledge have been considered in Literature teaching historically, such as: - the binary of “knowledge” and “experience” - the role of the cognitive in teaching/studying Literature - forms of knowing that include the aesthetic and affect - how knowledge might be “made” in the Literature classroom: the role of pedagogy and the question of “producing culture” The article concludes with a discussion of how such issues have arisen in a set of interviews with a small number of teachers in Australia and England. Their views on the teaching of Literature help us reflect on the knowledge issues opened up earlier in the article

(K)now you see it, (k) now you don’t : literary knowledge in the Australian Curriculum : English

Australia has recently moved from having curricula developed within individual states to national curricula, including in English. This move in Australia has coincided with debate over Michael Young’s call for ‘bringing knowledge back in’. English has historically been epistemologically unstable with an ever-contestable knowledge base, and this is especially true of literary knowledge. The Australian Curriculum: English was nevertheless framed in early consultation papers as focused primarily on knowledge — a focus reflected in the main organizing elements moving from the ‘traditional’ language mode organizers ‘reading’, ‘writing’,’ listening’, ‘speaking’, etc., to the organizers ‘Language’, ‘Literature’ and ‘Literacy’. Here we investigate the specific uses of the words ‘knowledge’ and related terms such as ‘know’ and ‘knowing’ as one kind of analysis of how knowledge plays out in the Curriculum. We show that as the Curriculum itself developed, the constituent elements of the phrase ‘knowledge, understanding and skills’ came to align specifically to the constituent elements of the organizers ‘Language’, ‘Literature’ and ‘Literacy’, to the point where the term ‘knowledge’ came to be attached almost exclusively to ‘Language’, and then mainly in the Years Foundation—Year 6. This ‘Language knowledge’ then became continually positioned as underlying the ‘skills’ of ‘Literacy’, so that Literature is seen to be almost arbitrary to the fundamental imperatives of the Curriculum — a means through which the cultural intentions of the Curriculum might be serviced

Literary knowledge debates

One of the most striking themes from our initial interviews with early career teachers was the different ways in which they approached the concept of literary knowledge in English. For some, like Veronika, literary knowledge is expansive and fundamental, a way of students making meaning in and of the world. This is echoed in the reflections from Katya and Rebecca; however, these early career teachers also trouble the very notion of literary knowledge: Is ‘knowledge’ the right word? Can it be measured? Does this notion resonate with their purpose as English teachers? While Scott is confident that literary knowledge exists, he is less clear about the specificity of this knowledge, and how this might differ from other ways of understanding the world. This range of views, from just four teachers in the project, resonates with the complex ways in which debates about knowledge have been taken up since the subject became a formal part of schooling in the 19th century (Atherton, 2005a, p.11). Indeed, this equivalence and variety of perspectives on questions of knowledge in English, and, specifically, the knowledge work that is done by literary study, has become an enduring trope in the scholarship about subject English, as it is taught and researched across the world