The study had two main aims: (i) to develop a model incorporating research self-efficacy and research disposition as predictors of publication output; and (ii) to assess the fit and robustness of this model to dichotomous groups based on gender, academic qualifications and rank. Data were drawn from a survey of lecturers (n = 331) working in two…

Survey data were collected from pre-service teachers studying at a large regional Australian university. These data were examined with the purpose of determining whether pre-service teachers' views (and concerns) about inclusion and their confidence to teach in inclusive classrooms had changed as a result of studying an inclusive education subject…

Teachers bring a complex array of beliefs and attitudes to the teaching of literacy. The purpose of the study reported in this article was to investigate the nature of teacher attitudes towards the learning and teaching of writing in the first year of school and to identify any broad underlying attitudinal dimensions. The secondary aim was to…

Hughes (1999) categorised non-work demands such as domestic responsibilities and health of family members (including self) as social contingencies. A literature review on social contingencies, examined from a medical, nursing, and allied health standpoint, revealed that certain factors, especially related to financial matters, impact directly on…

Journal ranking systems are becoming more commonplace and receiving increased attention from academics and their senior managers. The study reported below was designed to examine the relationship between particular background factors (e.g., gender and qualifications) of academics and the rankings of what they perceived as their most significant…

Benchmarking within higher education is now relatively commonplace, as institutions increasingly compete directly with one another to improve the overall "quality" of what they do and attempt to establish and better their position among peers as measured against sector standards. The benchmarking of confidence among academic staff in…

A two-phase study assessed the extent to which a set of variables predicted rural secondary students' likelihood of continuing to college and sought to determine predictors of rural students' academic success at the completion of first-year university study. Participants were drawn from seven state coeducational secondary schools in the Riverina…

A survey of 281 rural Australian high school students in grades 10-12 found that academic achievement was the most important predictor of continuation to university. A survey of 125 of these students who attended college found that high school academic achievement and college course satisfaction predicted success in first-year courses. Contains 15…