Providing behavioural support to all students is increasingly recognised as an integral part of teaching and learning in schools throughout the world. This small-scale, qualitative study reports on the perceived challenges faced by staff in implementing school-wide behavioural support at two remote Indigenous primary schools in Queensland,…

This study uses data from the Programme for International Student Assessment, a large and nationally representative dataset, to examine how learning environments vary across metropolitan, rural and regional schools in Australia. Research has shown that school climate and learning environments are related to student academic performance, but little…

This study describes Australian year eight students' (13-14 years old) experiences with alcohol in terms of communication with parents, initiation into drinking, patterns of consumption, context of use, and harms experienced. The sample comprised 521 year eight students from four state government secondary schools in the state of Victoria. Three…

Teachers in isolated schools are often under-resourced and overwhelmed with additional pressures. Teaching in an isolated community can sometimes challenge teachers' skills and knowledge, particularly when additional pressures such as behavioural issues associated with students with Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) like behaviours are present.…

Aboriginal children experience social and educational disadvantage and many are not engaged with schooling or learning, which results in significantly lower levels of educational attainment. The Aboriginal Education Program delivered by Scitech to remote Western Australian schools has been shown to significantly increase student ratings of their…

In this study, teachers from primary schools in a rural district of New South Wales were surveyed about their views on non-compliant behaviour, its frequency in the classroom and its effect on classroom management. Teachers generally agreed on definitions of moderate to serious non-compliant behaviours but some teachers rated minor non-compliant…

Behaviour management is acknowledged as a leading psychological method to reduce classroom conflict by applying "rational choice" techniques. But it falls short in schools where poor academic results are reproduced, as is illustrated in an analysis of misbehaviour in an Australian rural school. It is argued that explanations of behaviour…

The Vinson report (2001) into public education highlighted the growing incidence of behavioural problems within the NSW public school system. One disorder that is currently causing particular concern is Oppositional Defiant Disorder (ODD) as the outcomes for students with ODD who do not receive intervention are dire. Barcalow (2006) claims that…

In this paper we show that poor student performance in a rural school is influenced by the classifications used for student learning and behaviour. We propose that the institution's organisation is conveyed via a classification schema that permeates and informs judgments about student progress and holds sway over teacher cognition. Category…

During the Western Australian School Effectiveness Study (WASES), 28 rural and urban high schools and 3,500 students were surveyed to investigate features of effective schools, and 21 schools and 1,024 students were studied longitudinally. Effective schools were identified in terms of higher than expected science and mathematics achievement, when…