Background: This longitudinal study sought to improve understanding of the factors at home and school that influence children's attainment and progress in writing between the ages of 4 and 7 years. Aims: (i) To investigate the relationship between home variables and writing development in preschool children; (ii) to determine associations between…

Background: The study is set in the context of international moves towards more inclusion of children with disabilities into mainstream schools and the greater importance attached to the child's voice in decision making in education. Aims: To examine how children with moderate learning difficulties (MLD) in mainstream and special schools see…

Background: The need for effective teachers to reflect on their students' thinking is now generally recognized. Moreover, the study of students' conceptions of learning and their impact on learning outcomes has become a popular area of research. But are teachers aware of their students' conceptions and do they reflect on them when planning their…

Background: Two theories in the field of motivation and achievement, namely the future time perspective theory and goal theory, result in conflicting recommendations for enhancing students' motivation, because of their differential emphasis on the task at hand and on the future consequences of a task. Aims: We will present a framework consisting…

Background: UK schools have a long history of using reasoning tests, most frequently of Verbal Reasoning (VR), Non-Verbal Reasoning (NVR), and to a lesser extent Quantitative Reasoning (QR). Results are used for identifying students' learning needs, for grouping students, for identifying underachievement, and for providing indicators of future…

Background: Understanding arithmetical principles is a key part of a conceptual understanding of mathematics. However, very little attention has been paid to children's understanding of multiplicative, as compared to additive, principles. Aims: This study investigated (a) children's ability to use commutative and distributive cues to solve…

Background: Writing is a complex activity involving various cognitive processes in the planning, the transcription and the revision of written texts. The present study focused on the revision of written texts within a developmental approach. Aims: The study aimed to examine whether children and adults use different procedures to detect and revise…

Background: Victims of school bullying are known to be at risk in peer relationships and to sometimes use ineffective coping strategies, but little previous research has examined differences among escaped victims, continuing victims and new victims. Aim: A follow-up design compared friendships, behavioural characteristics, victimisation…

Background: Orthographic-motor integration refers to the way in which orthographic knowledge is integrated with fine-motor demands of handwriting. A strong relationship has shown to exist between orthographic-motor integration and students' ability to produce creative and well-structured written text (De La Paz & Graham, 1995). This relationship…

Background: An aspect of teaching and learning that has been seriously overlooked in higher education is the process of research supervision. High failure rates for research dissertations in the social sciences have been partly attributed to student dissatisfaction with supervision and poor student-supervisor relationships. One personality…

Background: Interest in the interactive effects of prior knowledge and text structure on learning from text is increasing but experimental manipulations of knowledge and structure variables often produce findings that do not help teachers to select expository texts for students. Aims: We aimed to extend the ecological validity of previous findings…

Background: Attitudes towards bullying at school are influential in understanding and preventing bullying behaviour but they should be measured with reference to the particular conditions under which bullying takes place. Aims: To establish how far positive and negative judgments of bullying and victims and blaming of the victim vary according to…

We examined teacher characteristics predicting likelihood of intervening in indirect bullying (N=55) and piloted a 45-minute educational presentation about its mental health impact. Teachers' global empathy and perceived seriousness of indirect bullying vignettes were predictors of their likelihood of intervening, but knowledge of mental health…

This paper reports the partitioning of variance in scale scores from the use of three classroom environment instruments. Data sets from the administration of the What Is Happening In this Class (WIHIC) to 4,146 students, the Questionnaire on Teacher Interaction (QTI) to 2,167 students and the Catholic School Classroom Environment Questionnaire…

Relations between reckless behaviour and sexual practices of emerging adult women (ages 18-25) within a social cognitive theoretical perspective were examined. In addition, relations between self esteem, sexual attitudes and sexual behaviour were also examined. The Sexual Experience Inventory, Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Hendrick Sexual Attitude…