Stuart Woodcock

• PhD
• Professor (Associate) at Griffith University

Teachers’ beliefs in their ability to positively impact students’ learning outcomes has become a strong indicator of teachers’ motivation and behaviour towards the instructional strategies they employ. However, measuring the broader concept of teacher self‐efficacy is still somewhat problematic as current scales are dated, have measurement problems...

Numerous online surveys are impacted by bot and fraudulent data and the techniques employed are becoming increasingly sophisticated. However, many researchers are unaware of this growing challenge and may not be taking adequate measures to identify and remove this fake data, contaminating their findings. This paper describes the measures taken for...

Student diversity in higher education is increasing, and to reduce barriers to students’ full and equitable participation, universities often provide accessibility and wellbeing support services to accommodate their needs. However, a more student-centred approach is required to respond to the challenges for many students with accessibility requirem...

School violence is of international concern. However, the evidence regarding school violence may underestimate its prevalence. Consequently it is critical to develop effective interventions to address school violence. This study examined a psychosocial intervention based around a 10-week martial arts training program to address aggression. Two-hund...

Peggy McIntosh's (White privilege and male privilege: A personal account of coming to see correspondences through work in women's studies, Working Paper 189, Wellesley Center for Research on Women, 1988) list of 50 racial privileges, which purportedly benefit persons of white skin colour, has had enormous impact on social science research and educa...

Inclusive education is a key goal of modern educational reforms, yet its implementation is complex. This study examines the roles of teacher attitudes and self-efficacy in predicting their intentions to use inclusive practices across five western countries: Canada, Germany, Greece, Italy, and Switzerland. The study identified both significant diffe...

Check-in/check-out (CICO) is a Tier 2 behavioral management system in the School-wide Positive Behavior Support (SWPBS) framework, which is widely used in Western schools. However, this system is not currently used in public schools in mainland China, mainly because of the large class sizes. This study redesigned CICO to facilitate its implementati...

Physical activities are generally accepted as promoting important psychological benefits. However, studies examining martial arts as a form of physical activity and mental health have exhibited many methodological limitations in the past. Additionally, recent philosophical discussion has debated whether martial arts training promotes psychological...

Previous research has identified the importance of teacher attitudes and self-efficacy in supporting inclusive education. This study involved a multi-national exploration of a further dimension of inclusive education, collective efficacy, through the testing of a new tool, the Teacher Efficacy for Inclusive Practice-Collective (TEIP-C) Scale. The s...

Inclusive education caters for all students and embraces their unique characteristics, backgrounds, and abilities. While many challenges persist that prevent inclusion from being fully embraced and implemented, such as varying definitions of what inclusion is at an international, national, and intra-national level, teachers’ attitudes towards inclu...

This article reports on a systematic review of literature on the experiences of substitute teachers, also known as casual or relief teachers. This occupational group are an essential part of school improvement efforts, allowing release time for other teachers to participate in professional learning, complete administrative duties, and attend to per...

In this paper, inclusive education was understood as the right of all students to access, presence, participation and success in their local school (Slee, 2018). With a focus on teachers’ attitudes towards inclusive education, the measurement instruments in 225 relevant empirical studies were examined. The findings showed that the vast majority of...

Social media tools are increasingly used in child’s language and literacy development in early years. However, few researchers shed light on effectiveness and the practice that the EC professionals and teachers have adopted in ECE settings and other related contexts. This scoping review synthesized and evaluated the literature on social media integ...

This study aimed to reignite the discussion of the elusive concept of teacher self-efficacy through the lens of Bandura’s social cognitive theory and more specifically the Triadic Reciprocal Determinism model. It examined two commonly used teacher self-efficacy scales that were distributed to 154 Australian preservice teachers. Findings show that u...

Fundamental to career-changers’ successful transition into teaching is the design and delivery of post-graduate initial teacher education (ITE) programs. Career-changers enter teaching eager to share applied knowledge from prior occupations; however, support during ITE to facilitate the inclusion of these skills into teaching is often lacking. This...

This study provides a systematic review of the literature investigating factors that support or inhibit inclusive education in secondary schools according to the experiences of students with diverse learning needs. Five electronic databases were searched from 2011 to 2021 yielding 27 studies for further exploration. Five factors were reported by st...

This paper examined the relationship between 41 primary teachers' self-efficacy and inclusive education practices across New South Wales, Australia. Thematic analysis was employed to examine and probe the qualitative data. Findings reveal that while teachers with high and low efficacy had similar conceptual understanding about inclusive education,...

Parental perspectives about the inclusion of their child with a disability has received limited attention in the literature. Considering parental voice plays an important role in determining the quality of inclusive education, the lack of reliable and valid tools to investigate parental experiences has significantly limited research in this area. O...

This chapter investigates teachers’ translanguaging practice in English-medium instruction classrooms at a Vietnamese university, drawing together teacher beliefs and practices in teaching English as an academic subject. Data collection comprised interview, classroom observation, and stimulated recall interview, the participants being two English t...

Research in inclusive education reveals multiple studies that explore the efforts of individual stakeholders to create an equitable educational experience for students with disabilities. However, these individual efforts are often examined discretely, compartmentalising the contributions of various stakeholders. As a consequence, the complex interp...

This study investigated English first language (L1) speakers’ motivation for learning Chinese as a second language (L2) in Australia and the links of underlying motivational components to learner sociobiographical (e.g. gender and reasons for learning) and language learning variables (i.e. experience abroad, hours of self-study, and speaking with C...

Democracy was forged in the furnaces of oppression, whether combatting tyranny or affirming the rights of the individual. As democracy is under threat in many parts of the world, there has never been a more urgent need to understand political thoughts and behaviours. This lucid and accessible book brings together a global group of scholars from psy...

Teachers’ beliefs in inclusive education can be highly significant in the success of inclusive classrooms resulting in the performance outcomes of students. Teachers’ understandings and expectations of students are important if students are to reach their potential. This study investigated 182 Australian secondary teachers’ beliefs about inclusive...

In recent decades the number of university students who in addition to their education, balance other substantial commitments has increased, leading to greater stress and pressure to succeed in their studies. Furthermore, when students are confident, they can succeed. This study examined the stress and academic self-efficacy levels of 305 Australia...

Post-graduate teacher recruitment schemes are designed to fulfil ongoing teaching shortages. However, despite the emphasis of technology integration in educational contexts, little research has examined the knowledge, skills and attitudes post-graduate pre-service teachers bring to teaching from a technology perspective. This paper presents finding...

Australian schools are struggling to recruit and keep teachers. Low wages, overwork, difficult student behaviour, lack of support and stress are some of the reasons teachers leave the profession or have periods of sick leave. More than half of teachers with a current teaching qualification are not working in education. States such as New South Wal...

More and more students attend university and a large number of those experience difficulties at some point throughout their degree. Furthermore, many students who experience difficulties in need of help from the universities’ support services do not disclose their additional needs and/or disabilities (AND), and thus, little is known about this popu...

Background: Mental health problems are a growing and significant issue in the Australian education system. Research has suggested that resilience can be learned and that schools can play an important role in developing resilient skills among youth; however, rigorous evaluation of interventions promoting resilience is limited. Aims: As martial ar...

The accurate measurement of the cognitive load a learner encounters in a given task is critical to the understanding and application of Cognitive Load Theory (CLT). However, as a covert psychological construct, cognitive load represents a challenging measurement issue. To date, this challenge has been met mostly by subjective self-reports of cognit...

Studies continue to highlight the value career-change teachers bring to teaching. Yet, little research has investigated the incumbent technology skills and beliefs of this cohort, and how these skills impact their future teaching practice. This article presents the results from a mixed-method explanatory case study investigating this phenomenon. Se...

This study of 105 Australian in-service teachers investigated the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and teachers’ causal beliefs towards students with and without specific learning disabilities. Results found that teachers reporting higher levels of teacher self-efficacy provided more positive feedback, less frustration, and held lower exp...

Genuine inclusive education for all students celebrates the diverse abilities, characteristics and capacities of all learners. However, numerous obstacles to inclusion for all students persist, such as differing international conceptions of inclusion. This article explores to what extent British secondary teachers’ belief in inclusive education is...

This article reveals the hybridised nature of principals’ representations and enactment of the aims of national testing policy in relation to inclusion in Australia. The research utilises perspectives from 18 principals from schools serving communities in rural, regional and urban parts of New South Wales. Drawing upon Carol Bacchi’s notion of poli...

Objective Mental health issues are of increasing public concern, however are often untreated for a variety of reasons. While limited, the research examining the relationship between mental health and martial arts training is generally positive. This systematic review and meta-analysis explored whether martial arts training may be an efficacious spo...

Career-change pre-service teachers appear to offer more to teaching due to the knowledge, experiences and mindset garnered from previous vocations. How these experiences contribute to this cohort’s technology pedagogy is not well understood. This explanatory case study applied a social cognitive lens to investigate how incumbent technological capab...

Teachers' beliefs in inclusive education can be influential toward the success of inclusive practices and also students' successes and failures within the classroom. Having a clear understanding and high expectations toward students with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) is important if these students are to reach their potential. This study ex...

Despite the growing prominence and importance of the field of teacher dispositions for addressing selection criteria and assessment in educational research, there is an absence of psychometrically evaluated instruments to facilitate investigations. Furthermore, research thus far has not explored the relationship between teacher dispositions and bet...

The gender imbalance in the teaching profession occurs worldwide and declining male representation is a cause of concern. While some studies have looked into causes to explain disproportionate male representation, the notion that females may possess higher levels of teaching dispositional traits than males has not been empirically pursued in any de...

Standardized testing is ubiquitous in educational assessment, but questions have been raised about the extent to which these test scores accurately reflect students’ genuine knowledge and skills. To more rigorously investigate this issue, the current study employed a within-subject experimental design to examine item format effects on primary schoo...

Background: Mental health problems are a significant social issue that have multiple consequences, including broad social and economic impacts. However, many individuals do not seek assistance for mental health problems. Limited research suggests martial arts training may be an efficacious sports-based mental health intervention that potentially p...

In this article, we reveal the complex and contested nature of principals’ understandings of inclusion policy in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Drawing upon critical policy sociology, research into inclusion, and interviews with 18 principals from rural, regional and urban areas throughout the state, the research shows how principals expr...

Political leadership has become increasingly volatile in recent times, as experienced directly by many of the leaders of both major parties in Australia over the last few decades who have been ousted by their own party. While some of these leaders have returned to power, others have faded away into history. Political capital can play a key role in...

This study of 122 British secondary teachers investigated the relationship between teacher self-efficacy and teachers’ causal beliefs towards students with and without specific learning difficulties. Results found that teachers reporting higher levels of teacher self-efficacy provided more positive feedback to all students, regardless of students’...

Students with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) often appear to experience poorer educational and occupational outcomes than their peers. It is important to consider how these outcomes may be perpetuated by stereotypes and stigma associated with SpLD. One hundred and fifty-four primary (elementary) school teachers from the United Kingdom were p...

Anti-bullying policies and interventions are the main approach addressing bullying behaviours in Australian schools. However, the evidence supporting these approaches is inconsistent and its theoretical underpinning may be problematic. The current study examined the effects of a martial arts based psycho-social intervention on participants’ ratings...

This study explored teachers’ views of systemic support for inclusion and barriers to its success at school and classroom levels. The research employed a thematic analysis of the insights of 120 Canadian primary and secondary teachers. Findings show that many key issues surrounding the success of inclusion lie not only at the level of the classroom...

This article explores the nature and extent to which special education professional development (PD) in schools influences teachers’ perceptions of inclusion. Drawing upon theorizing of inclusion, including Slee’s notion of ‘exclusive schooling’ and Florian and colleagues’ concept of ‘inclusive pedagogy’, the research employs Saldana’s thematic ana...

Despite strong support for inclusive education in principle, many teachers and administrators still demonstrate mixed responses to the inclusion of certain students in their classrooms. Students with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) form a large group of students in inclusive classrooms yet some provincial, state and national jurisdictions fai...

This study aims to investigate the differences of attributional responses to students with and without learning disabilities (LD) between pre- and in-service teachers in mainland China. A total of 204 teachers (101 pre-service and 103 in-service teachers) were surveyed using vignettes and Likert scale questions to ascertain their responses to stude...

p class="3">As e-learning maintains its popularity worldwide, and university enrolments continue to rise, online tertiary level coursework is increasingly being designed for groups of distributed learners, as opposed to individual students. Many institutions struggle with incorporating all facets of online learning and teaching capabilities with th...

The purpose of this research was to (i) identify Australian, Canadian and United Kingdom (UK) pre-service teachers’ use, confidence and success of various classroom management strategies and (ii) to ascertain any significant differences between the three cohorts. Significant differences were found amongst the cohort with the UK pre-service teachers...

Resilience is associated with bouncing back from adversity, and the term currently enjoys significant popular appeal. However, understanding of resilience is often superficial. The current paper examined 105 primary and high school students’ experiences of resilience and bullying, and considered resilience as a hierarchical factorial model. The stu...

This article presents research into Canadian elementary and secondary teachers’ understandings of inclusion. The research investigates how a sample of 120 teachers in the southern part of Ontario defined inclusion, and the extent to which they believed an inclusive classroom is an effective way to teach all students. The article draws upon literatu...

Anti-bullying strategies are significant approaches addressing bullying in schools, however their capacity to produce a reduction in bullying behaviour is open to question. This article examined a resilience-based approach to bullying. One hundred and five primary and high school students were surveyed using several standardised instruments. The st...

Claims of the importance of having positive perceptions and expectations of students with learning disabilities (LD) have been repeatedly made over recent years. This article aims to raise awareness of the importance of attributional beliefs in relation to the educational outcomes of students with LD in Australia and China. Australian and Chinese t...

One of the most important factors in the successful inclusion of students with specific learning difficulties in mainstream classrooms is the teacher. Despite strong support for inclusion, mainstream teachers still demonstrate mixed responses to the inclusion of certain students in the classrooms. Further, their attitudes towards inclusion seem to...

Accepting, celebrating and accommodating students with diverse educational needs within an inclusive framework is at the heart of current Australian educational policy. In order to embrace diversity and inclusivity, teachers need to have the belief in their own capability to teach inclusively. This chapter will focus on general issues associated wi...

This article reports on the findings of phase two of a larger study, which examines pre-service teacher experiences engaging with a synchronous (live-time) platform as a part of their training. While phase one focused on pre-service experiences e-learning with this synchronous platform (Woodcock, Sisco, & Eady, 2015), phase two focuses on their exp...

This study examined the effectiveness of an online synchronous platform used for training preservice teachers. A blended learning approach was implemented. Fifty-three students participated in the course. Qualitative interview data and quantitative survey data were collected about students’ experiences using the platform, and analyzed via thematic...

This paper provides an analysis of inclusive education policies across international, and Anglo-American national and provincial/state jurisdictions to reveal how policies discursively construct inclusion under current, increasingly neoliberal conditions. In making this case, the paper draws upon primary UNESCO and Organisation for Economic Co-oper...

Despite recognising the importance of educators in meeting the needs of gifted and talented students, research indicates that teachers often lack the essential knowledge, skills and confidence to identify and meet the needs of gifted and talented students. Evidence suggests this lack of preparation may be related to teachers' professional developme...

Over recent years the move towards a more inclusive learning environment has brought about greater tension and challenges for teachers to cater for all students' needs. Furthermore, the impact teachers' expectations and attributions may have on students' learning, as well as their own judgements in their ability to motivate students and promote lea...

This paper analyses national and international inclusive educational policies to draw attention to the multiple ways in which different jurisdictions recognize, or inadequately recognize, students who possess specific learning disabilities (SLD). In making this argument, the paper analyses key international, national and state/provincial policies f...

Despite the importance of developing students’ learning autonomy in Chinese schools similar to Western cultured schools, many concerns are raised regarding the influence and effectiveness that learner autonomy has on students’ academic achievements. The aim of this study was to identify the attribution patterns of Chinese university students for su...

The purpose of this study was to examine primary student teachers' use, confidence and success in various classroom management strategies at the start and at the end of a one-year teaching programme and ascertain any significant differences between the two time periods. One hundred and twenty-four English primary student teachers were surveyed at b...

Teachers are one of the most important factors in successful inclusion of students with a learning disability in mainstream classrooms. Attitudes towards inclusion of certain students in classrooms have been mixed, and many attitudes are often developed during the pre-service training and early teaching years. This study investigated the attitudes...

Gifted and talented students are a diverse and often overlooked group of students. Research suggests that this may be at least partly related to limited gifted and talented education training at the preservice level. In fact, within an Australian context, preservice training in gifted and talented education in Australia has consistently been found...

Policies on the inclusion of students with special educational needs in mainstream classrooms have focused attention on how general education teachers perceive these students. Furthermore with specific learning disabilities forming a large group of diverse students, and teachers' attitudes often not changing over the career span, preparing teachers...

This paper aims to raise awareness of the importance of attributional beliefs in relation to the educational outcomes of students with learning disabilities (LD) in China. The study examined the attributional beliefs of 103 elementary and secondary school teachers towards students with LD, in comparison to students without LD. The findings show tha...

Survey-based research was conducted with Australian pre-service teachers to identify the classroom management strategies that they would employ, their confidence in employing them, and the effectiveness of the strategies. Furthermore, the study aimed to identify significant differences in these variables between pre-service teachers in the final ye...

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...

Despite the importance of behaviour management, many student teachers report being inadequately trained in this area. The aim of this study was to identify the strategies, confidence and reported levels of success in regard to various behaviour management strategies, across 509 first, second, third and fourth year student teachers training to be pr...

This paper aims to raise awareness of the importance of attributional beliefs in relation to the educational outcomes of students with a learning disability (LD) in China. The study presented in this paper examined the attributional beliefs that Chinese pre-service teachers had developed towards students with LD, in comparison to students without L...

The purpose of this study was twofold; first, to identify Australian and Canadian pre-service teachers’ use, confidence and success in various behaviour management strategies, and second, to identify significant differences between the two cohorts. Pooled data indicated that pre-service teachers most frequently employ low level corrective strategie...

Survey-based research was conducted with preservice teachers, from a large regional Australian university, to explore their views about inclusion and their readiness to teach in inclusive classrooms. Open-ended questions were included in the survey to glean information on the respondents' feelings and concerns about inclusion and inclusive practice...

Teachers’ judgments in their ability to motivate students and promote learning can play a vital role in determining a student’s performance in the classroom and once a belief has been held for a long time, it can become difficult to change. Utilising a sample of 467 beginner and final year pre-service teachers training to become primary (elementary...

While claims of the importance of attribution theory and teachers' expectations of students for student performance are repeatedly made, there is little comprehensive research identifying the perceptions preservice teachers have of students with learning disabilities (LD). Accordingly, 444 Australian preservice primary school teachers were surveyed...

This article reports on the experience of members of an Australian Aboriginal community as they used synchronous computer technologies to enhance their literacy learning. The aspiration to learn meaningful and relevant literacy and computer skills was discussed in focus groups, as well as the need to articulate the group's position within the wider...

Over recent years, moves toward the inclusion of students with special needs in mainstream classrooms has brought about increasing attention to the way general education teachers perceive these students. Commensurate with this has been a growing interest in what may constitute educational success for children with special needs in mainstream classr...

While the importance of effective classroom management is repeatedly made, there is little comprehensive research identifying the management strategies pre-service teachers employ, nor how successful or confident they find various strategies. Accordingly, 336 Canadian pre-service teachers were surveyed. It was found that pre-service teachers report...

While claims of the importance of attribution theory and teachers' expectations of students in regards to performance are repeatedly made, there is little comprehensive research identifying the perceptions preservice teachers have of students with learning disabilities (LD). Accordingly, this study examined 154 Australian preservice secondary schoo...

As the twenty-first century unfolds with its emphasis on global concerns and typified by technology that is obsolete before it is out of its packaging, we need to reconsider what we understand by thinking and learning. Such reframing is essential if we are to adequately educate the twenty-first century learner. In the past, we neatly separated the...

The current study was conducted to investigate preservice teachers' understandings and expectations of students with learning disabilities. Attributional responses that teachers construct result in differing teacher affect, evaluative feedback and expectation of future performance. Once these understandings and expectations are embedded they are le...