Students exhibiting behaviours of concern are at increased risk of poor outcomes during their school years. The implementation of school-wide positive behavioural interventions and supports (SWPBIS) has repeatedly been shown to be an effective, evidence-based approach that supports teachers to select and adopt effective practices to meet the social and behavioural needs of all learners. Implementation of SWPBIS within Australian schools is increasing. Although there is considerable evidence supporting the effectiveness and efficacy of SWPBIS as a means to improve the behavioural outcomes of all students, these positive outcomes largely depend on the actions of teachers. To this point, very limited research has been published that explores the experiences of teachers working in Australian schools currently implementing SWPBIS. The current study asked 206 Victorian teachers working in schools implementing SWPBIS two open-ended questions about the factors that they believed were facilitators or barriers to their ability to improve the behavioural outcomes of their students. The most commonly reported facilitators were availability of time, consistency of staff implementation of behaviour support, and adequate training. The most frequently identified barriers were a lack of time and inconsistent implementation. The practical and research implications of these preliminary qualitative findings are discussed.

Currently, there is no consensus as how best to fund inclusive education for students with autism spectrum disorder. In this narrative review, we examined a range of funding models internationally in an attempt to identify the range of best practices for resourcing inclusive education. Three databases were searched along with various policy documents to identify the range of existing funding models. Three models of input, throughput, and output funding were identified from which 7 key considerations were extrapolated to provide what was expected to be relevant information to policymakers, researchers, and educators seeking to discover effective ways to fund inclusive education for students with autism spectrum disorder.

This research was undertaken to determine if significant relationships exist between teachers’ self-reported attitudes, concerns, and efficacy to teach in inclusive classrooms and their actual classroom behaviour in Winnipeg, Canada. Five teachers completed 3 scales measuring their attitudes to inclusion, their level of concerns about teaching in inclusive classrooms, and their level of efficacy for teaching in inclusive classrooms. They were observed using a newly developed scale to measure their inclusive teaching practices. Each teacher was observed from 3 to 5 hours on different occasions. Data were analysed using 1-tailed Spearman correlations. Results indicated that teachers who were highly inclusive in their classroom practices tended to have significantly lower degrees of concerns and positive attitudes to inclusion. Implications of the research for policymakers, future researchers, and teacher educators are discussed.

Although home–school collaborations are important for inclusive education, most studies have identified the problems experienced by parents whose children have additional special needs. The aim of this study was to present the views of Australian parents, with children diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder, regarding what they considered to be the enablers for inclusion, within the context of their experiences of a program of support in inclusive schools (a Victorian State Government initiative called the Inclusion Support Program). Four focus group interviews were conducted, within a phenomenological, qualitative paradigm, with 14 mothers, in rural and urban primary and secondary public schools. Parents identified various innovations including the provision of a safe space, structured school and free time, flexibility around timetable, curriculum and staffing and the provision of socially attractive activities. Another theme was the potential for schools to be a ‘catalyst point’ to bring together parents, teachers and community agencies. The importance of eliciting parental expertise is highlighted here.

Children with vision impairment (VI) and blindness are largely educated in mainstream schools in Australia. Specialist itinerant support teachers – vision (ISTVs) travel from school to school to facilitate the education of these children. The purposes of this study were to examine the barriers that ISTVs face in this role, and to identify strategies used to address these barriers. Seven ISTVs participated in the study. Focus group interviews were conducted to collect data from participants. Constant comparison, a form of thematic analysis, was used to examine the data. Results indicate that barriers include a lack of understanding among regular school educators of the needs of children with VI, lack of awareness of the role of ISTVs, insufficient resources and time, and inadequate training. Frequent communication and good working relationships with staff help to minimise or negate many of the potential barriers. However, barriers such as lack of time and inadequate training remain unaddressed and require the attention of policymakers at higher levels.

Higher seedling vigour and greater coleoptile length are important for early establishment of wheat crops and subsequently higher grain yield in many dry environments. Seedling vigour includes those seed properties that determine the potential for rapid, uniform emergence and development of normal seedlings under a wide range of field conditions. Genotypes with the widely used gibberellic acid (GA)-insensitive dwarfing genes Rht-B1b and Rht-D1b have good partitioning and grain yield under optimal conditions, but may perform poorly under stressed conditions due to poor crop establishment. Breeding programmes are in search of GA-sensitive dwarfing genes that do not affect seedling vigour under dry conditions. This study evaluated 40 genotypes currently used in wheat breeding programmes of south Asia for seedling vigour-related traits in greenhouse and field experiments during 2006–2007 at IAAS, Rampur, Nepal. Wide variation in coleoptile length, seedling vigour, as well as sensitivity to GA was observed. Among the genotypes studied, there were positive correlations among coleoptile length, leaf width and plant height. Genotypes, SW89-5193, SW89-5422/NL251 and SW89-5422, were found to have longer coleoptile, higher seedling vigour and response to GA application. This shows a promise for their further applications in the breeding programmes.

The anticarcinogenic effect of vitamin A2 (dehydroretinol and 3-hydroxyretinol) compounds was studied and compared with that of vitamin A1 (retinoic acid, retinol and retinal) and carotenoids (lutein and β-carotene) in the benzo[a]pyrene (B(a)P)-induced forestomach tumour model of female Swiss mice in vivo. Tumour growth and gross tumour incidence observed after the administration of B(a)P (eight doses of 1 mg, twice weekly for 4 weeks) and retinoids/carotenoids (2·5 and 4·7 μm per animal per d, 2 weeks before, during and 2 weeks after B(a)P) showed that the groups supplemented with lutein and 3-hydroxyretinol produced the best results in inhibiting tumour growth and had low tumour incidence compared with the control group given B(a)P only (P<0·05). Weights recorded after the different treatments showed that the β-carotene-supplemented group exhibited maximum weight gain, followed by retinal, retinol, retinoic acid, lutein, dehydroretinol and 3-hydroxyretinol. These results indicate that the anticarcinogenicity of the compounds is not related to the vitamin A biopotencies. Vitamin A2 compounds having half the biopotency of the vitamin A1 compounds were seen to be anticarcinogenic. Again, among the carotenoids, lutein, having 50 % less biopotency, showed more significant results than β-carotene. Thus it is imperative to conclude that the low animal growth achieved with these compounds has a correlation with the highest suppression of tumour occurrence in the present experiment. Therefore, the daily consumption of foods having high content of lutein and vitamin A2 should be given due importance and weight in further studies.

Much of current inclusive education provision in Australian secondary schools relies on ‘specialist’ support from outside the classroom. Students with diverse abilities are placed within the regular classroom and additional specialist services such as therapy, counselling, psychological assessment and special education teaching are required to support their placement. This form of support often relies upon a diagnostic – prescriptive approach where the specialist assumes responsibility for and has a central role in shaping practices. In this paper, we raise issues regarding this model of specialist support in enacting effective inclusive practices in secondary schools. We suggest that one alternative is to shift the focus from the students who are different, to the community of learners in the school. This alternative approach uses collaborative and evidence-based practices to support inclusive ideals and grounds improvement efforts in changes in teachers’ knowledge as well as the cultural and organisational conditions of the school. The purpose of this paper is to prompt further discussion amongst professional community regarding the unique challenges and issues of inclusive practices in secondary schools.