Increasing teachers' self-efficacy beliefs for teaching with computers has been proposed as a means of influencing their behaviour. This paper reports on a preliminary study of some factors that might be associated with self-efficacy for teaching with computers. The absence of significant relationships with factors such as Pupil Control Ideology and Innovativeness suggests that it may be possible to intervene to increase graduating teachers' self-efficacy for teaching with computers. In Australia, as in the USA, computers are now widely available in schools of all types. The arrangements for access vary.
Some schools place the computers in classrooms and others create computer laboratories.
Whatever the arrangements in their school, there are now very few teachers who could seriously claim that they have no opportunity to use computers in support of teaching and learning. There is also widespread support for the increased use of computers among policy makers, educational administrators and the community. Despite the levels of opportunity and official encouragement implied by these developments, there continue to be concerns expressed about both the frequency and success with which teachers employ information technology in their classrooms . Recent online discussions among students returning from teaching practice have included comments about the limited use being made of computers in many classrooms. However, students observed that even teachers who did not use computers in their teaching expressed belief in the importance of computers in education.