Predictors of success in academic performance in educational settings

The role of individual differences continues to be important in understanding differences and variation in predicting successful performance in educational settings. This special issue brings together examples of current thinking and research within the context of the Higher Education setting. The issue commences with a Guest Editorial (Cruise & Lewis, 2009), which provides a rationale and context for the issue. This is followed by a theoretical paper (Todd, Mcilroy, & Bunting, 2009) and seven empirical papers (Caska & Prentice, 2009; Cassidy & Giles, 2009; Cruise, Lewis, & Mc Guckin, 2009; Hanna & Dempster, 2009; Mallett, 2009; O'Hare & McGuinness, 2009; Prentice, Caska, & McLaughlin, 2009) that summarise previous empirical work and theory, and describe ongoing empirical work that aims to identify indicators and predictors of academic self-concept and performance. The special issue ends by presenting reviews of five books that are pertinent to this area. This special issue attests to the role of individual differences when considering successful performance in educational settings.