Good and Brophy, 1995). Concomitantly, there is also growing recognition that teacher commitment is an important contributing factor that determines school effectiveness. Earlier work by Sergiovanni (1976) on teacher satisfaction identified that teacher motivation and work commitment were among the most important factors affecting school effectiveness. In 1983 the DES report Teaching Quality argued that 'personality, character and commitment are as important as the specific knowledge and skills that are used in the dayto-day tasks of teaching' (p. 26). In assessing effective schools, Pollard (1990) suggested that 'very little of quality can happen in schools without skilled, knowledgeable and committed teachers' (p. 51) and McGaw et al. (1992) also suggested that 'in addition to professional competence, they [teachers] must be caring, committed and enthusiastic' (p. 170). Similarly, Weaver (1993) reported that dynamic teachers give total commitment to teaching, a characteristic which is not found among ineffective teachers. Recently Huberman et al. (1997) went further, suggesting 'that the success of educational reform-indeed, of education-hinges critically upon the growth of the teacher's competence and commitment throughout her career' (p. 12). Studies appear to indicate that there is a relationship between career commitment and job satisfaction (Borg and Riding, 1991; Kushman, 1992; Lam et al., 1995). The purpose of the present study was to investigate career commitment and job satisfaction among non-graduate primary teachers in Brunei Darussalam at a time when they are under considerable public scrutiny because of media attention to the standard of education in the nation's public schools. In the 11+ examinations, for example, private schools far outperformed public schools in terms of the number of pupils who obtained five As in all the five subjects. The remark made by the acting Minister of Education that 'the majority of local teachers are not being adequately prepared to be effective teachers' called for the need to revamp existing teacher education programmes (Borneo Bulletin, 17 June 1997). Amid this mounting pressure, how do primary teachers perceive teaching as a career, and to what extent do their perceptions affect their career commitment? Would they

This study investigated causes of school failure among elementary school students in Brunei Darussalam. Fifty-two specialist mathematics and science teachers were involved in the investigation using a questionnaire. The student factor identified to be the most important was related to students' poor command of the English language. Lack of interest in learning was another important influencing factor in students' failure. Parental factors perceived to be the most important were lack of supervision of their children's activities at home and reluctance to make school visits to see teachers about their children's academic progress. The influence of teacher factors on educational failure was perceived to be less important.