Students develop their optimistic or pessimistic outlooks on life during their primary school years, with this explanatory style linked to their subsequent task involvement. All teachers, but particularly those at the primary school level, need to be sensitive to the attributions that students make, particularly in relation to their failures. Intervention studies have been conducted for adolescents (Peterson, 1988; Jaycox, Reivich, Gillham & Seligman, 1995) and college students (DeRubeis & Hollon 1995). This study would suggest that such interventions should begin when students are in primary schools and should target attributions in specific subject areas, particularly as attributions have been found to be subject specific (Marsh, 1986). Students' levels of task involvement are also important considerations. Furthermore, teachers need to be cognisant of the attributions that they make about students' work, particularly in relation to failures.