In the 25 years since the explicit formulation of need-press theory by Pace and Stern (1958), much research has been conducted in Australia, using this theory and associated instrumentation and methodologies to study the origins, nature, and influence of the climates or press of educational environments. This review provides the first systematic description and evaluation of this Australian work, indicating its conceptual and methodological achievements, difficulties, and challenges. Climates studied in this research have largely been at what is sometimes termed the school level — that is, the climates are those’ of the whole school or college or university (or their major departmental kinds of sub-environments) as perceived by students. This review explains need-press theory, notes the primacy and pre-eminence of the theory as a vehicle and stimulus for environmental social psychological studies in education, and links the school-level need-press climate research to cognate, but hitherto rather separate, Australian research into classroom climate and organizational climate.
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