Teachers’ achievement goals as predictors of classroom instruction and differences in teaching high- and low- attaining classes

Achievement goal theories investigate the motivation people have for achieving things in different contexts, such as in sporting events, as a learner in the classroom or at work.

This thesis is concerned with the professional achievement goals of teachers and its impact on teaching and learning.

The goals investigated were:

• mastery (striving to develop competence)
• performance (striving to demonstrate superiority)
• performance avoidant (striving to mask incompetence)
• work avoidant-goals (striving to do as little work as possible)

The systematic literature review found that mastery goals, compared to performance goals, were more strongly related to outcomes considered desirable to teaching and learning (e.g. student help seeking) and more weakly or more negatively related to outcomes considered undesirable to teaching and learning (e.g. student cheating).

However, the review judges the quality of evidence to be at best medium, thus drawing caution to conclusion that mastery goals are more desirable than performance goals.

The empirical paper found that only secondary schools teachers' mastery goals predicted mastery approaches to teaching (instructional methods that promote competence based learning and evaluation).

Only teachers' performance- and performance avoidant-goals predicted performance approaches to teaching (instructional methods that promote student competitive learning and evaluation).

A repeated measures design found no difference in the use of mastery approaches for high- and low- attaining classes.

However, teachers were more likely to use performance- approaches with high (compared to low) attaining classes.

Overall, the study did not find evidence that teachers' achievement goals can predict differences in the approach to teaching high- and low- attaining classes.