Bridging teacher motivation and instruction: Relevance of student-oriented goals for teaching alongside personal achievement goals and self-efficacy

Abstract

Background: Achievement goals and self-efficacy are key components of teacher motivation and crucial for teaching quality and student outcomes, yet the processes explaining why they lead to specific teaching behaviours remain unclear. This study focuses on student-oriented goals as a potential process element and construct in its own right. Aims: We aim to uncover the associations of teachers' personal goals and self-efficacy beliefs with specific teaching behaviours, and the added value of student-oriented goals for these processes. Sample: 70 secondary school teachers from German general education secondary schools, teaching Mathematics in grades 7–9 in lower track secondary education (42 women, 28 men; mean age 43.7 years, SD = 10.6) filled out a total of 345 lesson diaries over 5 weeks. Methods: After reporting personal goals, self-efficacy and student-oriented goals, teachers filled out standardized lesson diaries on their specific teaching behaviours encompassing both mastery-based (interestingness, cognitive stimulation, individualization, autonomy support, structuring, collaboration, heterogeneous grouping) as well as performance-based aspects (public negative feedback, homogeneous grouping and competition). Results: Two-level path modelling indicated that personal performance goals are positively related to student-oriented performance goals, with student-oriented mastery goals statistically predicted by teachers' self-efficacy. In turn, student-oriented mastery goals positively predicted mastery-based teaching practices. Different linkages were observed for different teaching behaviours. Conclusions: The findings highlight the relevance of considering student-oriented goals in better understanding the relationship between teacher motivation and instructional practices.