Achievement goal theory includes both personal motivational features (achievement goals) and contextual features (goal structures). The theory holds that the prevailing goal structures in learning environments (such as the classroom) influence the achievement goals students adopt. This meta-analysis (k = 68, N = 47,975) examined the strength of the relationships between student ratings of goal structures (mastery-approach goal structures, mastery-avoidance goal structures, performance-approach goal structures, and performance-avoidance goal structures) and achievement goals (mastery-approach goals, mastery-avoidance goals, performance-approach goals, and performance-avoidance goals) as well as moderating variables. Results indicated that each achievement goal was most strongly related to its contextual counterpart. Educational level and world region moderated some of the relations, and for most combinations of goal structures and achievement goals, measures framing goal structures as a climate produced higher correlations than measures using the teacher as referent. Challenges and promising routes for future research and theory building are discussed.

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Abstract. In prior research, goal structures have been measured as macroscopic and holistic constructs referring to all activities in the classroom setting associated with learning and performing on a meta-level. A more comprehensive approach for identifying concrete classroom structures that should foster students’ mastery goals is provided by the multidimensional TARGET framework with its six instructional dimensions (Task, Autonomy, Recognition, Grouping, Evaluation, Time). However, measurement instruments assessing students’ perceptions of all TARGET dimensions are largely lacking. The main aim of this study was to develop and validate a new student questionnaire for comprehensive assessment of the perceived TARGET classroom structure (the Goal Structure Questionnaire – GSQ). Scales were constructed using a rational-empirical strategy based on classical conceptions of the TARGET dimensions and prior empirical research. The instrument was tested in a study using a sample of 1,080 secondary school students. Findings indicate that the scales are reliable, internally valid, and externally valid in terms of relationships with students’ achievement goals. More concretely, analyses revealed that the TARGET mastery goal structure positively predicts mastery goals, performance approach goals, and an incremental implicit theory of intelligence. No associations were found with performance avoidance goals.

This integrative review aims to render a systematic account of the role that teachers’ psychological characteristics, such as their motivation and personality, play for critical outcomes in terms of teacher effectiveness, teachers’ well-being, retention, and positive interpersonal relations with multiple stakeholders (e.g., students, parents, principals, colleagues). We first summarize and evaluate the available evidence on relations between psychological characteristics and these outcomes derived in existing research syntheses (meta-analyses, systematic reviews). We then discuss implications of the findings regarding the eight identified psychological characteristics—self-efficacy, causal attributions, expectations, personality, enthusiasm, emotional intelligence, emotional labor, and mindfulness—for research and educational practice. In terms of practical recommendations, we focus on teacher selection and the design of future professional development activities as areas that particularly profit from a profound understanding of the relative importance of different psychological teacher characteristics in facilitating adaptive outcomes.

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