Achievement Goals for Teaching: Implications for Teacher Burnout and Classroom Behaviors

• In Event: 31.073 - Teacher Motivation and Emotions in Context: Implications for Assessment, Instruction, and Intervention

Abstract

Objectives. Recent studies of teachers' achievement goals and emotions have highlighted the importance of considering the inherently interpersonal nature of teaching (Author, 2012; Frenzel, 2014). One implication is that depersonalization of students (DS) may be a very important component of teacher burnout, with distinct antecedents and meaningful consequences. Research has focused mainly on emotional exhaustion (EE), however. Moreover, although it is commonly assumed that burnout influences teachers’ classroom behaviors, very few studies have examined whether this is the case. We shall present new data from two studies that draw on goal theory to begin to address these lacunae. Study 1 examined the predictions that teacher achievement goals will be differentially associated with burnout components; mastery goals to learn and develop professional competence will protect against and work avoidance goals will be positively associated with EE, while other-oriented goals to create caring relationships with students (relational goals) and to avoid demonstrating poor ability in class (ability-avoidance) will protect against and increase DS, respectively. Study 2 examined consequences of burnout and goals for classroom behaviors. The main predictions were that DS, rather than EE will predict student perceptions of teacher socio-emotional support (SS) and that teacher relational goals will promote SS and mitigate the negative effects of teacher DS.

Method. In Study 1, 530 teachers in Israel completed measures of Goal Orientations for Teaching (Author, 2012), teaching efficacy, EE, and DS. Participants in Study 2 were 73 middle school teachers and students in one randomly selected class per teacher (N = 1789). Teachers reported on goals and burnout at the beginning of the year; students reported on their teacher's SS six months later.

Results. Results of Study 1 (SEM) fully supported the predictions. Importantly, achievement goals significantly and differentially predicted teacher EE and DP, after controlling for self-efficacy; the correlation between EE and DP was quite low (r = .31). Results of Study 2 (HLM) confirmed that depersonalization, but not emotional exhaustion, significantly predicted between-class variance in student reports of teacher SS. As predicted, this effect was no longer significant after adding teacher relational goals to the model.

Discussion. Most generally, these studies confirmed that jointly considering teacher motivations and teacher emotions can contribute to both directions of inquiry. Results confirmed that teachers' achievement goals matter, both for their own wellbeing and for their classroom behaviors. Considering the interpersonal nature of teaching has already led to the identification of a new class of relational goals for teaching. This perspective extends the literature on teacher burnout by highlighting depersonalization of students as a meaningful component that oriented teachers to provide less support for their students. This result provides rare evidence that teacher burnout affects their classroom behaviors. Results also have interesting implications for reducing teacher burnout; promoting and supporting teacher mastery goals and efficacy beliefs may be effective in reducing emotional exhaustion, while targeting teachers' relational concerns and perceptions of students may be more effective in reducing depersonalization.

Authors

• Ruth Butler, Hebrew University of Jerusalem

• Limor Shibaz, Hebrew University of Jerusalem