Abstract
BackgroundThe achievement goal theory defines two major foci of students’ learning goals (1) primarily interested in truly mastering a task (mastery orientation), and (2) striving to show ones competences to others (performance orientation). The present study is undertaken to better understand if and how health profession students’ goal orientations change during the undergraduate program and to what degree gender, academic achievement, and self-efficacy are associated with mastery and performance orientation between students and within students over time.MethodBy means of an online questionnaire, students of medical, pharmaceutical, and veterinary sciences (N = 2402) were asked to rate themselves on mastery orientation, performance orientation, and self-efficacy at the beginning of five consecutive semesters. Data on grades and gender were drawn from university’s files. Multilevel analyses were used for data analysis.ResultsStudents’ goal orientations showed relative stability over time, but substantial fluctuations within individual students were found. These fluctuations were associated with fluctuations in self-efficacy. Students’ gender, high school grades, study grades, and self-efficacy were all associated with differences in mastery or performance orientation between students. Self-efficacy was the strongest predictor for mastery orientation and grades for performance orientation.ConclusionsThe relatively strong association between the goal orientations and students’ self-efficacy found in this study emphasizes the potential of enhancing self-efficacy in health profession students. Also, for educators and researchers, fluctuations of both goal orientations within individual students are important to consider.
Highlights
The achievement goal theory defines two major foci of students’ learning goals (1) primarily interested in truly mastering a task, and (2) striving to show ones competences to others
Self-efficacy was the strongest predictor for mastery orientation and grades for performance orientation
To investigate how mastery and performance orientations change over the course of the undergraduate bachelor program and to what degree the gender, academic achievement, and self-efficacy explain differences in the goal orientations between and within students, three subsequent multilevel models were fitted
Summary
The achievement goal theory defines two major foci of students’ learning goals (1) primarily interested in truly mastering a task (mastery orientation), and (2) striving to show ones competences to others (performance orientation). According to the achievement goal theory, two major foci of students’ learning goals are 1) being primarily interested in learning and in truly mastering a task (mastery orientation), and 2) striving to outperform peers and showing ones competences to others (performance orientation) [1, 2]. Students can endorse both goals at the same time [3], and may revise their goals as they progress in their study [4, 5]. The present study was undertaken to investigate if and how health profession students’ goal orientations change during the first three study years (undergraduate bachelor program) and what constructs drive this process
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