Teachers’ perceptions of the school goal structure: Relations with teachers’ goal orientations, work engagement, and job satisfaction

Research on goal theory has almost exclusively focused on students’ goals and their perception of the classroom goal structure. The purpose of this study was to explore teachers’ perception of the school goal structure as well as relations between goal structure, teaching related goal orientation, engagement for teaching, and job satisfaction. The participants were 2569 teachers in elementary and middle school. Data were analyzed by means of structural equation modeling. Mastery goal structure was directly and positively related to teachers’ work-related motivation (engagement and job satisfaction) whereas performance goal structure related to work-related motivation through the teachers’ personal goal orientation.