There is a well-documented developmental decline in engagement among adolescents throughout secondary school. Given this pattern of engagement poses problems for both student well-being and their academic outcomes, it is important to examine potential strategies to address this decline. As a growth-oriented strategy, personal best (PB) goal…

Teacher feedback in mathematics is a potential strategy for redressing declining international trends in high school mathematics achievement. Effective feedback comprises corrective information (feedback) and guidance for improvement (feedforward)--referred to herein as 'feedback-feedforward'. Relatively little research has examined the…

Background: Prior cross-cultural research with students in different national contexts (Australia and China) has shown consistency in the extent to which individual personal best (PB) goals are associated with engagement at school. Aims: This study extends this work to a multicultural context, assessing perceived PB goal structure in school and…

This study assessed the role of prior personal best goals in predicting subsequent academic motivation and engagement. A total of 1160 high school students participated in a longitudinal survey study exploring the extent to which personal best and mastery and performance (dichotomous) achievement goals predict students' academic motivation and…

Prior research has shown personal best (PB) goals to be significantly related to students' motivation, engagement and achievement. However, research thus far has investigated PB goals only among Western samples and it is unclear to what extent PB goals hold academic merit in the Asian context. It is also unclear whether PB goals explain variance…

To build on prior correlational research into personal best (PB) goals and motivational outcomes, an experimental study was conducted to assess the role of PB goal setting in gains (or declines) in students' motivation in science (viz. biology, anatomy, health). The study (comprising N = 71 elementary/primary and secondary school students) applied…

In light of recent evidence suggesting the academic benefits of personal best (PB) goals for students with attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), this article explores practical approaches to implementing PB goals in the counselling and classroom context. Beginning with a brief summary of how and why PB goals impact academic outcomes and…

In this review, we scope the role of interpersonal relationships in students' academic motivation, engagement, and achievement. We argue that achievement motivation theory, current issues, and educational practice can be conceptualized in relational terms. Influential theorizing, including attribution theory, expectancy-value theory, goal theory,…