The present article examines the pedagogical practices of teachers in relation to the achievement goal theory of motivation (Ames, 1984; Ames, 1992), which defines two main orientations: a mastery orientation and performance orientation. The premise of the theory is that mastery practices create a cooperative environment, while performance practices are mostly oriented towards creating a competitive environment. These orientations can be broadly defined through the lens of a set of structures, which include the design of tasks and activities for students, the distribution of responsibility and authority, and evaluation practices (Ames, 1992). While mastery goal orientation, or mastery goal structure, emphasizes understanding, continuous improvement, and mistakes as an indispensable part of the learning process, the performance goal orientation, or performance goals structure, makes social comparison among students salient and is based on demonstration of achievement and fostering competitiveness (Elliott, Dweck, 1988; Wolters, 2004).

There has been ample research on the effects of cooperative/competitive structures on educational outcomes, which has demonstrated that these structures might have significant effects on group dynamics and interpersonal relationships (Lüftenegger et al., 2017; Fokkens-Bruinsma, Van Rooij, Canrinus, 2020). For example, cooperative structures are thought to affect both the need for belongingness and competence (Rigby, Ryan, 2016). Alternatively, competitive structures while being engaging for some students might pose risk to the internal motivation and self-efficacy of others, especially in environments when the level of student’s skills is not adjusted (Slavin, 1980). Little is known, however, about the influence of cooperative/competitive structures in classrooms on the social-emotional outcomes of students.

The results of the Study of Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) highlighted the role of teacher practices on the development of social-emotional skills of learners since the great heterogeneity in relation to social and emotional skills within schools has been detected (OECD, 2021). Thus, the current study aims to test whether teachers’ orientations towards creating a cooperative or competitive goal structure in their classrooms have predictive power for the social-emotional skills dealing with the ability of students to cooperate and communicate effectively. In particular, in this research, we aim to focus on the evaluation practices intrinsic to these orientations. 

Of special interest is the international perspective of the SSES study which does not make explicit comparisons between the participating countries, but gives a broad picture of the effect of the students’ environments on the development of social-emotional skills across different cultural and institutional settings. Therefore, the current study aims to contribute to the body of research on differences in teacher practices with regard to cooperation/competition from a cross-cultural perspective.

The study draws upon the data from the Study of Social and Emotional Skills (SSES) which has recently been undertaken by OECD with the purpose of collecting reports on the social-emotional skills of students aged 10 and 15. The students' reports were supplemented by the teacher-driven data coming from teachers’ self-reports on their pedagogical practices which can be described in relation to the achievement goal theory: cooperative (mastery-oriented) practices and competitive (performance-oriented) practices. The scope of the social-emotional skills of the present study can be limited to the domains of Engaging with others (Extraversion), Collaboration (Agreeableness) as well as students’ self-efficacy. The social and emotional skills of students for the analysis were taken from 5 cities around the world: Daegu (Korea), Helsinki (Finland), Moscow (Russia), Ottawa (Canada), and Sintra (Portugal). Thus, the sample consisted of 1565 teachers and 27,801 students from these cities. Linear regression analysis was conducted to estimate the relationships between the outlined teacher practices and students’ social and emotional outcomes (Engagement with Others, Collaboration, and self-efficacy) across cities participating in the study.

It has been suggested that a mastery-oriented classroom environment correlates with the emotional well-being of students (Baudoin, Galand, 2017), self-efficacy (Murayama, Elliot, 2009), students’ growth mindset (Dweck, Leggett, 1988), and grit (Park et al., 2018). We expect to find a positive correlation between the teacher practices oriented towards cooperative environments and students' cooperative and communicative skills. We also expect to observe a positive correlation between the level of students’ self-efficacy and the classrooms where master practices are endorsed. The international nature of the large-scale study allows for cross-cultural comparisons of the pedagogical practices. Consequently, we hope to pinpoint the factors that contribute to the development of social-emotional skills of learners, which eventually might drive policy changes in education.

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