Promoting Mastery-Approach Goals to Support the Success of the “Teach Less, Learn More” Educational Initiative

“Teach Less, Learn More” (TLLM) is an educational approach initiated in 2004 by the Prime Minister of Singapore Lee Hsien Loong in fostering Singapore students’ intrinsic motivation in both academic and nonacademic arenas such that they are better prepared to face future life challenges. Achievement goal theorists have proposed different types of goal that students pursue in their academic endeavor, with a particular focus given on performance and mastery goals. This chapter synthesizes empirical work on the adoption of achievement goals and its impacts on academic, social, and well-being outcomes and discusses the relevance of the TARGET framework – instructional recommendations proposed by achievement goal theorists – to the TLLM initiative. It is believed that Singapore students would benefit from educational practices focusing on the pursuit of mastery goals or task-based goals. The practical implications of achievement goal theory for the implementation of the TLLM policy are highlighted.