Objective: To investigate the relationships between pharmacy students' preferred teacher qualities and their academic achievement goal orientations.
Methods: Participants completed an achievement goal questionnaire and a build-a-teacher task. For the latter, students were given a $20 hypothetical budget to purchase amounts of 9 widely valued teachers' qualities.
Results: Three hundred sixty-six students participated. Students spent most of their budget on the traits of enthusiasm, expertise, and clear presentation style, and the least amount of money on interactive teaching, reasonable workload, warm personality, and intellectually challenging. In relation to achievement goals, negative associations were found between avoidance goals and preferences for teachers who encourage rigorous thinking and self-direction.
Conclusion: These novel findings provide a richer profile of the ways students respond to their learning environment. Understanding the relationships between teachers' characteristics and pharmacy students' achievement goal orientations will contribute to improving the quality of pharmacy learning and teaching environments.
Keywords: achievement goals; motivation; pharmacy education; student preferences; teacher qualities.