Teacher interests, mastery goals, and self-efficacy as predictors of instructional practices and student motivation

• This study examined the contributions of teacher motivation factors to teachers' instruction and students' motivation.
• Teachers' instructional practices were not only assessed by self-ratings but also by student reports.
• Only student reports of teachers' instructional practices were predictive of student motivation.
• Teachers' educational interest predicted their mastery-oriented practices which in turn contributed to students' motivation.

This study addressed the role of elementary school teachers' motivation as predictors of instructional practices and student motivation. The sample comprised 110 teacher–class pairs (1731 students). The results showed that teachers' didactic interest and self-efficacy predicted teacher reports of instructional practices. In contrast, student reports of instruction were significantly associated with teachers' educational interest and mastery goals. Moreover, student motivation was only related with student reports but not teacher reports of instructional practices. In particular, mastery-oriented practices contributed strongly to student motivation. Teacher educational interest predicted mastery-oriented practices and also showed a significant direct relation to student motivation.