Mastery Orientation

Mastery Orientation refers to our approach towards achievement where the focus is on achieving mastery of a task with an emphasis on learning and improvement on self-set standards, and acquiring new skills. It arises from the belief that we have control over factors related to our learning, that hard work and effort pays off, and that we have or can acquire strategies that will help us learn. With this attitude we are more likely to enjoy and seek challenges, persist in the face of obstacles, and view our failures as due to inadequate effort or poor strategy rather than lack of ability.

Research says that Mastery Orientation is highly adaptive and carries many positive qualities, including perseverance, seeking out challenges and a desire to learn.

Mastery Orientation in Action The person will be able to:

• engage in activities that will increase their knowledge and learning.
• find satisfaction in just learning without being influenced by external performance indicators such as grades.
• learn from their errors.
• seek help when necessary.
• change learning strategies when they don’t work.
• focus on improving their personal or professional competence
• judge their performance based on standards of self-improvement and progress.
• demonstrate a sense of purpose and persist towards goals despite challenges.
• open to taking on challenging or unfamiliar learning tasks.
• focus on achieving mastery even in the absence of external validation or reward
• view success in terms of continuous improvement and learning.