SELF-EFFICACY AND ACHIEVEMENT GOALS AS PREDICTORS OF HIGH-SCHOOL STUDENTS ’ ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE

Summary: It has long been recognized that students ’ school performance is determined not only by their cogniƟ ve abiliƟ es, but even more importantly by their moƟ vaƟ on, achievement goals and perceived self-effi cacy. The present study explored the relaƟ onship between academic self-effi cacy, school achievement and four achievement goals of high-school students. The obtained results indicated a signifi cant eff ect of age on students ’ grade point average as well as signifi cant eff ects of gender on students ’ performance in the CroaƟ an language, their grade point average, self-effi cacy and three achievement goals (mastery, performance and social relaƟ ons). Furthermore, the obtained results indicated a high correlaƟ on between self-effi cacy and mastery goal orientaƟ on, while self-effi cacy was once again idenƟ fi ed as the most important predictor of school performance in all researched areas