The TARGET approach is a framework coaches and teachers use to create a mastery motivational climate. TARGET stands for task, authority, recognition, grouping, evaluation and time, six features that can emphasize effort, learning, personal improvement and skill mastery.
In IB Sports, Exercise and Health Science, TARGET helps explain how the environment created by a coach can influence an athlete's motivation. A mastery climate promotes task orientation, in which success is judged through personal progress and competence rather than outperforming others.
| TARGET element | Application in a mastery climate |
|---|---|
| Task | Provide varied, challenging activities with individualized goals. Tasks should encourage learning, effort and skill development. |
| Authority | Give athletes meaningful involvement in decisions, such as selecting practices or setting goals. This supports autonomy and responsibility. |
| Recognition | Recognize individual effort, improvement and mastery, preferably privately rather than through public comparison. |
| Grouping | Use flexible, mixed-ability and cooperative groups. This reduces fixed status differences and encourages collaboration. |
| Evaluation | Assess athletes using self-referenced criteria, including progress, effort and skill execution, rather than only results or rankings. |
| Time | Allow sufficient and flexible time for athletes to learn and improve according to their individual needs. |
For example, a basketball coach could offer drills of different difficulty, allow players to choose a personal skill goal, praise individual improvement privately and evaluate progress against each player's earlier performance. These choices make competence appear controllable through effort and learning.
A common misconception is that TARGET is a list of techniques for increasing competition. Instead, it is primarily used to structure a task-involving climate. If coaches emphasize public rankings, fixed ability groups and comparison with others, they are creating a more ego-involving climate.
Exam technique: For an explain question, define TARGET, identify several dimensions and show how each promotes mastery motivation. Apply the framework to a specific sporting example rather than merely expanding the acronym.