Open Access

Background Teachers' goals play an important role in teaching quality and student outcomes. However, the processes through which this aspect of teacher motivation translates into specific teaching behaviours remain unclear. Aims This study investigates how goals directed at students and the classroom are associated with visual information processing of classroom events, aiming to link teacher motivation with professional vision. Sample The study involved 51 preservice teachers with an average of 36 days of practical teaching experience. Methods Participants' eye movements were recorded through eye tracking while they observed a video stimulus of an 11th-grade mathematics classroom. Through an interview, participants specified their goals for individual students and the whole classroom after having watched the start of the video stimulus. During the rest of the 3-min-long simulation, eye-tracking recorded the number and duration of fixations on students. Results Goals directed at individual students were associated with more and longer fixations. In contrast, goals targeting the entire classroom were associated with shorter fixation durations on individual students, indicating a more even distribution of visual attention. Especially mastery goals drove these patterns; nuanced effects were observed depending on goal content and the visual saliency of student behaviours. Conclusions Preservice teachers' student-oriented goals shape their visual attention in the classroom, influencing how they perceive the interaction with students. This research highlights the importance of integrating teacher motivation with professional vision to understand the cognitive pathways that link motivation to teaching behaviours. The study also demonstrates the utility of eye tracking technology in exploring these processes.