What is the broad statement of instructional intent called?

The term that refers to the broad statement of instructional intent is "goal." Goals outline the general direction or desired outcome of a learning experience, providing a framework for what educators aim to achieve in terms of student learning and development. They are typically broad, encompassing long-term aspirations for student performance and knowledge acquisition.

In contrast, objectives tend to be more specific and measurable, detailing the exact skills or knowledge that students should achieve by the end of a lesson or unit. Aspirations might refer to personal or institutional hopes without necessarily defining measurable outcomes, which is not typically how educational outcomes are articulated. Targets often relate to specific performance indicators or benchmarks within the framework of a goal, but they do not encompass the wider intent of the instruction itself the way goals do. Thus, "goal" is the most suitable choice for this context.