ERIC Number: EJ1429922
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2024
Pages: 36
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0963-9284
EISSN: EISSN-1468-4489
Available Date: N/A
Fostering Social Skills in the Flemish Secondary Accounting Education: Perceived Challenges, Opportunities, and Future Directions
Accounting Education, v33 n4 p414-449 2024
The accounting profession no longer merely accentuates hard accounting skills, but also increasingly soft social skills. Previous studies have shown that teamwork, communication, leadership, and critical thinking skills became indispensable. Because accounting education is no longer aligned with these needs of the profession, a skills gap has arisen between the competences graduates possess, and the competences employers demand. We will answer the call of scholars and policymakers to investigate social skills from early on, in secondary education. The research objective is twofold. First, it examines which types of social skills are being addressed in secondary accounting education. Second, it focuses on the challenges and opportunities experienced by accounting educators when addressing social skills. We answer this research objective via semi-structured interviews with 14 Flemish educational stakeholders who represented three educational levels (i.e. microlevel accounting teachers, mesolevel pedagogical counsellors, and macrolevel policymakers), hereby accommodating a multivocal perspective. Results revealed that teamwork and communication are emphasized more frequently than leadership and critical thinking. Second, teachers identified various challenges and opportunities, such as overcrowded curricula, student diversity, and complex social skills assessment. Important implications for accounting educators wanting to enhance students' future employability by stimulating their social skills are discussed.
Descriptors: Interpersonal Competence, Secondary Education, Accounting, Foreign Countries, Soft Skills, Teamwork, Communication (Thought Transfer), Employment Potential, Secondary School Teachers, Teacher Attitudes, School Counselors, Counselor Attitudes, Faculty Advisers, Attitudes
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Belgium
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A