Teaching and Learning Gaps in Accounting Education: Implications for the Employability of Accounting Graduates

Abstract

There is a substantial body of empirical literature on university students' self‐perceived approaches to learning, but evidence on instructors' perceptions of the way they facilitate their students' learning approaches is less evident. This study aims to investigate the extent of the gap between students' learning approaches and instructors' teaching orientations towards facilitating these approaches. The subsequent employability of accounting graduates depends in part on the nature and extent of this gap. Student learning approaches are measured on two dimensions ‐ deep and strategic approaches ‐ drawn from Tait's and Entwistle's (1995) Revised Approaches to Studying Inventory (RASI). Instructors' facilitation of students' learning is measured by a re‐orientation of the same RASI instrument towards teaching approaches. The results reveal several significant differences of emphasis between instructors and students in terms of deep and strategic approaches. Students are falling short of what their instructors believe they are facilitating in terms of the development of their employability competencies and characteristics for a professional career. When students are grouped according to gender, further significant differences are found. Implications of these findings for future change in accounting education are discussed.

Citation

Taylor, D.W., Fisher, J. and Sulaiman, M. (2001), "Teaching and Learning Gaps in Accounting Education: Implications for the Employability of Accounting Graduates", Asian Review of Accounting, Vol. 9 No. 2, pp. 3-22. https://doi.org/10.1108/eb060740