Muhammad Al Mahameed, Umair Riaz and Lara Gee
This paper aims to examine the effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the relationship between UK universities and professional accounting bodies (PABs) in the context…
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to examine the effects of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on the relationship between UK universities and professional accounting bodies (PABs) in the context of the accreditation system and how well prepared this relationship was to observe and respond to the pandemic.
Design/methodology/approach
The research draws on 10 semi-structured interviews and correspondence, with six English universities in the context of their relationship with three PABs to build an extended analytical structure to understand the nature and extent of the accreditation system in light of COVID-19.
Findings
The study shows that COVID-19 has highlighted pedagogical and ideological conflicts within the PAB–university relationship. The analysis shows that, in an attempt to resolve these conflicts, universities demonstrate “unrequited love” for PABs by limiting changes to assessments to meet the PABs’ criteria. Indeed, PABs face very little resistance from universities. This further constrains academics by suppressing innovation and limiting their scope to learn and adopt new skills, habits and teaching styles.
Originality/value
The paper highlights the weakness of the PAB–university relationship. Moreover, it shows that rather than using the pandemic crisis to question this relationship, PABs may seek to promote their accounting pedagogy and retain greater control of the accounting curriculum. This can entail the transformation of academics into translators of PABs’ accounting pedagogy rather than exercising academic freedom and promoting critical thinking.
Details
Keywords
Jeffrey B. Holmes and Elisabeth R. Gee
– This paper aims to provide a framework for understanding and differentiating among different forms of game-based teaching and learning (GBTL).
Abstract
Purpose
This paper aims to provide a framework for understanding and differentiating among different forms of game-based teaching and learning (GBTL).
Design/methodology/approach
The framework is based on an analysis of existing literature and descriptions of GBTL in varied higher education settings, combined with case examples of the author’s personal experience as instructors of GBTL courses.
Findings
Four frames or categories of GBTL approaches were identified: the action frame, the structuring frame, the bridging frame and the design frame. Each frame represents a spectrum of related yet varied strategies and assumptions.
Originality/value
This framework is a first attempt at providing an analytic tool for making sense of the varied instantiations of GBTL in higher education. It can be useful as a heuristic tool for researchers as well as a generative model for designing future GBTL practices.
Details
Keywords
The study aims to show how the public interest has been argued to justify the political interference in the accounting of financial entities as a tool to face a critical financial…
Abstract
Purpose
The study aims to show how the public interest has been argued to justify the political interference in the accounting of financial entities as a tool to face a critical financial situation in a country. And to offer a different perspective of the publicness notion that focuses on the field of financial accounting for private entities.
Design/methodology/approach
The paper draws on legal and political arguments referred to the public interest that consider the balancing approach, and so goes beyond the traditional agency framework, to explain politicians' influence on financial reporting. The behavior of the newly elected Spanish government, which issued accounting impairment rules for banks is described, and the accounting practices of a highly politically connected financial entity—Bankia—are used to illustrate the consequences of that intervention.
Findings
The paper evidences that the government intervention, which implied non-compliance with IFRS, was in line with its economic goals, led to the financial sector bailout and avoided the rescue of the country. This is what we call “breaking rules to achieve the public interest”, which is also consistent with a big-bath behavior to justify the bailout and legitimate the decision to breach IFRS. The silence of enforcers is consistent with the balancing approach that suggests compliance costs from a breach of rules are perceived less relevant after a high-level decision.
Research limitations/implications
This is a country-specific study based on a single case study that limits the generalizability of the findings.
Originality/value
This research provides a new angle to consider the political motivations to intervene in accounting in the private sector, as well as the enforcers' motivations to allow it. From an interdisciplinary perspective, it shows how politicians have argued the “public interest” to use (and abuse) to intervene in accounting rules, as well as to influence the accounting practice of a highly politically connected bank. It also highlights the potential long-term unintended consequences of these actions.
Details
Keywords
Samantha Cooke, Anna Daiches and Emma Hickey
As part of an attitudinal shift surrounding personality disorder stigma, a training package termed the Knowledge and Understanding Framework (KUF) is delivered in collaboration…
Abstract
Purpose
As part of an attitudinal shift surrounding personality disorder stigma, a training package termed the Knowledge and Understanding Framework (KUF) is delivered in collaboration between experts by experience (EBE) and professionals. The purpose of this paper is to explore the narratives of EBE delivering KUF; in particular the impact of this role and its varying contexts.
Design/methodology/approach
Eight women took part in the study and a narrative analysis explored their stories.
Findings
The analysis suggested five temporal chapters: first, life before becoming involved: “Like being in a milk bottle screaming”; second, a turning point: “It wasn’t actually me that was disordered it was the life that I’d had”; third, taking up the trainer role: “It all just […] took off”; fourth, the emergence of a professional identity: “I am no longer a service user”; and fifth, impact on self, impact on others.
Originality/value
The use of qualitative literature is sparse within co-production research. The study therefore adds value in exploring in-depth experiences of the phenomena.
Details
Keywords
Vicki A. Hosek and Lara J. Handsfield
The purpose of this study was to examine teacher decisions surrounding opportunities for student voice, experiences and beliefs in digital classroom communities. The teachers’…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this study was to examine teacher decisions surrounding opportunities for student voice, experiences and beliefs in digital classroom communities. The teachers’ decisions reflect monologic rather than dialogic teacher pedagogies which prompted the authors to ask the following question: What led to these teacher-centered practices in digital environments?
Design/methodology/approach
Authoritative discourses in school policies and a missing connection between critical pedagogies and teachers’ technology practices are examined in light of teachers’ decisions to engage in monologic and/or dialogic teaching practices. The authors propose professional development and research that emphasize pedagogy that supports student voice as foundational to practices involving digital literacies.
Findings
Examination of the teachers’ decisions showed monologic practices void of student opportunities to critically engage in digital environments. Dominant discourses imposed through protectionist and digital citizenship policies of schools as well as lack of opportunity through professional development to connect critical pedagogy to technology impacted the teachers’ decisions.
Originality/value
Current research surrounding teachers’ digital literacies uses the TPACK framework to examine technology integration practices. Missing is a critical component that addresses and works to dismantle the dominant discourses and power structures in digital communities (Author, 2018). The authors build on research in critical digital literacies to argue for adding the critical missing “C” into the TPACK framework (C-TPACK) to move researchers and educators to consider pedagogies that examine ideologies at work in digital communities to provide opportunities for student voice.
Details
Keywords
The purpose of this paper is to explore the contexts in which part‐time academics pursue their professional development practices at one Lebanese higher education institution.
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to explore the contexts in which part‐time academics pursue their professional development practices at one Lebanese higher education institution.
Design/methodology/approach
A case‐study was carried out at the Western Oriental University (WOU) (a pseudonym) where 23 part‐timers and three full‐timers (ex‐part‐timers) were interviewed. To triangulate the data, four of the participants were asked to participate in diary writing. In addition, document checking was carried out. The part‐timers were chosen to represent the wider population of part‐timers at the University. Thus, they were chosen to illustrate particular factors characterizing part‐timers, such as gender, seniority, educational standing, number of work sites and type of part‐time choice. Thematic and discourse analysis were used to analyze the data and investigate the contexts and their impacts on the professional development practices carried out by the participants under study.
Findings
Analysis revealed that professional development efforts are greatly curtailed for the part‐timers under study by the unfortunate circumstances of part‐time work in general, coupled with the more specific country situation and particular university practices. Professional development practices which are essential for securing “lifetime employability” of the participants seem, as a result, to be seriously abridged, making them insecure – both in the short and long run.
Originality/value
Reflecting upon the practices taking place at the WOU could be used to give an idea about the difficulties encountered by other part‐timers at other universities in the region.
Details
Keywords
Katrina Elizabeth Champion, Emma Louise Barrett, Tim Slade, Maree Teesson and Nicola Clare Newton
Alcohol and cannabis are the two most commonly used substances by young people in many developed nations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the longitudinal relationships…
Abstract
Purpose
Alcohol and cannabis are the two most commonly used substances by young people in many developed nations. The purpose of this paper is to explore the longitudinal relationships between risky substance use (binge drinking and cannabis use) and psychological distress, emotional and behavioural difficulties, and truancy among Australian adolescents.
Design/methodology/approach
A total of 527 students (Mage=13.4 years, SD=0.43; 67 per cent female) from seven Australian schools completed an online self-report survey on four occasions over two years (baseline, 6, 12 and 24 months). The survey assessed binge drinking (5+ standard drinks on one occasion), cannabis use in the past six months, psychological distress, emotional and behavioural difficulties (Strength and Difficulties Questionnaire), and truancy. Generalised estimating equations (GEEs) were conducted to examine the longitudinal relationship between the substance use outcomes and each predictor variable.
Findings
At baseline, 3 per cent of students reported binge drinking and 6 per cent had used cannabis in the past six months. Rates of binge drinking significantly increased over time (21.1 per cent at 24 months) however, rates of cannabis use remained relatively stable (8.8 per cent at 24 months). Multivariate GEE analyses indicated that higher levels of hyperactivity/inattention, more days of truancy and being female were independently and consistently associated with binge drinking over time. Conduct problems was the only factor to be independently associated with cannabis use over time.
Originality/value
These findings provide valuable information about psychosocial risk factors for harmful alcohol and cannabis use. A better understanding of these associations is critical for informing substance use prevention efforts in the future.
Details
Keywords
Pamela Jewett and Deborah MacPhee
The purpose of this paper is to provide an account of the coaching element that was included in an existing graduate literacy course and to describe the responses of experienced…
Abstract
Purpose
The purpose of this paper is to provide an account of the coaching element that was included in an existing graduate literacy course and to describe the responses of experienced and less‐experienced teachers as they began to add collaborative peer coaching to their teaching identities.
Design/methodology/approach
Data collected included teachers’ coaching logs and written reflections on the coaching experience, and field notes taken by a professor. Data were analysed qualitatively through open coding. Initially, the authors read data individually and coded them by what they perceived to be the teachers’ coaching moves. Separately, they developed lists of codes and then reviewed coding lists to work through idiosyncratic data, collapse codes, align their language.
Findings
The authors identified three overarching and multi‐faceted moves that the coaching teachers made as they worked with partner teachers. They found that the teachers: used restraint; focused on partner teacher's needs; and provided opportunities for classroom observations and demonstrations.
Practical implications
Due to budget cuts, district coaching initiatives are being down‐sized. With fewer literacy coaches available, the authors believe that classroom teachers would benefit from learning about how to support each another as peer coaches.
Social implications
Teachers’ coaching moves, along with the curricular conversations engendered by them, created a culture of learning based on reflection and dialogue between coaching and partner teachers.
Originality/value
Very few studies have been conducted on peer coaching or have addressed the process by which teachers enrolled in graduate programs learned how to engage in collaborative peer coaching.
Details
Keywords
Angela Maddock and Jennifer Oates
Health-care student resilience is a well-researched topic, although the concept continues to evolve, not least as “resilience-building” has become an expected feature of…
Abstract
Purpose
Health-care student resilience is a well-researched topic, although the concept continues to evolve, not least as “resilience-building” has become an expected feature of health-care student professional education. The study aimed to understand the concept of resilience from the point of view of student nurses and midwives.
Design/methodology/approach
The study used a novel arts-informed method, informed by Miller’s and Turkle’s work on “evocative objects.” A total of 25 student nurses and midwives from a London-based university selected “resilience objects” which were photographed and discussed during interviews with an artist-researcher.
Findings
Analysis of the interviews revealed that “resilience” was founded on identity, connection, activity and protection. “Resilience objects” were used in everyday rituals and “resilience” was a characteristic that developed over time through the inhabiting of multiple identities.
Practical implications
Given that resilience is intertwined with notions of identity, health-care faculties should enhance students’ sense of identity, including, but not exclusively, nursing or midwifery professional identity, and invite students to develop simple rituals to cope with the challenges of health-care work.
Originality/value
To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first study to locate health-care students’ resilience in specific material objects. Novel insights are that health-care students used everyday rituals and everyday objects to connect to their sense of purpose and manage their emotions, as means of being resilient.