Creating access to powerful knowledge in accounting education: a case study of pedagogies used in an accountancy diploma
- Authors: West, Janét
- Date: 2025-04-03
- Subjects: Accounting Study and teaching South Africa , Educational change , Knowledge, Theory of , Critical thinking , Semantics
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480062 , vital:78393 , DOI 10.21504/10962/480062
- Description: Students enter universities to obtain a qualification that they believe will enhance their chances of employment and thereby a better future. But the World Economic Forum states that the world of work is changing so fast that 75% of companies are not prepared for the pace at which their industries are changing. The field of accounting, and accounting education in particular, is facing significant challenges as accountants change from being ‘number crunchers’ to engaging business partners. There is also a decrease in the demand for accountants, at the same time as increasing complaints that accounting graduates are unprepared for their work. These contextual challenges raise the question of ‘What can higher education institutions do to prepare students for a future of rapid change and uncertainty, specifically within the field of accounting?’ This study argues that epistemological access to powerful knowledge is essential for creating lifelong learners that can adapt to change. The study draws on Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to visualise the powerful knowledge that students require access to in two thirdyear modules within a Diploma of Accounting. This is followed by an analysis of the pedagogies used in the two modules and how access to powerful knowledge is enabled (or hindered) through the pedagogical practices. Data include lecturer observations, course documents and interviews. The study found that there are significant differences between the knowledge structures of the modules, despite them being part of the same discipline. Furthermore, through the analysis I was able to identify key patterns in the pedagogies that enable access to powerful knowledge as well as pedagogical approaches that may constrain access to powerful knowledge. The findings of this study can help accounting lecturers as well as lecturers in similar disciplines to consider how their pedagogical practices enable epistemological access to the target powerful knowledge of their discipline. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, 2025
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2025-04-03
- Authors: West, Janét
- Date: 2025-04-03
- Subjects: Accounting Study and teaching South Africa , Educational change , Knowledge, Theory of , Critical thinking , Semantics
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480062 , vital:78393 , DOI 10.21504/10962/480062
- Description: Students enter universities to obtain a qualification that they believe will enhance their chances of employment and thereby a better future. But the World Economic Forum states that the world of work is changing so fast that 75% of companies are not prepared for the pace at which their industries are changing. The field of accounting, and accounting education in particular, is facing significant challenges as accountants change from being ‘number crunchers’ to engaging business partners. There is also a decrease in the demand for accountants, at the same time as increasing complaints that accounting graduates are unprepared for their work. These contextual challenges raise the question of ‘What can higher education institutions do to prepare students for a future of rapid change and uncertainty, specifically within the field of accounting?’ This study argues that epistemological access to powerful knowledge is essential for creating lifelong learners that can adapt to change. The study draws on Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to visualise the powerful knowledge that students require access to in two thirdyear modules within a Diploma of Accounting. This is followed by an analysis of the pedagogies used in the two modules and how access to powerful knowledge is enabled (or hindered) through the pedagogical practices. Data include lecturer observations, course documents and interviews. The study found that there are significant differences between the knowledge structures of the modules, despite them being part of the same discipline. Furthermore, through the analysis I was able to identify key patterns in the pedagogies that enable access to powerful knowledge as well as pedagogical approaches that may constrain access to powerful knowledge. The findings of this study can help accounting lecturers as well as lecturers in similar disciplines to consider how their pedagogical practices enable epistemological access to the target powerful knowledge of their discipline. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, 2025
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2025-04-03
Developing the behaviours that we value in physics knowers through implementing aspects of the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach in a South African high school
- Authors: Cobbing, Kathleen Margaret
- Date: 2025-04-03
- Subjects: Science Study and teaching (Secondary) South Africa , Knowledge, Theory of , Reflective learning , Critical thinking , Action research in education
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/479874 , vital:78375 , DOI 10.21504/10962/479874
- Description: Situated in Physics Education Research, this study focused on physics learning through the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach. The ISLE approach is underpinned by the belief that students should learn physics through doing physics, and that all aspects of the learning experience should seek to enhance student well-being. The ISLE approach was introduced in the physics classrooms of two, well-resourced, independent South African high schools. Physics provides a context in which to develop behaviours that assist learning and that promote a learning-orientated mindset. Physics students need to be able to (i) actively engage to facilitate learning, (ii) connect the domains of a problem to construct a coherent knowledge structure, (iii) transfer their understanding of a concept to a new context, and (iv) grapple with concepts and problems. These behaviours, which are valued in physics students, should be modelled through activities so that students can be trained to adopt these practices. The Specialization dimension of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) was used as the analytical framework for this study and translation devices were developed and used to code the activities in terms of the behaviours that they value. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in a mixed methods approach, and inductively determined codes were thematically analysed. The ISLE activities, as well as activities that were developed, based on ISLE principles, were found to legitimate the behaviours that we value in physics knowers. The student experience of the ISLE approach demonstrated the development of these behaviours for many students, although there remained a strong emphasis on performance. Activities that model all four of the valued behaviours were particularly effective. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Physics and Electronics, 2025
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2025-04-03
- Authors: Cobbing, Kathleen Margaret
- Date: 2025-04-03
- Subjects: Science Study and teaching (Secondary) South Africa , Knowledge, Theory of , Reflective learning , Critical thinking , Action research in education
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/479874 , vital:78375 , DOI 10.21504/10962/479874
- Description: Situated in Physics Education Research, this study focused on physics learning through the Investigative Science Learning Environment (ISLE) approach. The ISLE approach is underpinned by the belief that students should learn physics through doing physics, and that all aspects of the learning experience should seek to enhance student well-being. The ISLE approach was introduced in the physics classrooms of two, well-resourced, independent South African high schools. Physics provides a context in which to develop behaviours that assist learning and that promote a learning-orientated mindset. Physics students need to be able to (i) actively engage to facilitate learning, (ii) connect the domains of a problem to construct a coherent knowledge structure, (iii) transfer their understanding of a concept to a new context, and (iv) grapple with concepts and problems. These behaviours, which are valued in physics students, should be modelled through activities so that students can be trained to adopt these practices. The Specialization dimension of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) was used as the analytical framework for this study and translation devices were developed and used to code the activities in terms of the behaviours that they value. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected in a mixed methods approach, and inductively determined codes were thematically analysed. The ISLE activities, as well as activities that were developed, based on ISLE principles, were found to legitimate the behaviours that we value in physics knowers. The student experience of the ISLE approach demonstrated the development of these behaviours for many students, although there remained a strong emphasis on performance. Activities that model all four of the valued behaviours were particularly effective. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Humanities, Physics and Electronics, 2025
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2025-04-03
Investigating the basis of legitimation of English literary studies: a case study of a curriculum at a South African University
- Authors: Knoetze, Retha
- Date: 2025-04-03
- Subjects: Knowledge, Theory of , Critical thinking , English literature Study and teaching (Higher) South Africa , Neoliberalism South Africa , Critical literacy , Transformative learning
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480050 , vital:78392 , DOI 10.21504/10962/480050
- Description: This study explored the kinds of knowledge, ways of knowing and ways of being that are valued in English literary studies. It did so by providing an analysis of what was needed to succeed in a specific English literary studies curriculum. The study used the Specialisation dimension of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to investigate what is legitimated in an English literature curriculum at the University of South Africa (UNISA) across three years of undergraduate study. The purpose of this analysis was twofold. Firstly, it aimed to make the academic literacy practices of English literary studies more explicit in order to inform pedagogy intended to enable epistemological and ontological access to the discipline. Secondly, the study aimed to facilitate critiques of the curriculum from a social justice perspective by finding ways to make the basis for legitimacy (the ways of being and knowing that are valued) in the curriculum more explicit to both the academics and the students. The study found that English literary studies, as practised at UNISA, was underpinned by what LCT refers to as a ‘cultivated gaze’. This aligns with the findings of previous LCT studies that looked at English literary studies using the dimension of Specialisation. A discipline that is underpinned by a cultivated gaze requires students to exhibit a specific disposition that develops through immersion in the field over an extended period in order to be considered a legitimate knower. The study also found that two orientations within the cultivated gaze were legitimated in the curriculum: an aesthetic orientation and a socio-critical orientation. This finding adds to the previous research because it helps us to better understand the kinds of dispositions that are valued in English literary studies and how these dispositions are cultivated over time. In addition, the study found that neoliberal factors such as massification, managerialism and academic casualisation caused misalignments between the intended curriculum and the practices employed to teach and assess the curriculum. This placed particular limitations on one of the aims of the curriculum which was to cultivate a socially oriented criticality. This finding has implications for how we teach Humanities curricula that aim to develop critical citizens. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, 2025
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2025-04-03
- Authors: Knoetze, Retha
- Date: 2025-04-03
- Subjects: Knowledge, Theory of , Critical thinking , English literature Study and teaching (Higher) South Africa , Neoliberalism South Africa , Critical literacy , Transformative learning
- Language: English
- Type: Academic theses , Doctoral theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10962/480050 , vital:78392 , DOI 10.21504/10962/480050
- Description: This study explored the kinds of knowledge, ways of knowing and ways of being that are valued in English literary studies. It did so by providing an analysis of what was needed to succeed in a specific English literary studies curriculum. The study used the Specialisation dimension of Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to investigate what is legitimated in an English literature curriculum at the University of South Africa (UNISA) across three years of undergraduate study. The purpose of this analysis was twofold. Firstly, it aimed to make the academic literacy practices of English literary studies more explicit in order to inform pedagogy intended to enable epistemological and ontological access to the discipline. Secondly, the study aimed to facilitate critiques of the curriculum from a social justice perspective by finding ways to make the basis for legitimacy (the ways of being and knowing that are valued) in the curriculum more explicit to both the academics and the students. The study found that English literary studies, as practised at UNISA, was underpinned by what LCT refers to as a ‘cultivated gaze’. This aligns with the findings of previous LCT studies that looked at English literary studies using the dimension of Specialisation. A discipline that is underpinned by a cultivated gaze requires students to exhibit a specific disposition that develops through immersion in the field over an extended period in order to be considered a legitimate knower. The study also found that two orientations within the cultivated gaze were legitimated in the curriculum: an aesthetic orientation and a socio-critical orientation. This finding adds to the previous research because it helps us to better understand the kinds of dispositions that are valued in English literary studies and how these dispositions are cultivated over time. In addition, the study found that neoliberal factors such as massification, managerialism and academic casualisation caused misalignments between the intended curriculum and the practices employed to teach and assess the curriculum. This placed particular limitations on one of the aims of the curriculum which was to cultivate a socially oriented criticality. This finding has implications for how we teach Humanities curricula that aim to develop critical citizens. , Thesis (PhD) -- Faculty of Education, Centre for Higher Education Research, Teaching and Learning, 2025
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2025-04-03
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