Christine Howitt

Generic skills for graduate accountants: the bigger picture, a social and economic imperative in the new knowledge economy

The case for integrating generic skills in university accounting programmes is well documented in the literature, but the implementation of strategies designed to teach generic skills in the context of accounting courses has posed ongoing challenges for academics and course administrators. The imperative for generic skills in accounting programmes derives from an economic view of the role of universities, reflecting the views of government and employers who perceive graduates as economic assets to business and the economy. It is argued that the role of universities extends beyond the economic imperative to encompass a greater social and cultural role. This paper traces the historical evolution of the generic skills discourse with an emphasis on accounting and places it in the broader context of the social and economic roles of universities in an era of transformation in the sector. The generic skills discourse, however, transcends disciplinary boundaries and international borders. The new knowledge economy, emerging as a result of technological advancement, needs graduates across disciplines with flexible mindsets and transferable skill sets, capable of innovating and adapting to a dynamic work environment. Consequently, universities must develop the transferable, generic skills required by graduates to advance their careers and contribute to economic innovation and social development. The generic skills debate must, therefore, be addressed from a systemic perspective, reaching beyond national and disciplinary borders. The lessons learned from the generic skills debate in accounting have wider interdisciplinary application for university policy-makers and educators facing the challenges of a new era in higher education.

Science in Early Learning Centres: Satisfying Curiosity, Guided Play or Lost Opportunities?

Although much has been written about improving primary school science and scientific skills for children, not a lot has been done to find out what science actually looks like for very young children. A common belief among adults is that science concept learning is something to be addressed in the later years of schooling. Thus, early childhood educators tend not to emphasise science teaching and learning. Science, however, is a discipline upon which all curriculum learning can begin as young children are innately curious about their surroundings. As a means of viewing emergent science in three different early learning centres, individual children have been observed to develop case studies about their experiences of scientific discovery. These case studies highlight different interpretations of science teaching and learning: children satisfying their own curiosity, the use of guided play to develop scientific process skills and the recognition that even with the best intentions, opportunities to develop scientific skills can be easily lost. Pedagogical implications of this research highlight a need for early childhood educators to provide dedicated unstructured play time, resources and adequate space to enhance logical thinking and science learning in early learning centres. The role of a significant adult to assist conceptual understanding and guide a child’s scientific learning is pivotal. This role should acknowledge an awareness of the everyday nature of science and the potential of every child to be a scientist.

Meaningful informed consent with young children: looking forward through an interactive narrative approach

Ideas about ethical research with young children are evolving at a rapid rate. Not only can young children participate in the informed consent process, but researchers now also recognize that the process must be meaningful for them. As part of a larger study, this article reviews childrens rights and informed consent literature as the foundation for the development of a new conceptual model of meaningful early childhood informed consent. Based on this model, an ‘interactive narrative’ approach is presented as a means to inform three- to eight-year-old children about what their participation might involve and to assist them to understand and respond as research participants. For use with small groups, this approach revolves around a storybook based on research-related factual images delivered via interactive (re)telling. This narrative approach to informed consent is unique in its holistic design which seeks to address the specific needs of young children in research.

Dual Vision: Capturing the Learning Journey of Pre-Service Early Childhood Teachers of Science.

Teacher educators are consistently challenged with the problem of how to construct more meaningful and relevant experiences within their science methods courses. The research presented in this paper addressed this problem on two levels. On a pedagogical level, the aim of the research was to capture the salient details about how one pre‐service early childhood teacher interpreted her journey about learning science and how to teach science over a 10‐week science methods course. On a methodological level, the aim of this research was to describe, trial and evaluate a new, qualitative research method called ‘dual vision’ that enables critical incidents to be constructed and interpreted through the combined lenses of the pre‐service teacher and the researcher. This exploratory research embraced a constructivist‐interpretive research paradigm and was informed by the literature on critical incidents. The dual vision methodological process provided the researcher with an opportunity to move into the reality of the pre‐service teacher, allowed both voices to be heard and, as a consequence, provided rich images of the pre‐service teacher’s experiences that are not accessible through other methods. Moreover, the dual vision method demonstrated rigorous advantages that are presented in this paper through an examination of three sets of criteria for legitimation.

Using interactive nonfiction narrative to enhance competence in the informed consent process with 3-year-old children

ABSTRACT Ensuring young children’s competence to participate meaningfully in the informed consent process is a troublesome ethical issue. Evolving recognition of the influence of context and relationship, researcher perspective, and researcher responsibility to provide adequate support has advanced understanding of how this might be achieved. Here, we report the findings of the pilot trial of a new approach that used an ‘interactive nonfiction narrative’ to enhance young children’s capacity to provide meaningful informed consent. This innovative approach employs (re)telling strategies and technology (interactive) to convey factual information about the research (nonfiction) via a story (narrative) to promote participant understanding. Case studies of two 3-year-old boys and their mothers captured participants’ understanding of the informing and consent process. Data collection in the child’s home took place over 11 weeks and included conversations with children and semi-structured interviews with parents on three occasions, together with videos of children interacting with the informing story. We found that children understood many of the key concepts, including the research problem and how they could ‘help’ (participate). Children also understood that they could cease their participation, with one boy exercising his right to opt out towards the end of the study.

Increasing Accessibility to Science in Early Childhood Teacher Education Through Collaboration Between Teacher Educators and Science/Engineering Academics

The challenge of better preparing pre-service early childhood teachers to deliver appropriate science learning experiences in the classroom poses complex yet relevant issues. An innovative strategy to solve this problem has been a unique cross-discipline and collaborative approach. The purpose of this innovation was to provide pre-service early childhood teachers with the best possible chance of acquiring the requisite science content to merge with their pedagogical skills and thus increase their confidence to teach science in the classroom. The collaborative approach involved teacher educators and science/engineering academics together developing science resources and implementing them through team-teaching within the pre-service teachers’ science methods course. Data collection from the pre-service teachers included pre- and post-questionnaires, open-ended questions, poster analysis and semi-structured interviews. Across the course, the pre-service teachers’ confidence to teach science increased due to being shown how to teach science to young children, the wide range of ideas and activities presented that could be transferred to the early childhood classroom and increased science content knowledge. Science content knowledge increased due to active participation within the science methods course, access to science/engineering academics to explain concepts and information presented within the new science resources. This collaborative approach to developing and implementing science resources within a science methods course increased pre-service teachers’ accessibility to science and encouraged the teaching of science in the early childhood classroom.

A hierarchical model of children’s research participation rights based on information, understanding, voice, and influence

ABSTRACT This paper introduces a hierarchical model of children’s (3- to 8-year olds) research participation rights that builds on work by Roger Hart and integrates key participation rights drawn from UNCRC Article 12: information, understanding, voice, and influence. It provides insight into the various levels of information that can be provided to children, the understanding that results, the scope given to them to express their views, and the degree to which their voices ultimately exert influence in research contexts. Each of these four elements plays a unique role in upholding and enhancing children’s rights in research and emphasises the need for rights to be woven into the fabric of a research project from its conception. Considering children’s rights of research participation in a more integrated manner, as suggested by the hierarchy, has the potential to improve participation experiences for children and to value them as citizens with meaningful rights.

Developing Effective Pedagogical Approaches in Science Outreach Programs for Young Children

Recognition of the importance of providing science-related experiences for young children has resulted in increased numbers of outreach programs aimed at a preschool audience. Early meaningful experiences of science have been found to promote children’s interest in science and enhance their self-belief that they can be effective science learners. However, ensuring that outreach programs fulfill their potential depends largely on the pedagogical approaches of the informal educators who deliver the program. Understanding how young children learn and valuing the range of knowledge and experience they bring provides a context in which their formative ideas about science can be shaped. In this chapter we draw upon our research into one outreach program with 3- and 4-year-old children where we worked with informal science educators to promote a positive environment that encouraged learning through play. We found that effective pedagogy involved active participation by the educator throughout the program. This role involves, firstly, emotional support, followed by modelling and encouraging exploration by the children, and then questioning. Through this process informal science educators can develop science conversations with children to extend their current knowledge and ideas. Our research emphasized that informal science educators must thoroughly understand the purpose and potential of their outreach program as a whole and that it is more than offering young children a variety of interesting activities.