Reflective practice and learning in accounting education

Abstract

This study explores the extent to which a unique and disruptive experience (a field trip to a prison) combined with reflective writing resulted in transformative learning by students enrolled in an accounting ethics course. Students were provided with clearly defined steps (‘prompts’) designed to encourage them to think logically and to reflect upon their experience, with student narratives collected before, and following the field trip. Analysis of these narratives reveals evidence of transformative learning in that students articulated not just the content of learning but changes in their perspectives of accounting practice, white-collar offenders and what it should mean to be a professional accountant.

Keywords Transformative learning, Reflective practice, Accounting ethics, Reflective prompts