Exploring the Integration of Sustainability and Critical Perspectives into UK University Accounting Education

This thesis is an inquiry into the UK's undergraduate accounting education with the aim of examining the integration of sustainability and critical perspectives into the curriculum. The study is driven by an urgent need to expand the narrow technical content that fails to support the long-term wellbeing of our society and planet. Building on the educational theories of Vygotsky (1978) and Freire (2005), this study’s theoretical framework maps the components of the accounting education process and helps to analyse empirical evidence. The evidence was derived from semi-structured interviews with accounting professors and lecturers complemented with longitudinal surveys from accounting students. The study found that while the accounting lecturers are the most influential More Knowledgeable Other (MKO), many exhibit signs of oppression (acceptance of capital-holder wealth maximisation interest supremacy). Such state of mind coupled with limited pedagogical knowledge and pressures from external factors drives lecturers to perpetuate the delivery of a limited technical content. Such approach to teaching means that students internalise a dual mind set in their views of accounting and the role of accountant, i.e. students understand the necessity of thinking beyond economic factors but learn to prioritise the unsustainable oppressor (capital-holder) interests (financial). Adding to the original framework, critical accounting researchers were identified as the Critical MKO – a vital for the curriculum expansion process component. However, the findings indicated that individual self-interest hamper the leadership ability amongst the members of the critical research community. The study extends the understanding of the accounting education process and contribute to the body of critical accounting education research. It highlights the need for the critical accounting research communities to take on the leadership responsibilities and actively unite in the efforts to ensure the recognition of sustainability and critical thinking in the accounting curriculum.