A self-study of my role modelling as a teacher educator of accounting pedagogy.

Abstract

Through this self-study research I explored what I was role modelling for students as a teacher educator of accounting pedagogy in a South African university of technology. My purpose was to align my pedagogical practice with my educational values in order to develop as a more productive role model. My research questions were: a) What could have influenced my role modelling as a teacher educator of accounting pedagogy? b) What am I role modelling for my students as a teacher educator of accounting pedagogy? and c) How can I develop as a more productive role model? I used arts-based methods to generate and represent data to answer my research questions. For my first question, I used a personal history approach by recalling specific episodes, people, and places in my life history that could have influenced me in certain ways. For my second and third questions, I videotaped my lectures, reflected on the videotapes, and wrote in my reflective journal. Furthermore, I gathered evidence from students in the form of a reflective questionnaire, metaphor drawings, and the institution’s lecturer evaluation surveys. I also had conversations with critical friends and colleagues. I then developed three collage portraits to represent my learning. In constructing this thesis, I used the children’s novel, The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett (1969), as a creative nonfiction device. Through the process of going back into my personal history, I was able to confront the demons that haunted my life and caused me to role model in certain ways. Through self-study of my pedagogical practice, I role modelled new ideas and more innovative teaching strategies as I enacted purposeful pedagogies from a social constructivist perspective. Moreover, I learned that I could inspire students by incorporating the arts into my lessons. Overall, through my study, I developed my own living educational theory and in so doing I am on my way to becoming a more productive role model. As my educational values continue to evolve in response to, and in relationship with, my lived experience and significant people in my life, I will be changing and learning.