Assessment at the centre of strategies of [accountant] learning in groups, substantiated with qualitative reflections in student assessments

Having students learn and be assessed in groups is a means to develop among students intellectual and interactive skills/competencies described as generic or “wicked”, as well as of producing deeper learning of various types of knowledge (e.g. organicistic, contextualistic, formistic, mechanistic). This paper reports assessments constituting and reflecting strategies of learning in groups. The assessments and the strategies were crafted while working with students on four courses presented annually in recent years and covering accounting, management and finance for public services and private activities in various organisations. Data about group experiences and their implications for working as accountants were collected from students during assessments and are used to elaborate the strategies. The paper provides insights into reducing impediments among students and teachers to shifting learning from teacher-centred to learner-centred, and suggests areas for further research in reducing institutional impediments.