Barriers to the Teaching of Skills in the Greek Higher Education Accounting Courses: Insight from Accounting Teachers

Abstract

The present article analyses the responses of accounting teachers regarding the introduction of professional skills in Greek Higher Education Institutions (HEIs). The main themes of the interviews questions included the importance of professional skills for accounting and business administration students (ABA), the skills' gap between the actual and the expected skills of the graduates as well as the barriers to the introduction of soft skills in the accounting courses. The development of skills and competences in parallel to subject knowledge (hard skills) has been a prerequisite to the curriculum of HEIs in Greece. This prerequisite signifies a paradigm shift from the teacher-centred to the student-centred education. The author conducted interviews with accounting teachers from Universities and from Higher Technological Educational Institutions. The analysis of the interviews revealed the teachers' attitude towards skills introduction as well as the obstacles to their efforts that derive from multiple sources: the structure of the educational system, the teachers and the students.