Balloons, plasticine and post-its were all that remained at the end the 10^th ECoP event on Monday 25 August in St Andrews. Under the banner of ‘reimagining accounting education’, participants discussed what inspires and informs design and delivery of learning and teaching for sustainability accounting.

The two plenary speakers offered opportunities to consider the role that textbooks and pedagogies can play in supporting innovations in accounting education. Lead Professor Susan Smith (UCL) introduced the innovative Accounting Streams project. Launched in 2024, this collaboratively produced open access textbook aims to “reimagine accounting education for contemporary society”.  Susan’s talk introduced participants to the ethos of the project and the variety of chapters, pedagogical approaches, including service-learning and simulation, through which students can learn about accounting and its role in society. Susan invited participants across the CSAER community to join future workshops and consider developing material for the textbook.

Our second contribution from Professors Chandana Alawattage and Danture Wickramasinghe (Glasgow) shared insights from their recent publication in Accounting Education “Teaching strategic management accounting with sustainability”.  Taking a critical social science perspective, they called for an exploration of foundational contradictions between ecology, society, polity and economy, leading to the development of a “justice-orientated” rather than “accumulation orientated” learning. In thinking through the implications of justice pedagogies, Chandana and Danture propose a ‘re-territorialisation of strategic management accounting, where educators can develop approaches that contextualise, historicise, politicise, theorise and particularise in three key political-economic sites of strategic action:

• Markets as sites where justice is negotiated
• Organizational hierarchies where sustainability concerns are often in tension with financial goals
• Labour processes where the imperatives of cost, quality and flexibility confront social and ecological realities

Towards the end of the day, we engaged in an experiential activity, a cherished aspect of our ECoP events. Groups were invited to design an accounting course that incorporates social and/or environmental topics.  Ideas included a variety of approaches, from incorporating sustainability content and innovative pedagogies into a financial accounting module; to reconceptualizing a management accounting module by redefining corporate performance from the outset; developing a first year core module navigating the contradictions of businesses and culminating in a shark tank like presentation; and designing a final year capstone module where students would of a clothing company after having a sensorial experience through a series of places emulating the conditions of the production line.  be tasked to present a report on how to improve the product line. Read more about this project from Leanne Keddie on LinkedIn.  

Taken together, this workshop reminded us of the possibilities of accounting education and the value in sharing and developing ideas collaboratively. Thank you to all participants for the engagement, stimulating discussions and enthusiasm, which has certainly stayed with us throughout the week. We look forward to the next event.