A career in academia can be challenging and rewarding. At our last Academia & Education Community webinar, our panel of experts shared their stories on a variety of different areas of academia, examined how you can flourish in your role and where you might aspire to progress, including how you can excel in your career in the education sector.
Jenni, our incoming chair of the Academia & Education Community advisory group, reflects on the benefits of her professional accounting background when she moved into being an education focused academic. She qualified with ICAEW in 2008 and her love of teaching took her into learning and development within KPMG. Following on from this, she moved on to freelance teaching at professional training colleges and wellbeing training before joining the University of Manchester in 2015. Since then, she has flourished as an academic, winning several teaching awards both within the university and nationally. Her work on dialogic teaching, active feedback and teaching accounting through a sustainability lens has gained her an international reputation as an academic who can develop her students intellectually in a playful and compassionate environment.
“The main benefits of coming from the industry into academia are that I understand the realities of the professional world, I have been in the roles that my students aspire to, and that I have a wealth of contacts to draw on.
In the real business world, I know that as a professional you draw on a range of sources and that my students will need to move away from seeking answers solely from a teacher. This move towards independence is always at the forefront of my mind as I plan and design learning. Students who arrive at university often have a dualistic viewpoint, where they see knowledge as right or wrong, believe peers get in the way of learning and view the teacher as the sole point of truth. I design learning to use active feedback, where students learn to write feedback for themselves. This process assists them in cultivating the ability to critically assess their own work, recognising diverse approaches, valuing their peers as legitimate learning resources, and harnessing a wide range of information sources to improve.
I use dialogic teaching to encourage students to see knowledge as contextually defined and requiring judgement to evaluate it qualitatively. Dialogic teaching involves praxis (reflection and action), challenging the status quo and the teacher putting aside their ego to relearn alongside students. In the classroom, I design using simulations to replicate the operation of a company, enabling students to engage in reflection and make decisions. Through this, they question the conventional emphasis on profit and, together, we explore various approaches to business success. My real-world experiences are crucial in breathing life into simulations and explaining what really happens within organisations.
Secondly, I have been in the roles that my students aspire to and have faced challenges to get there. I have had the application rejections and know what skills and knowledge students need to demonstrate to be successful when applying to a role. When designing learning, I directly create activities which students can draw on as evidence for the development of skills. These range from presentations to group work, decision making and demonstrating professional scepticism. I am also able to share my stories of rejection, showing this vulnerability to create meaningful connection and help students overcome their own setbacks.
Finally, as an academic from the professional world I have a wealth of contacts to draw on. I invite former colleagues to class for discussion and use dialogic teaching to transform classrooms. I design my learning so that I pose critical problems which are discussed with students and professionals to recreate knowledge. Through my network, I create contacts for my students. This is particularly important for those from backgrounds where they might not have had the chance to meet a professional before. Breaking down these barriers creates access to the professional world for all and has created opportunities for many of my students.
Overall, by relating my accounting experience to my students I’m able to design authentic learning experiences which help them develop intellectually. I can create the compassionate environment to enable students to flourish and future opportunities by connecting them with professionals.”
If you missed this webinar, you can still catch it on demand for the chance to hear from our expert speakers and dive into more thought provoking areas and discuss within the Academia network. Exploring ways to flourish and accelerate your career in academia as an accountant.
*The views expressed are the author’s and not ICAEW’s
