Abstract
South African institutions of higher learning are colonial outposts that create and disseminate largely Eurocentric and “Global” knowledge. The call to decolonise higher education has been ongoing since the turn of democracy in South Africa. The call intensified when students from the #FeesMustFall movement brought forward the debate to decolonise institutions of higher learning and the curriculum in 2015.
Some scholars believe that decolonising the curriculum is the inclusion of Indigenous Knowledge in current curricula. Whilst others believe it is reimagining the curriculum to bring previously-silenced voices to the centre of the curriculum. Regardless of the approach taken, academics are expected to understand theories around curriculum development in addition to subject-specific research. The current university accounting curriculum is prescribed by the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) with little interrogation by university academics.
This paper stems from a curiosity of whether accounting academics have the skills required to heed the call to decolonise the accounting curriculum. We consulted literature to identify key skills and traits required by an academic undertaking curriculum development, and more specifically decolonised curriculum development. Based on the consulted research, a benchmark was developed against which accounting academics from SAICA-accredited universities were evaluated to assess whether they possess the qualities and skills that will enable them to develop a decolonised curriculum.
We find that accounting academics do not have the required skills, namely research skills, curriculum development skills and indigenous knowledge.