IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/pra/mprapa/18295.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Calculative practices in higher education: a retrospective analysis of curricular accounting about learning

Author

Listed:
  • Dixon, Keith

Abstract

Accounting has been shown to figure variously in New Higher Education. However, despite their infant precursors having been labelled curricular accounting (Theodossin, 1986), accounting researchers have overlooked a collection of calculative practices that has grown and spread internationally over the past two decades. The collection in question comprises credit points, levels of learning, level descriptors, learning outcomes, and related characteristics of student transcripts and diploma supplements, qualification frameworks and credit transfer systems. This paper extends coverage of the accounting literature to this particular variant of accounting. The subject is addressed both in a technical way and in the broader context of accounting in organisations and society. The former University of New Zealand and its affiliate in Christchurch, New Zealand, and the University of Canterbury, also of that city, are used as a case study. The credit point system in place at the University of Canterbury in 2009 and its antecedents back to 1873 are analysed genealogically. Participant-observation and related means are used to collect data. These data are analysed using ideas of representational schemes, path-dependent changes and negotiated orders among parties who have been associated with the case institutions. The analysis illuminates how and why learning (and teaching) at the University of Canterbury has come to be specified, recorded and controlled using curricular accounting; and why the accounting in use accords conceptually and, to an increasing degree, in practice to that in use across tertiary education in many countries. Among the social, economic and political issues that have spurred on this spread are international standards, quality and equivalence of tertiary education qualifications, study and learning; diversification of participation in tertiary education; changes to the levels and sources of funding tertiary education; and the many and varied ideas, etc. associated with New Higher Education. The spread has multifarious consequences for students, academics, alumni, universities and similar institutions, higher education, governments and others. There is much scope for further research.

Suggested Citation

  • Dixon, Keith, 2009. "Calculative practices in higher education: a retrospective analysis of curricular accounting about learning," MPRA Paper 18295, University Library of Munich, Germany.
  • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:18295
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/18295/1/MPRA_paper_18295.pdf
    File Function: original version
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/18808/1/MPRA_paper_18808.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://mpra.ub.uni-muenchen.de/18943/1/MPRA_paper_18943.pdf
    File Function: revised version
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Covaleski, Mark A. & Dirsmith, Mark W. & Michelman, Jeffrey E., 1993. "An institutional theory perspective on the DRG framework, case-mix accounting systems and health-care organizations," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 65-80, January.
    2. Jesse Dillard & Darrell Brown & R. Scott Marshall, 2005. "An environmentally enlightened accounting," Accounting Forum, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(1), pages 77-101, March.
    3. Llewellyn, Sue, 1998. "Boundary work: Costing and caring in the social services," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 23(1), pages 23-47, January.
    4. Pollitt, Christopher & Bouckaert, Geert, 2004. "Public Management Reform: A Comparative Analysis," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, edition 2, number 9780199268498.
    5. Burchell, Stuart & Clubb, Colin & Hopwood, Anthony & Hughes, John & Nahapiet, Janine, 1980. "The roles of accounting in organizations and society," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 5-27, January.
    6. Hofstede, Geert, 1981. "Management control of public and not-for-profit activities," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 193-211, July.
    7. Miller, Peter & O'Leary, Ted, 1990. "Making accountancy practical," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 15(5), pages 479-498.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Dixon, Keith, 2013. "Growth and dispersion of accounting research about New Zealand before and during a National Research Assessment Exercise: Five decades of academic journals bibliometrics," MPRA Paper 51100, University Library of Munich, Germany.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Manzurul Alam & Zahirul Hoque, 2021. "Boundary management and accounting visibility in social services: a case study," Accounting and Finance, Accounting and Finance Association of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 61(4), pages 5377-5401, December.
    2. Ahrens, Thomas & Mollona, Massimiliano, 2007. "Organisational control as cultural practice--A shop floor ethnography of a Sheffield steel mill," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 32(4-5), pages 305-331.
    3. Joanne M. Lye, 2006. "Performance Measurement in the Public Sector: A Clarification and Agenda for Research," Australian Accounting Review, CPA Australia, vol. 16(39), pages 25-33, July.
    4. Josette Caruana,, 2017. "Reform for reform's sake: A never-ending story of governmental accounting change," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center, vol. 13(5), pages 676-705, December.
    5. Dixon, Keith, 2023. "Consequences of accountings, distributional and otherwise," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 97(C).
    6. Ogden, S. G., 1995. "Transforming frameworks of accountability: The case of water privatization," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 20(2-3), pages 193-218.
    7. Pflueger, Dane, 2016. "Knowing patients: The customer survey and the changing margins of accounting in healthcare," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 53(C), pages 17-33.
    8. Margaret A. Abernethy & Wai Fong Chua, 1996. "A Field Study of Control System “Redesign†: The Impact of Institutional Processes on Strategic Choice," Contemporary Accounting Research, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 13(2), pages 569-606, September.
    9. Ezzamel, Mahmoud & Robson, Keith & Stapleton, Pam, 2012. "The logics of budgeting: Theorization and practice variation in the educational field," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 37(5), pages 281-303.
    10. van Helden, Jan & Caperchione, Eugenio & Pattaro, Anna Francesca, 2023. "Use and non-use of accounting information: The case of controversial projects in public and non-profit settings," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    11. Abernethy, Margaret A. & Vagnoni, Emidia, 2004. "Power, organization design and managerial behaviour," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 29(3-4), pages 207-225.
    12. Bellò, Benedetta & Spano, Alessandro, 2015. "Governing the purple zone: How politicians influence public managers," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 33(5), pages 354-365.
    13. Goddard, Andrew, 2021. "Accountability and accounting in the NGO field comprising the UK and Africa – A Bordieusian analysis," CRITICAL PERSPECTIVES ON ACCOUNTING, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    14. Nicolas Petit & Gulliver Lux, 2020. "Uses of Management Control Tools in the Public Healthcare Sector," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 459-475, September.
    15. Baxter, Jane & Chua, Wai Fong, 2003. "Alternative management accounting research--whence and whither," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 28(2-3), pages 97-126.
    16. Davide Giacomini & Mariafrancesca Sicilia & Ileana Steccolini, 2016. "Contextualizing politicians’ uses of accounting information: reassurance and ammunition," Public Money & Management, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(7), pages 483-490, November.
    17. Moll, Jodie & Hoque, Zahirul, 2011. "Budgeting for legitimacy: The case of an Australian university," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 86-101, February.
    18. Bhimani, Alnoor, 1999. "Mapping methodological frontiers in cross-national management control research," Accounting, Organizations and Society, Elsevier, vol. 24(5-6), pages 413-440, July.
    19. Julia Black, 2008. "Constructing and contesting legitimacy and accountability in polycentric regulatory regimes," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 2(2), pages 137-164, June.
    20. Fasshauer, Ingrid, 2012. "Les interactions entre contrôle et stratégie : redéfinition du rôle des cadres intermédiaires et du levier interactif de contrôle," Economics Thesis from University Paris Dauphine, Paris Dauphine University, number 123456789/11150 edited by Berland, Nicolas.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Higher education; Credit accumulation and transfer; Social and institutional accounting; Genealogical methods;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I21 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Analysis of Education
    • H83 - Public Economics - - Miscellaneous Issues - - - Public Administration
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:18295. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Joachim Winter (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/vfmunde.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.