Higher Education Research and Development Society of Australasia
Over the years, increased attention has been paid to preparing students for the future and this has resulted in educators and practitioners seeking innovative pedagogies for teaching and learning. At the same time, employers are expecting graduates to possess skills, knowledge and mindsets that will be valuable in the unknown future environment. One promising approach is Gardner’s framework, ‘the five minds for the future’ which include disciplined, synthesising, creating, respectful and ethical minds. The literature shows that Gardner’s framework has been mostly used in schools and not much yet in tertiary education. To address this gap, a qualitative study was conducted with post-graduate accounting students in a New Zealand university. The findings show that there is positive indication in the development of respectful and ethical minds and some awareness of the significance of developing the remaining minds for the future workplace. Implications for educators and researchers are outlined in the paper.
Keywords: Five minds, higher education, accounting, pedagogy