A Safari in Brazil: evidence regarding the Framework-Based Approach to Teaching

ABSTRACT This study aims to present the results of using the Open Safari case for teaching in the Accounting Sciences course of a Brazilian public university, and obtain evidence regarding its effectiveness in developing the skills and competencies needed for learning and applying International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), by analyzing the results in light of the Bloom Taxonomy. The use of cases for teaching has been shown to be an efficient mechanism for developing and improving skills and competencies, and IFRS Education considers the method conducive to teaching based on the Conceptual Framework of the International Accounting Standards Board (IASB). The research was carried out with the participation of 159 students enrolled in the Accounting Theory (AT) discipline in 2013 and 2014. In addition, five focus groups were formed, with an average of eight students each. The results of the research suggest that in the students’ perception the Open Safari case helps in developing skills and competencies, especially those related to exercising judgment and accounting choices associated with IFRS and the critical ability to consider different possibilities, which is a typical scenario in the corporate environment. The skills indicated as being the most improved are linked to the ability to consider more than one solution for real problems, to interpreting scenarios, to consolidating various contents of the discipline and the course, to associating these with practice, and developing critical thinking and an individual responsibility for one’s own learning. The case was even shown to be efficient in accessing more sophisticated levels of the Cognitive Domain of acquisition and consolidation of knowledge of the Bloom Taxonomy. This study contributes by reinforcing the idea that the Open Safari case fulfills the aims of IFRS Education for the Framework-Based Approach to Teaching.