WBV Cognitive Requirement of Accounting Tasks

Competence orientation has become a defining element of vocational education in German-speaking countries. In this context, tasks are considered the transmission belts to implement the reformed educational standards. In her dissertation, the author examines the systematic analysis of task characteristics as a method to inspect the degree of tasks' cognitive requirements. The theoretical-conceptual part of the dissertation provides a psychological and didactical justification of the principles underlying the tasks' cognitive requirements. The effects are analyzed in two empirical studies. The first study examines accounting tasks from Chinese vocational school textbooks using structuring content analysis. The second empirical study investigates accounting teachers' perceptions and judgments through interviews. Based on the results, the author develops suggestions for the use of the concept of tasks' cognitive requirements in the didactic training of prospective teachers at commercial schools.