Exploring the contribution of decolonisation epistemologies: Promoting social justice in Accounting Education

With many countries across the globe failing to deliver an education system that works for and favours all their citizens, calls for mother tongue instruction have intensified. This qualitative study explored the perceived contribution of decolonisation epistemologies in promoting social justice and language equity in accounting education. Positioned in the epistemological assumptions of the critical theory of education and interpretivism, data were collected from a sample of eighteen accounting educators using focus group interviews and a questionnaire for triangulation purposes. The main findings underscore the perceived importance of mother tongue instruction in promoting social justice and language equity in accounting education and yet question the feasibility, sustainability, and practicability of mother tongue instruction. Responding to these polarised findings, this study recommends extensive consultations between custodians of education systems and language experts in collaboration with subject content experts together with well-articulated pilot projects. The paper further cautions that in the absence of plausible supporting scientific evidence, mother tongue instruction threatens to reverse the gains of social cohesion and the global village delivered by a common language of instruction across the globe.