The expected profile of an accounting professor: an analysis from the students from the city of Barcelos – Portugal

Abstract

In Europe, the Bologna Declaration has enabled the integration among the 30 Member States, facilitating the access to higher education and also expanding opportunities for exchanges among universities. The objective of this work is to identify the perception of Portuguese students concerning the necessary competence for the judgment of a good teacher. The study is justified due to the constant need to form better Accountants, and consequently, also better teachers in the Accounting area. To accomplish this work, a questionnaire was applied to 127 students in an educational institution located in the city of Barcelos, in the district of Braga, Portugal. The questionnaire sought to measure the importance of five teaching skills, assigned by students to teachers, combined to form twelve distinct profiles. It was concluded that teaching competence and market experience got the best and also the worst evaluations. As for the profile, a "good teacher", in the judgment of the respondents, is that teacher who has a good didactic, a close relationship with the students, a lot of market experience, a broad theoretical knowledge and who is not much demanding.