Enhancing Professional Accounting Education: Concept-Mapping Learning Theories to Proficiency Levels

Abstract

This study mapped Bloom’s taxonomy and Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development (ZPD) to the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants’ (SAICA) tax technical proficiency levels, offering a novel instructional framework to clarify proficiency levels and support curriculum design in professional accounting education. Despite the prominence of proficiency levels in SAICA’s competency framework, ambiguity persists among lecturers and students regarding the expectations and application, risking syllabus overload and misaligned teaching strategies. Adopting a qualitative approach, the study employed concept mapping to integrate learning theories with tax technical competencies. The findings show that Bloom’s taxonomy provides valuable insight for distinguishing between levels 2 and 3, most notably highlighting the difference between analysing and evaluating. Vygotsky’s learning theory, in turn, clarifies the foundational Level 1 as risk recognition, achieved through a sound grasp of principles and the ability to ask appropriate questions. These insights provide lecturers with clearer guidance for teaching and assessment and assist students in understanding the scope and limits of their competencies. To the best of the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to apply concept mapping to proficiency levels, contributing a novel interpretive framework that serves as a practical interpretive tool for lecturers and students, with potential applicability across other disciplines in professional accounting education.

https://doi.org/10.26803/MyRes.2026.13