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Students' Perceptions of a ScaffoldedApproach to Learning FinancialPlanning: An Empirical StudyMichelle Cull a & Glenda Davis aa University of Western Sydney , AustraliaPublished online: 28 Feb 2013.

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Students’ Perceptions of a Scaffolded

Approach to Learning Financial

Planning: An Empirical Study

MICHELLE CULL and GLENDA DAVIS

University of Western Sydney, Australia

Received: November 2011

Revised: November 2012

Accepted: November 2012

Published online: February 2012

ABSTRACT In the aftermath of the global financial crisis (GFC), one understandable area of scrutinyand pressure for reform is the educational background and professionalism of personal financialadvisers. This Australian study reports on a three-year investigation into students’ perceptions of‘scaffolded’ instruction in financial planning. The scaffolded approach was used to assist learningin areas that previously had caused difficulty. The results indicate that students perceived thescaffolded tasks to be valuable learning experiences which increased their appreciation of the skillsand knowledge required by financial advisers. Although students may bring different frames ofreference to their learning, and the positiveness of perceived value of scaffolded instruction mayvary between different demographic groupings, scaffolding techniques are shown to provide strongpotential to assist university educators and their students in financial planning.

KEY WORDS: Financial planning, scaffolding, assessment, knowledge and skills, higher education,learning approach

Introduction

Rapid growth and significant reform in the financial planning industry in the last decade

(Cowen, Blair and Taylor, 2006; Cull, 2009) has placed increased pressure on educators,

notably in universities, to provide financial services education (Warschauer, 2002; Benson,

2004). More recently in Australia this has been exacerbated by a pronouncement of the Finan-

cial Planning Association (FPA) that future Certified Financial Planners in Australia will need

to be degree qualified (FPA, 2010). At the same time, university reform has seen an increased

emphasis on meeting employment-based graduate outcomes (Albrecht and Sack, 2000; Nelson,

2003; Moreau and Leathwood, 2006; Smith and Bath, 2006; Keneley and Jackling, 2011).

Accounting Education: an international journal, 2013

Vol. 22, No. 2, 125–146, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/09639284.2012.755007

Correspondence Address: Ms Michelle Cull, School of Accounting, University of Western Sydney, Locked Bag

1797, Penrith NSW 2751, Australia. Email: m.cull@uws.edu.au

# 2013 Taylor & Francis

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Debate over the education of financial advisers is back on the agenda of policy-makers

after the public collapse of prominent financial advice companies in recent years. In

Australia, the failure of companies such as Westpoint, Opes Prime and Storm Financial,

and the ensuing parliamentary joint inquiry into financial products and services (Ripoll

Report, 2009), have led to suggestions that minimum training and qualifications for advi-

sers be raised (Commonwealth of Australia, 2009). The Australian government’s regulat-

ory body, the Australian Securities and Investment Commission (ASIC), recently released

a consultation paper (CP153) to review assessment and professional development for

financial advisers prior to the full implementation of the Future of Financial Advice

Reform (FOFA; ASIC, 2011) planned for July 2013. As a result, there is now an increased

focus on university education in financial planning, although, as a discipline relatively new

to academia, little empirical research literature is available (Cull, 2009).

Considering the challenging and changing context of financial planning, an appropri-

ately targeted integrated educational approach is required. Additionally, with a

minimum level of training being a regulatory requirement of ASIC for those who

provide financial product advice (ASIC, 2009), it is important that instructional

approaches which enhance students’ learning of financial planning are adopted to ade-

quately prepare them for providing financial advice appropriate to clients’ needs.

The research question investigated in this paper is: Do students perceive that the scaf-

folding of assessment tasks in a financial planning subject provide a valuable learning

experience of the skills required by a financial adviser? The study on which this article

reports addresses the apparent difficulties experienced by students in acquiring financial

planning skills and the potential for scaffolding to mitigate those difficulties through

task design.

The paper focuses on students’ perceptions of the effectiveness of the scaffolded

approach. It explores whether students perceived the assessment tasks and their progress

elements to be valuable learning experiences, and whether they provided them with insight

into the knowledge and skills required of a financial planner. Based on the findings, we

draw conclusions about the perceived effectiveness of scaffolding, including its relative

importance for different demographic groups in the delivery of financial planning courses.

The paper proceeds firstly with a discussion about the knowledge and skill requirements

of financial planning. The next section of the paper provides an outline of what the scaf-

folding approach entails and how it was employed. This is followed by a discussion of the

survey results. We then draw conclusions about the main findings and provide recommen-

dations for the future design of assessment tasks in financial planning.

Knowledge and Skills in Financial Planning

Educators in accredited financial planning courses in Australia must be mindful of the

obligations placed on them by ASIC in Regulatory Guide (RG) 146, ‘Licensing: Training

of financial product advisers’ (ASIC, 2009). This guide sets out minimum training and

assessment standards that apply to advisers and providers of their training and education.

Subjects and/or programs that comply with RG 146 may be accredited with specific

generic and/or specialist knowledge and skills, and listed on the ASIC Training Register.

The ASIC generic knowledge requirement refers to the economic environment, oper-

ation of financial markets, and financial products (ASIC, 2009, App. A: Table A1,

p. 39). The ASIC financial planning specialist knowledge areas are: financial planning;

securities and derivatives markets; managed investments; deposit products; superannua-

tion; insurance; foreign exchange; first home saver accounts; and margin lending

(ASIC, 2009, App. A: Table A2.1, pp. 40–51). However, the skills requirement of RG

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146 requires that students must also integrate and achieve some mastery over these

specialist areas, especially the disparate knowledge areas of investment, taxation, super-

annuation, insurance, credit and debt, social security, estate planning, home ownership,

and simultaneously ensure compliance with the Financial Services Reform Act 2001

(FSRA; Commonwealth of Australia, 2001).

Warschauer (2001) defines financial planning as follows:

Financial planning is the process that takes into account the client’s personality, financialstatus and the socio-economic and legal environments and leads to the adoption of strategiesand use of financial tools that are expected to aid in achieving the client’s financial goals.

This definition is consistent with the knowledge and skills requirements of FSRA and its

doctrines of ‘know your client’ and ‘know your product’. These skills, as identified by RG

146, are listed in conjunction with the six-step financial planning process and described in

further detail in Table 1. The scaffolding and assessment tasks, which will be described

fully later, aim at developing these skills in an enriched and supported learning

environment.

The decision to use a scaffolded approach to learning was prompted by a desire to help

students appreciate the issues associated with the rapid development of the financial plan-

ning industry and meet its challenging requirements. Warschauer (2002) provides a

description of the forces at work in the socio-economic landscape that have contributed

to its rapid development. These forces include redistribution of wealth, longer life expect-

ancy, lower retirement ages, more complex financial products, a faster pace of modern life,

longer child rearing responsibilities and associated education costs, as well as a trend

towards riskier portfolios. Warschauer (2002) also emphasises the important role which

universities play in the development of the personal financial planning industry.

Goetz, Tombs and Hampton (2005) suggest that the use of educational techniques and

strategies that actively involve the students are essential to financial planning education.

Active involvement may be achieved through case studies and class assignments that repli-

cate the ‘real world’. The assessment tasks for the financial planning unit in this study are

designed to require active student involvement and are based on RG 146 requirements and

the internationally recognised six steps of the financial planning process (see Table 1).

Given the innate complexity of financial planning, the life stage and lack of Australian

financial background of many students, scaffolding was seen as an appropriate educational

tool to nurture the effective learning of these ‘skills’. Rossetto and Murphy (2010, p. 79)

also found scaffolding to be a useful tool in designing assessment tasks for financial

planning.

Scaffolded Approach to Learning

Pedagogical Assumptions

The central pedagogical innovation in this study is the ‘scaffolded’ approach to learning

financial planning by using specifically-designed tasks and techniques to integrate and

apply the requisite knowledge and skills. The term ‘scaffolding’ is often traced to Vygots-

ky’s (1978) concept of ‘the zone of proximal development’ and was first used by Wood,

Bruner and Ross (1976). The main principle behind scaffolded instruction is that an

instructor enables students to participate in complex tasks that, usually, they would

struggle to complete adequately without assistance (Reid, 1991). Thus, consistent with

the use of this metaphor from the building industry, scaffolding involves a form of

support, which is removed gradually until the structure can support its own weight

Students’ Perceptions of a Scaffolded Approach 127

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(Reid, 1991). In the educational environment, this structure may take the form of a tutor

who initially provides support to students in several ways, and then removes components

of the support slowly, in the expectation that the student will gain competence and even-

tually attain independent self-regulated competence. Ideas are shared, modified and

adopted through social interaction, resulting in cognitive change (Rosenshine and

Meister, 1992).

Scaffolded instruction appears logically compatible with developing the skills required

by a financial planner, in that it may help manage the complexity of drawing, synthesising

and integrating information from several different technically-complex fields. Various

forms of scaffolded instruction are discussed in the literature (e.g. Beed, Hawkins and

Table 1. Skills required by a financial planner and associated assessment tasks.

Six-step financial planning

process (CFPBS, 2009)

Skills as set out in RG 146:

Appendix B, Table B (ASIC,

2009, p. 53)

Assessment tasks

(scaffolded completion

elements; associated PC)

1. Establishing and

defining the client–

planner relationship.

1. Establishing relationship with

client (explaining the adviser’s

role; establishing knowledge

level of the client; explaining

the services offered; identifying

the employer (i.e. FSRA

licensee) responsible for the

conduct of the adviser (i.e.

authorised representative);

explaining fee and charging

methodology; explaining the

procedures for complaints

handling).

FF

SOA (cover letter and

compliance; PC 1)

2. Gathering client data,

including goals.

3. Analysing and

evaluating client’s

financial status.

2. Analysing client’s objectives,

needs, financial situation and

risk profile.

FF

SOA (current situation, goals

and concerns of client; PC 2)

SOA (income statement/cash

flow and net worth; PC 3)

SOA (risk tolerance; PC 4)

4. Developing and

presenting financial

planning

recommendations

and/or alternatives.

3. Developing appropriate

strategies and solutions.

4. Presenting appropriate strategies

and solutions to the client.

SOA (asset allocation; PC 4)

SOA (alternative strategies to

meet client’s goals; PC 5)

5. Implementing the

financial planning

recommendations.

5. Negotiating financial plan/policy/transaction with the

client.

6. Coordinating implementation of

agreed plan/ policy/transaction.

7. Completing and maintaining

necessary documentation.

SOA

6. Monitoring the

financial planning

recommendations.

8. Providing ongoing service if

required by the client.

SOA

Note: FF ¼ Fact Finder, SOA ¼ Statement of Advice, PC ¼ Progress Check.

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Roller, 1991; Roehler and Cantlon, 1997; Clarkson and Brook, 2004), which can be placed

into a number of categories across different teaching contexts (McLoughlin, 2004). The

scaffolding support provided in the financial planning subject in this research study is pro-

vided in Table 2.

All four categories of scaffolded instruction for students were directed towards

them acquiring the knowledge and skills required in the process of financial planning.

The literature indicates that the way students approach their learning is affected by

their perception of the task requirements (English, Luckett and Mladenovic, 2004) as

well as the learning context (Gow, Kember and Cooper, 1994). This research focuses

on how students perceive the value of particular scaffolded learning experiences in

integrating and applying the knowledge and skills of financial planning for a specific

client.

Table 2. Scaffolded support by instruction category.

Scaffolded instruction category Scaffolded support provided

Tutor-guided tutorial tasks Students were required to prepare responses to specific

questions covering both knowledge and skills prior to

class and to present them in tutorials for further

discussion by the tutor and other members of the class.

‘Scaffolding’ provided by the tutor was in the form of

cues, hints, encouragement and partial solutions, the

frequency of which was reduced gradually as

students’ competency increased.

Modelling The tutor/lecturer outlined basic models and logical

thought processes in lectures and tutorials to assist

students in completing set tasks. For example, tutors

outlined the financial planning process using a logical

six-step process as outlined by the CFPBS (2009; see

Table 1).

Element identification The tutor/lecturer outlined various elements (and

examples of those elements) that were to be covered

in set tasks and often discussed various approaches

with students. For example, the different components

of a net worth statement and how they differed from

those in a balance sheet compiled in accordance with

generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP)

were outlined and discussed; various ways of

presenting the data in a net worth statement in advice

to a client were explained.

Tailored scaffolded instruction using

carefully designed assessment tasks

The assessment tasks were discussed in lectures and

followed up in tutorials in terms of the six-step

financial planning process (CFPBS, 2009). Included

in the assessment tasks was scaffolded instruction on

the elements needed (see Table 1). Students were also

given the opportunity to ask questions to further

clarify their understanding. This dialogical feature of

scaffolded instruction was intended to guide and

support the accomplishment of goals that a student

may have seen as being unattainable (Wood, Bruner

and Ross, 1976).

Adapted from McLoughlin (2004).

Students’ Perceptions of a Scaffolded Approach 129

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Assessment Task Design

The financial planning subject in this study is accredited by the ASIC Training Register as

complying with both the generic knowledge and skills requirement of RG 146 when

studied alongside other specific units in the curriculum (ASIC, 2010). As demonstrated

in Table 1, the RG 146 skills and the six steps of the financial planning process

(CFPBS, 2009) are addressed by scaffolded completion of two major assessment tasks.

The first task is a Fact Finder (FF) assignment and requires that a ‘real-life’ client with at

least one dependant be interviewed, and that an appropriate data collection instrument

(incorporating a risk profiling instrument) be employed to identify and record all relevant

client details for analysis and the construction of a Financial Plan for that client. A second

submission of the FF was required if the first instrument of submission was assessed as

being of an unsatisfactory design. The FF develops the skills necessary to provide

advice to a client, including: establishing a relationship of rapport and trust with a

client; collecting and collating diverse, sensitive information; appreciating that each and

every client has different goals, concerns and risk tolerances; and strictly complying

with industry regulations.

The second task requires the construction and completion of a full financial plan, known

as a Statement of Advice (SOA), based on a given client scenario. This assessment task

involved a high level of scaffolded support, as described in Table 2, and specific instruc-

tion on the elements needed for its completion (as set out in Table 1). As well as these

elements being systematically addressed in lectures and discussed in tutorials, in three

of the four semesters of the study they were assigned as Progress Check (PC) tasks to

be completed by students and brought to class. The tutor verbally verified students’

responses and provided individual corrective feedback. This specific scaffolding support

was used because we considered that it would benefit students’ learning and result in a

higher quality SOA. In one semester (spring 2008), students were required to submit

their work on strategy alternatives to meet the client’s goals (the equivalent of PCs 2 to

5) for assessment and guidance before completion and submission of the full SOA.

Our experience has been that financial planning students struggle with the assessment

tasks. They struggle with the FF task because of the breadth of personal data and financial

detail required from the client and the need to objectively ‘measure’ the client’s risk

profile. The interview instrument is expected to include details about: age; health; depen-

dants; employment; goals; income and expenditure; assets and liabilities; superannuation;

retirement plans; estate planning; insurance cover; and attitudes to risk. The interview was

real and students needed to establish a rapport and a feeling of trust with the client.1 The FF

is assessed and marked according to the comprehensiveness of the design of the interview

instrument, the valid undertaking of the interview, and completion of the interview

instrument.

Students particularly struggle with the SOA assessment task. Students are provided with

a detailed case study of a fictional client and required to draw out the relevant financial

information (income, expenses, cash flow, assets, liabilities) in addition to relevant per-

sonal information (age, dependants, job security, health, client goals, risk tolerance).

They are also required to establish the short-, medium-, and long-term goals of the

client. The extraction and structured collation of the information to be gleaned from the

case scenario are assisted by the skills developed through the earlier FF assignment.

However, the assignment takes students much further, in that they must develop, rec-

ommend and justify strategies to enable the client to meet their goals whilst taking into

consideration everything of relevance, including current economic climate, taxation

law, superannuation legislation, and FSRA compliance. Although students may be

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capable of examining particular areas independently, they find it difficult to see the ‘big

picture’ and to establish strategies that follow through on all areas of relevance to the

client in terms of the client’s goals, financial status, risk profile, and life stage. For

example, a student may suggest that a client invest x dollars in superannuation and

outline the taxation advantage but fail to include the appropriate figures in the post-

implementation cash flow to estimate the longer-term financial outcome and its effect

on meeting the client’s goals. Another example is that a student may recommend an

aggressive investment strategy to meet certain goals but fail to see that it is unsuitable

in terms of the client’s conservative risk profile or responsibility to dependants.

These evident difficulties in mastering the process of financial planning were what

prompted a decision to experiment with scaffolding as a means of facilitating the achieve-

ment of the subject’s learning outcomes, and to review students’ perceptions of its help-

fulness. The following discussion covers our empirical research into students’

perceptions of the scaffolding techniques employed and affirms their perceived effective-

ness in assisting students to complete complex tasks in financial planning and successfully

acquire specific financial planning skills.

Research Design

Research Instrument

A survey was designed to establish students’ demographics and perceptions of scaffolded

instruction in providing a valuable learning experience of the skills required by a financial

adviser. The survey instrument contained 11 Likert-scale questions about the scaffolding

of assessment tasks.2

While qualitative findings from previous student evaluations of the financial planning

unit assisted in deriving the questions used, literature on scaffolding, as previously dis-

cussed under ‘pedagogical assumptions’, also provided a theoretical basis on which to

develop the questions (Wood, Bruner and Ross, 1976; Reid, 1991; Rosenshine and

Meister, 1992; Clarkson and Brook, 2004; McLoughlin, 2004). Furthermore, development

of the questions was informed by literature identifying the cognitive and strategic com-

plexities of financial planning (Hershey and Walsh, 2000; Hershey, Jacobs-Lawson and

Walsh, 2003; Ackerman and Beier, 2006; Osburn and Mumford, 2006; Overton, 2008)

which students must master in order to acquire the skills needed to integrate and apply

foundational knowledge to ‘real-life’ situations.

Questions were developed to ask students whether or not they believed that each of the

scaffolded instruction methods provided a valuable learning experience of the skills

required of a financial adviser. Students were also asked to elaborate on their five-point

Likert-scale responses by providing open-ended free commentary to each question. Stu-

dents were able to take the opportunity to suggest improvements in the design of the finan-

cial planning subject and to convey their thoughts and feelings about the learning and

teaching approaches used.

In addition, the survey collected a range of demographic data to determine if there were

any significant variations, as the literature suggested that variables such as age (Richard-

son, 1995; Sadler-Smith, 1996; Zhang, 2000; Hershey, Jacobs-Lawson and Walsh, 2003;

Ackerman and Beier, 2006), gender (Tyson, 1989; Park, Hayes and Foster, 1994; Sadler-

Smith, 1996; Sadler-Smith and Tsang, 1998; Estes and Hosseini, 2001; Twenge and

Campbell, 2008), language and culture (Gow, Kember and Cooper, 1994; Sadler-Smith

and Tsang, 1998; Lundeberg et al., 2000; Cull and Whitton, 2011; Keneley and Jackling,

2011), study mode (Jackling and Anderson, 1998; Hartnett, Romcke and Yap, 2004), and

Students’ Perceptions of a Scaffolded Approach 131

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work experience (Hershey and Walsh, 2000; Hershey, Jacobs-Lawson and Walsh, 2003;

Goetz, Tombs and Hampton, 2005) impact on students’ learning experiences.

Research Sample

The survey was administered to students enrolled in ‘Financial Planning’ (a third-year

undergraduate financial planning subject) at an Australian university over four semesters

between 2008 and 2010 (see Table 3). A larger sample enabled statistical analyses of

demographic data that would otherwise not be possible due to small numbers in some

demographic groups. Students were primarily from accounting, with a minority of students

from other disciplines who were able to select the subject as an elective. The survey was

distributed to students during classes at the end of each semester, after completion of

ongoing assessment tasks.

The response rates over the four semesters are set out in Table 3. Anonymity of response

was guaranteed and participation was voluntary. Total semester enrolment numbers began

to decline from autumn 2008 due to the transition to a newly-structured business degree

(outside the control of the researchers) which ceased to include the financial planning

subject as a compulsory third-year core subject for accounting students (although it

remained as an elective unit). The removal of the unit as compulsory coincided with the

introduction of a new degree (Bachelor of Financial Advising), which was introduced

to meet the growing demand for tertiary education in the area of financial planning. The

decrease in enrolment from 2009 to 2010 is due to the full impact of the new degree struc-

ture being felt as new students from the revised degree structure were now entering their

third year of study, in which the unit was no longer compulsory.

Attendance at classes was not mandatory. Students already working in the financial

planning area or public practice may have missed some classes because they were familiar

with the topics covered. Based on our knowledge of the classes over the semesters, and

given that less conscientious students also miss classes, we have no reason to believe

that the responses and the results are unrepresentative. It was not possible to examine

any non-response bias as the surveys were anonymous.

Descriptive Statistics

Table 4 summarises the demographics of students in the sample. Analysis of the demo-

graphic data reveals that approximately 75% of students in the full sample are aged 25

years or younger, with this ranging between 68% and 84% across the semesters. The

highest proportion of students, around 42% for the full sample, is aged between 22 and

25 years. This trend is more pronounced for international students. The data, as provided

in Table 4, also shows that the number of males and females is roughly equal, around one

quarter of students are part-time, and very few international students are studying part-

time.

Table 3. Response rates by semester.

Autumn 2010 Autumn 2009 Spring 2008 Autumn 2008 Totals

Semester 4 3 2 1

Enrolment 125 255 312 339 1031

Responses 93 141 197 218 649

Response rate 74% 55% 63% 64% 63%

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Just over 50% of students reported having full-time work experience, mostly in account-

ing (31%). This was because the financial planning unit was only compulsory for account-

ing students. Professional bodies for accountants offer a financial planning specialist

designation and it was considered appropriate for accounting students to be made aware

and open to the possibility of specialist employment in financial planning. At the time

the research was conducted, a bachelor’s degree was not required by the foremost pro-

fessional body for financial planning (FPA) and this is reflected in the small number of

students (less than 1%) who reported full-time work experience in financial planning.

Approximately 20% of the student sample (133 students) stated that they were inter-

national students. Of these, 119 students provided their home country details, with 26%

being from China, 21% from Bangladesh, 10% from India, 9% from South East Asia,

Table 4. Self-reported demographic data of sample (total N ¼ 649).

Response percentages by semesterPercentages

Question 1 2 3 4 total sample

Age group

18–21 32.57 27.41 39.01 35.48 32.82

22–25 40.37 38.07 39.72 48.39 40.68

26–30 10.09 13.71 8.51 11.83 11.09

31–45 12.84 16.24 9.22 3.23 11.71

46yrs + 3.67 2.03 1.42 1.08 2.31

No response 0.46 2.54 2.13 0.00 1.39

Gender

Male 44.50 51.27 55.32 56.99 50.69

Female 55.05 45.69 42.55 41.94 47.61

No response 0.46 3.05 2.13 1.08 1.69

Study mode

Full-time 68.81 52.28 58.16 72.04 61.94

Part-time 24.31 24.37 21.99 18.28 22.96

No response 6.88 23.35 19.86 9.68 15.10

First language

English 44.50 42.13 41.13 47.31 43.45

Other 55.05 56.35 56.03 52.69 55.32

No response 0.46 1.52 2.84 0.00 1.23

International student

Yes 18.35 20.81 21.99 22.58 20.49

No 81.19 77.66 75.89 76.34 78.27

No response 0.46 1.52 2.13 1.08 1.23

Full-time employment∗

Accounting 30.28 40.10 23.40 31.18 30.82

Retail 4.59 9.14 5.67 7.53 5.55

Banking/finance 4.59 6.09 5.67 2.15 4.78

Hospitality 2.75 2.03 7.10 3.23 3.39

Manufacturing 1.38 1.56 1.42 1.08 1.23

Financial planning 1.38 1.02 0.00 0.00 0.77

Other 6.88 5.58 7.10 5.38 6.32

No full-time experience 48.17 32.99 47.52 46.24 45.61

No response 0.00 1.52 1.42 3.23 1.54

∗Information was collected on full-time employment only as it was considered that this provided students with the

depth of knowledge and skill that would help explain any significant differences in results.

Students’ Perceptions of a Scaffolded Approach 133

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8% from Sri Lanka, 8% from Africa, and the remainder from Canada, Hong Kong, Fiji and

Russia. Less than half of the total sample of students had English as their mother tongue

and a total of 44 different languages were reported.

Students from all demographic groupings perceived the scaffolded assessment tasks as

valuable learning experiences of the skills required by a financial adviser. However, sig-

nificant differences were apparent between some demographic groupings in terms of how

strongly students felt about their learning experience.

Results and Discussion

Summary of Perceptions about Scaffolded Instruction

Students were positive overall about the value of their learning experience in financial

planning. Comments include:

Provided insight into dealing with clients as a professional financial advisor.

The unit itself is really fantastic. It helps me a lot in terms of the theory and practical side ofthe unit through the assessments. It also helps me engaged [sic] a lot in the unit.

Table 5 presents, by semester and for the full sample, the 11 Likert-scale questions (8a–

8k) and mean results of responses, representing the value perceived by students of the scaf-

folding of assessment tasks as learning experiences of the skills required by a financial

adviser. In semester 2 (spring 2008), questions relating to PCs (8a–8e; 8i; 8j) were

rephrased to include the words ‘would have provided’ or ‘would have helped’. The

total means of the full sample for all 11 questions are greater than half a point from the

respective neutral score of 3. These results are therefore meaningful for discussion to

gain insights in to students’ perceptions of scaffolded assessment tasks.

Across the semesters, and overall, students perceived that the SOA task (8f) and the FF

task (8g) provided valuable learning experiences. Students found the SOA task to be the

most valuable learning experience (8f; 4.15), which was supported by students’ comments,

for example: ‘The SOA is one of the most effective assignments I’ve had, and the progress

checks help ensure all the concepts are understood’.

Means of responses from students pertaining to the value of scaffolded PCs in relation to

completion of the SOA task (8a–8e), time management (8i), and tutor feedback (8j) were

positive beyond the neutral score for all semesters. A one-way ANOVA was conducted to

explore the impact of the lower level of scaffolding in semester 2. There were statistically

significant differences ranging from r ¼ 0.00 to r ¼ 0.07 level in all the questions per-

taining to the value of PCs in scaffolded instruction. Post hoc comparisons using the

Tukey HSD test indicated the means for semesters 1, 3 and 4 were significantly higher

than the corresponding means for semester 2, indicating that students more fully valued

a greater level of scaffolding when it was actually experienced. However, despite reaching

statistical significance, the actual differences in mean scores between semesters for the

questions (using the effect size calculated as eta squared) were quite small (effect sizes:

8a ¼ 0.02; 8b ¼ 0.03; 8c ¼ 0.07; 8d ¼0.01; 8e ¼ 0.02; 8i ¼ 0.04, 8j ¼ 0.02).

The one-way ANOVA also revealed a statistically significant difference (r ¼ 0.00) for

question 8h, relating to tutor instruction in class. It is likely that students perceived more

value from tutor interaction in class when discussing their individual PC work. The Tukey

HSD test indicated a significantly lower mean score for semester 2 than for semester 1 and

semester 4. Again, despite reaching statistical significance, the actual differences in mean

scores between semesters for the question were small (effect size ¼ 0.02).

134 M. Cull and G. Davis

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In terms of task design (8k), students’ responses were relatively neutral as to whether

further improvements in the design of assessment tasks in the unit were required

(8k; 3.56). The mean for semester 2 was the highest, which suggests that those students

Table 5. Mean responses: perceptions of scaffolded instruction (valid total N ¼ 589).

Mean by semester

Ref.

Scaffolded task/progress

element 1 2 3 4

Mean

total

Std

dev.

total

Diff’ce of

mean from

neutral score

8a PC 1 (Cover letter, cover page)

provided a valuable learning

experience of the skills

required by a financial adviser.

4.03 3.75 3.95 3.99 3.92 0.853 +0.92

8b PC 2 (Current situation)

provided a valuable learning

experience of the skills

required by a financial adviser.

4.13 3.80 4.11 4.10 4.03 0.785 +1.03

8c PC 3 (Net worth, cash flow)

provided a valuable learning

experience of the skills

required by a financial adviser.

4.24 3.78 4.14 4.30 4.09 0.788 +1.09

8d PC 4 (Risk tolerance,

asset allocation) provided a

valuable learning experience

of the skills required by a

financial adviser.

4.13 3.91 4.05 4.01 4.03 0.839 +1.03

8e PC 5 (Alternative strategies)

provided a valuable learning

experience of the skills

required by a financial adviser.

4.15 3.90 4.06 4.16 4.06 0.857 +1.06

8f The SOA task provided a

valuable learning experience

of the skills required by a

financial adviser.

4.19 4.11 4.18 4.11 4.15 0.785 +1.15

8g Researching FF and interviewing

a client provided a valuable

learning experience of the

skills required by a financial

adviser.

4.04 3.89 4.11 3.64 3.95 0.861 +0.95

8h I needed the instruction provided

in class by my tutor to

complete assessment tasks.

4.22 3.92 4.12 4.24 4.11 0.834 +1.11

8i The SOA PCs helped manage

time for final submission.

4.02 3.64 3.97 4.17 3.92 0.982 +0.92

8j Feedback from tutor on PCs

helped to gain better marks in

final SOA.

4.06 3.95 3.89 4.24 4.02 0.918 +1.02

8k Further improvement is needed

in design of PCs and

assessment in this unit.

3.55 3.69 3.41 3.54 3.56 1.023 +0.56

Note: 1 ¼ strongly disagree, 3 ¼ neither agree or disagree, 5 ¼ strongly agree.

Students’ Perceptions of a Scaffolded Approach 135

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who had experienced less formal scaffolding in the subject perceived a greater need for

redesign, but the difference was not statistically significant.

Students specifically commented on the challenging nature of the SOA task and task

design in terms of needing more examples, calculations, detailed explanations, feedback

and more help with PC 5 for its completion: ‘More examples done in class showing the

risk associated with investment, how to diversify to reduce risk’.

All five PCs (8a–8e) employed to assist students with the SOA task were valued highly

and found to measure the same underlying attribute (being reliable and internally consist-

ent with a Cronbach coefficient alpha of 0.87). However, comments suggest that PC 5 (8e;

4.06) was found to be particularly difficult and needs redesign: ‘More help with the strat-

egy progress check. Strategy progress check should be broken up. More time between

strategy progress check and SOA’. It may be that students struggle with this PC more

than others because, due to client differences, a client’s ‘strategy’ is not able to be

found in a textbook.

It was also found that perceptions about the value of scaffolding varied among demo-

graphic groupings of students and that these differences provided insights into students’

learning, as elaborated in the following discussion.

Age

The means of responses by age group for questions 8a–8k are shown in Table 6. The 31–

45 year age group consistently demonstrated the most positive perceptions, compared to

those overall (represented by the total means) and compared to those of the other age

groups, except that the mean for Tutor Feedback (8j; 4.05) was less than that of the

26–30 year age group (4.11).

Although the results were still positive, the 46 plus age group consistently demon-

strated the weakest perceptions (ranging from 3.60 to 3.87) of all age groups of the learn-

ing value of the PCs. The 46 plus age group was particularly neutral in its perception of

the usefulness of PCs in managing time towards final SOA completion (8i; 3.33), com-

pared with the more positive perceptions of other age groups and as compared with the

total mean (8i; 3.92). A one-way ANOVA indicated this to be significant at the 0.075

level (x2 ¼ 8.2, 4 DF). It is possible this oldest age group has more time available for

study and is not as distracted by life-cycle events that commonly affect younger age

groups, such as moving out of their parents’ home for the first time, learning to drive,

entering the workforce for the first time, marriage, starting a family, and so on. It may

also be that these older students are more experienced at managing their time. Similarly,

the 46 plus age group was less positive in their perceptions that tutor feedback assisted

them in gaining better marks in the final SOA (8j; 3.60) as compared with the total mean

(8j; 4.03). This more mature age group may find that due to both their life experiences

and different life stage, they do not rely as heavily on scaffolded instruction from their

tutor as younger students.

A one-way ANOVA indicated significant differences in perceptions of scaffolded

instruction for the 31–45 year age group for item 8d PC 4 (x2 ¼ 10.5, 4 DF, r ¼ 0.00)

and 8g FF (x2 ¼ 8.3, 4 DF, r ¼ 0.03). Post hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test

revealed that the significant differences existed only between the 31–45 age group and

22–25 age group for PC 4 (at 0.016 level).

The mean values indicate that the 31–45 year age group more strongly perceived that

both PC 4 on risk tolerance and asset allocation (8d; 4.25) and the FF assessment task (8g;

4.15) provided valuable learning experiences. Qualitative responses to the FF assessment

task (8g) indicated that the learning experience was valuable due to the insight gained into

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Table 6. Comparison of perceptions of scaffolded instruction by age group.

Age group 8a 8b 8c 8d 8e 8f 8g 8h 8i 8j 8k

18 to 21 Mean 3.93 4.03 4.10 4.11 4.09 4.19 4.05 4.22 3.92 4.00 3.52

N 209 209 210 210 208 210 211 205 208 208 210

Std dev. 0.820 0.716 0.752 0.734 0.820 0.770 0.761 0.783 1.009 0.887 1.032

22 to 25 Mean 3.91 4.01 4.10 3.92 4.00 4.09 3.87 4.07 3.88 4.03 3.54

N 262 262 261 259 260 258 260 260 259 258 261

Std dev. 0.873 0.814 0.761 0.911 0.881 0.823 0.922 0.874 0.953 0.931 1.047

26 to 30 Mean 3.93 4.03 4.15 4.13 4.06 4.21 3.85 4.03 4.04 4.11 3.63

N 71 72 72 72 72 71 71 71 71 72 71

Std dev. 0.724 0.787 0.744 0.691 0.748 0.583 0.873 0.736 0.917 0.779 0.849

31 to 45 Mean 4.05 4.13 4.16 4.25 4.22 4.26 4.15 4.16 4.07 4.05 3.65

N 76 75 76 75 76 76 74 76 74 75 74

Std dev. 0.815 0.811 0.849 0.790 0.858 0.789 0.806 0.801 0.956 0.971 1.039

46 plus Mean 3.67 3.87 3.67 3.71 3.73 3.87 3.73 3.93 3.33 3.60 3.60

N 15 15 15 14 15 15 15 14 15 15 15

Std dev. 1.397 0.915 1.175 1.204 1.223 1.060 1.163 1.072 1.291 1.121 0.986

Total Mean 3.93 4.03 4.10 4.04 4.06 4.15 3.95 4.12 3.92 4.03 3.56

N 633 633 634 630 631 630 631 626 627 628 631

Std dev. 0.848 0.781 0.780 0.833 0.855 0.785 0.863 0.828 0.981 0.910 1.017

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the interpersonal skills required of a financial adviser. For example, one student commen-

ted: ‘Good task but the client may be different and sometimes they do not co-operate well’.

Gender

Female students perceived more positively than male students that the scaffolded

instruction provided in class time by their tutor was needed to complete assessment

tasks (8h; 4.18 v. 4.06). This was significant at the 0.057 level (t ¼ -1.903, r ¼ 0.009).

Furthermore, female students also perceived more positively that the progress checks

helped them manage their time (8i; 4.02 v. 3.84). T-tests indicate that there were signifi-

cant differences between the mean scores of males and females for this item (8i) at the

0.019 level (t ¼ -2.343, r ¼ 0.009). No other significant differences were found.

Previous findings of Park, Hayes and Foster (1994) in accounting education indicated

that females scored significantly lower on the ‘independence scale’, suggesting that

females were less confident and more likely to view themselves as needing support

from others. Correspondingly, Tyson (1989) found that, in upper division accounting

courses, females self-reported having higher work needs, agreeing more strongly than

males with statements such as ‘It is important for me to do my work as well as I can,

even if it isn’t popular with my fellow students’ and ‘I find satisfaction in exceeding

my previous performance even if I don’t outperform others’ (p. 158). These results

were significant at the 0.01 and 0.05 levels, respectively. Additionally, Sin, Jones and

Petocz (2007, p. 155) found that female students were more likely to be associated with

achieving higher results in a series of scaffolded assessment tasks. Further research to

examine the underlying factors contributing to such significant differences between

male and female students may be beneficial to instructors when designing and implement-

ing different learning approaches.

Language

The means of responses by first language type and in total for questions 8a–8k are

shown in Table 7. A one-way ANOVA indicated significant differences in perceptions

of scaffolded instruction for PC 3 (x2 ¼ 8.1, 4 DF, r ¼ 0.01), PC 5 (x2 ¼ 7.7, 4 DF, r

¼ 0.03) and Task Design (x2 ¼ 18.9, 4 DF, r ¼ 0.00).

PC 3 (8c: net worth, cash flow) was perceived overall as being highly valuable (total

mean ¼ 4.09), and was perceived as most valuable by students with first languages in

the Middle Eastern category and especially Tamil (4.50) and Tagalog (4.36) in the

Other Language category. Post hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test revealed

that the mean score for Middle Eastern languages (M ¼ 4.37, SD ¼ 0.615) was signifi-

cantly different at the 0.10 level from English (M ¼ 4.00, SD ¼ 0.852) and at the 0.02

level from the Other Language category (M ¼ 3.74, SD ¼ 0.993). One student summed

up the learning value of PC 3 by referring to the ‘importance of this section in formulating

strategies’.

The most challenging scaffolded element of the SOA was PC 5 (8e: alternative strat-

egies). One student commented that he ‘learnt to logically think about and make sugges-

tions for investment strategies by doing research and analytical workings’. This PC was

perceived as most valuable by students with a Middle Eastern first language, closely fol-

lowed by Tamil (M ¼ 4.30) in the Other Language category. Students with an Indian first

language valued this PC the least, which may be partly due to the stronger influence of

Western culture in India. Post hoc comparisons using the Tukey HSD test indicated that

the mean scores for English (M ¼ 4.00, SD ¼ 0.863) and Indian (M ¼ 3.88, SD ¼

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Table 7. Comparison of perceptions of scaffolded instruction by first language type.

First language 8a 8b 8c 8d 8e 8f 8g 8h 8i 8j 8k

English Mean 3.83 3.97 4.00 4.00 4.00 4.21 3.95 4.04 3.90 3.97 3.37

N 277 277 278 276 275 278 277 278 277 276 278

Std dev. 0.92 0.81 0.85 0.85 0.86 0.79 0.89 0.86 1.02 0.95 1.04

Asiana Mean 3.91 4.03 4.08 4.03 4.03 4.09 3.84 4.12 3.95 4.04 3.63

N 131 132 132 130 131 131 130 130 131 131 131

Std dev. 0.82 0.80 0.81 0.83 0.87 0.78 0.83 0.85 0.86 0.90 0.91

Indianb Mean 3.90 3.90 4.05 3.81 3.88 4.00 4.00 4.12 3.62 3.88 3.78

N 42 41 42 42 42 42 42 41 42 42 41

Std dev. 0.73 0.83 0.70 0.97 0.89 0.80 0.91 0.87 1.04 0.99 1.13

Middle Easternc Mean 4.00 4.23 4.37 4.23 4.42 4.03 3.94 4.24 3.97 4.23 3.73

N 31 31 30 30 31 31 31 29 31 30 30

Std dev. 1.03 0.80 0.61 0.77 0.81 0.98 0.85 0.74 1.11 0.82 1.11

Otherd Mean 4.09 4.12 4.24 4.11 4.15 4.15 4.05 4.22 4.03 4.08 3.74

N 153 153 153 152 153 149 152 148 146 150 152

Std dev. 0.72 0.71 0.68 0.80 0.83 0.74 0.84 0.78 0.95 0.88 0.99

Total Mean 3.92 4.03 4.09 4.03 4.06 4.15 3.95 4.12 3.92 4.02 3.56

N 634 634 635 630 632 631 632 626 627 629 632

Std dev. 0.85 0.79 0.79 0.84 0.86 0.79 0.86 0.84 0.98 0.92 1.02

Notes: a‘Asian’ includes Chinese (including Cantonese and Mandarin) and Vietnamese.b‘Indian’ includes Hindi and Punjabi.c‘Middle Eastern’ includes Persian and Arabic. Persian is the official language of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Arabic is the liturgical language of

Islam and is the official language of many countries such as Algeria, Bahrain, Jordan, Egypt and Qatar, where Islam is the main religion (80–99% of populations) and forms the basis of

legislation and dominates family and personal matters (CIA, 2011; Kwintessential, 2011). Islamic law prohibits usury (charging or earning of interest), which is a well-established

principle of the Islamic economic system (Visser and Macintosh, 1998).d‘Other’ includes 39 different languages (e.g. Tamil, Tagalog), all with n , 11, except Bengali, where n ¼ 31; separate one-way ANOVA indicates no significant differences between

‘other’ groups.

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0.889) were both significantly different to the mean score for Middle Eastern first

languages (M ¼ 4.42, SD ¼ 0.807).

Perceptions of students with English as a first language (3.37) and other first languages

(ranging from 3.63 to 3.78) about task design (8k) are consistent with the findings for PC 3

and especially PC 5. Students with first languages other than English felt more strongly

that further improvement was needed in the design of progress elements and assessment

tasks. One student specifically commented about the types of improvements needed in

relation to PC 5: ‘More help with the strategy progress check. Strategy progress check

should be broken up. More time between strategy progress check and SOA’.

Using differences in first language as a proxy for cultural differences, the one-way

ANOVA results suggest that students influenced by non-Western cultures are more

likely to require the scaffolded support for calculating net worth, cash flow (PC 3), and

for considering alternative strategies to meet clients’ goals (PC 5) than those from

Western-dominated cultures. Such students may be less familiar with applying Western-

based financial models to personal finance matters. Similarly, Cull and Whitton (2011,

p. 107) found in a financial literacy study that results were skewed in favour of students

who were more familiar with a Western-based financial system. This raises two important

issues in financial planning education. The first issue is that, without adequate support,

some students may lack sufficient awareness of the Western financial system to meet

Western employers’ and clients’ needs (Hancock et al., 2009). The second issue is that

the reverse is also likely to be true in that students from primarily Western cultures

may be lacking sufficient awareness of non-Western financial systems, which are increas-

ingly impacting on the global economic system. As a result, it could be argued that finan-

cial planning courses should include a multi-cultural component, to ensure that students

are aware of a wider range of alternative investment options that may be useful in provid-

ing appropriate advice for clients.

International and Domestic (Local) Students

Table 8 shows the means for each of the items related to students’ perceptions of the scaf-

folded tasks for both international and domestic students.

T-tests reveal a significant difference at the 0.000 level (t ¼ 3.528, r ¼ 0.354)

between the means for the perception that further improvement is needed in task

design (8k). This indicates that international students (3.83) believe more strongly

than domestic students (3.48) that further improvements are needed in the design of scaf-

folded tasks. This supports the findings for first language (see previous section) and

suggests that more could be done when designing tasks to accommodate the social

and cultural differences that international students bring to the classroom, and the

additional complexity which they may encounter in the preparation of financial plans.

It also supports the findings of Keneley and Jackling (2011), which indicated significant

differences in perceptions about the acquisition of generic skills between culturally

different cohorts of students in undergraduate accounting studies. Keneley and Jackling

(2011) concluded that the curriculum produces different learning experiences for local

and international students.

Furthermore, it is possible that, due to the financial subject being taught in an Australian

context, international students may require a greater level of scaffolded instruction. Such

additional attention to assist with knowledge development is supported by the findings of

Sin, Jones and Petocz (2007, p. 155).

One-way ANOVA results for different international home countries indicated no sig-

nificant differences. Due to some small sub-samples and unequal group sizes, a non-

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parametric Kruskal–Wallis test was also conducted, but, likewise, no significant differ-

ences were found between different international home countries.

Mode of Study

The day classes (including mainly full-time students) usually required a higher level of

scaffolded instruction than the evening classes (mainly domestic part-time students who

worked full-time and were usually older). Part-time students tended to find the task

much easier. A typical domestic full-time student was one who lived at home with his/her parents. Full-time students, whether domestic or international, tended to neglect to

ask their ‘client’ questions relating to home and contents insurance, superannuation, and

estate planning, as these items were outside their life experience. The tutor needed to

provide more ‘scaffolded’ guidance to these students to ensure that all relevant areas

were covered in the FF. These findings are consistent with previous studies, which indicate

statistically significant relationships between academic performance and enrolment status

(Hartnett, Romcke and Yap, 2004; Jackling and Anderson, 1998).

T-tests showed no significant differences between part-time students’ and full-time stu-

dents’ perceptions of scaffolded instruction. However, it was noted that part-time students

Table 8. Students’ perceptions of scaffolded instruction: international and domestic students.

Scaffolded task/item n Mean

Std

dev.

8a PC 1 (Cover letter, cover page) provided a valuable

learning experience of the skills required by a

financial adviser.

International

Domestic

131

503

4.05

3.89

0.778

0.868

8b PC 2 (Current situation) provided a valuable learning

experience of the skills required by a financial

adviser.

International

Domestic

131

503

4.04

4.02

0.779

0.789

8c PC 3 (Net worth, cash flow) provided a valuable

learning experience of the skills required by a

financial adviser.

International

Domestic

132

503

4.11

4.09

0.764

0.795

8d PC 4 (Risk tolerance, asset allocation) provided a

valuable learning experience of the skills required by

a financial adviser.

International

Domestic

131

499

4.01

4.04

0.916

0.820

8e PC 5 (Alternative strategies) provided a valuable

learning experience of the skills required by a

financial adviser.

International

Domestic

131

501

3.98

4.08

0.920

0.841

8f The SOA task provided a valuable learning experience

of the skills required by a financial adviser.

International

Domestic

129

503

4.04

4.18

0.733

0.797

8g Researching FF and interviewing a client provided a

valuable learning experience of the skills required by

a financial adviser.

International

Domestic

132

500

3.89

3.97

0.867

0.864

8h I needed the instruction provided in class by my tutor to

complete assessment tasks.

International

Domestic

127

498

4.17

4.10

0.725

0.859

8i The SOA PCs helped manage time for final submission. International

Domestic

129

498

3.98

3.91

0.897

1.006

8j Feedback from tutor on PCs helped to gain better marks

in final SOA.

International

Domestic

132

497

4.04

4.01

0.877

0.931

8k Further improvement is needed in design of PCs and

assessment in this unit.

International

Domestic

132

500

3.83

3.48

1.020

1.010

Students’ Perceptions of a Scaffolded Approach 141

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tended to have slightly lower scores than full-time students with regard to the use of scaf-

folded instruction provided in class time by their tutor (8h; means of 4.05 v. 4.18), the use

of progress checks to help them manage their time (8i; 3.80 v. 3.94), and tutor feedback

(8j; 3.94 v. 4.05). This is likely due to the fact that many of the part-time students have

more work and life experiences to assist them in these areas than the full-time students

and thus do not need to rely on the scaffolded instruction as heavily as younger, full-

time students.

An analysis of the data revealed that only two students reported that they were both

overseas students and part-time students. A one-way ANOVA of the sample data after

its categorisation as overseas full-time, domestic full-time and domestic part-time,

revealed a statistically significant difference at the 0.002 level in relation to perceptions

about task design (8k; x2 ¼ 12, 2 DF). International full-time students (3.84) perceived

more strongly than domestic full-time students (3.50) and domestic part-time students

(3.40) that improvements were needed. Post hoc comparisons using Tukey HSD test indi-

cated that the mean for overseas full-time students was significantly different to those of

both full-time and part-time domestic students, but that the means of full-time and part-

time domestic students did not differ significantly. This result for international full-time

students is consistent with that of the t-test of international and domestic students’ percep-

tions of task design (8k).

Work Experience and Employment Area

The means for perceptions about scaffolded instruction for students who have and have not

had previous full-time work experience were compared using t-tests. As shown in Table 9,

independent samples t-tests indicate at the 0.05 level that students with no full-time work

experience, compared to those with full-time work experience, tended to perceive PC 1

(8a; 4.01 v. 3.86), PC 2 (8b; 4.09 v. 3.96), and the use of progress checks to manage

time (8i; 4.02 v. 3.82) as being more valuable learning experiences.

Table 9. Independent samples t-tests for equality of means for the perception of scaffolded tasks:

students with full-time work experience and students with no full-time work experience.

T

Sig. (2-

tailed)

Mean

difference

Std error

difference

95%

Confidence interval

Lower Upper

8a PC 1 -2.271 0.023∗ -0.152 0.067 -0.283 -0.021

8b PC 2 -2.116 0.035∗ -0.131 0.062 -0.252 -0.009

8c PC 3 -1.625 0.105 -0.101 0.062 -0.224 0.021

8d PC 4 -0.449 0.653 -0.030 0.067 -0.163 0.102

8e PC 5 -0.821 0.412 -0.056 0.068 -0.190 0.078

8f SOA 0.978 0.328 0.061 0.063 -0.062 0.185

8g FF 0.220 0.826 0.015 0.069 -0.120 0.150

8h Class time -1.970 0.049∗ -0.132 0.067 -0.264 0.000

8i Manage time -2.573 0.010∗ -0.200 0.078 -0.353 -0.047

8j Tutor

feedback

-1.289 0.198 -0.195 0.074 -0.239 -0.050

8k Task design -1.342 0.180 -0.109 0.082 -0.270 0.051

∗Significant at the 0.05 level.

Note: Levene’s tests for homogeneity indicated a significant difference at the 0.02 level between full-time work

experience and no full-time work experience for items in bold which do not assume equal variances.

142 M. Cull and G. Davis

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This may be because those with full-time work experience have already had some

exposure to issues covered in the progress checks (such as compliance) and thus do not

perceive the associated scaffolding of the learning experience as being as valuable as stu-

dents who are dealing with such issues for the first time.

Independent samples t-tests were also conducted to compare the perceptions of students

with full-time work experience relevant to financial planning (e.g. accounting, financial

planning) to those with full-time work experience in non-financial planning related

areas (e.g. hospitality, manufacturing, retail). The t-tests revealed a significant difference

at the 0.016 level (t ¼ -2.410, r ¼ 0.539) for perceptions about the use of class time and a

significant difference at the 0.042 level (t ¼ 0.042, r ¼ 0.979) with regard to the need for

task redesign. This indicates, as may be expected, that students with full-time work experi-

ence relevant to financial planning did not find the use of class time as valuable a learning

experience (mean ¼ 3.95) as those with other work experience (mean ¼ 4.19), and that

those with relevant experience did not perceive as strongly that improvements were

needed in regard to task design (mean ¼ 3.43, ‘other’ work experience mean ¼ 3.67).

Conclusion

Overall, scaffolding has proven to be an effective teaching method in financial planning

and has facilitated the acquisition of knowledge and skills by students of financial

planning.

Students enrolled in Financial Planning in this study viewed the scaffolding of assess-

ment tasks as being positive learning experiences and a good mechanism for acquiring the

knowledge and skills required of a financial planner, as demonstrated by their quantitative

and qualitative responses. Accordingly, the findings from this study have led us to rec-

ommend that scaffolding, particularly through individual progress checks, be used in

the assessment process to facilitate richer learning experiences and higher quality SOA

submissions. However, the results also indicate that progress checks need to be carefully

designed and resourced. The integration of knowledge and skills to develop investment

strategies (addressed by PC 5) involves high level thinking (Davis and Cull, 2012) and,

arguably, needs to be more fully supported than other areas of construction of an SOA.

In designing assessment tasks it is important educationally to cater for the different

backgrounds and life experiences of students. Individual feedback on progress, to

bridge any gaps, is needed, because it cannot be assumed that students come to their finan-

cial planning studies with the same frame of reference. The ‘knowledge’ aspect of finan-

cial planning may be less daunting for some students than the ‘skill’ aspect of applying that

knowledge in constructing a plan for a client, which requires a broad and disparate range of

subject matter to be synthesised. This further supports the deliberate use of scaffolded

instruction in financial planning subjects, particularly in an undergraduate degree.

The findings from this study indicate that age, gender, first language, cultural back-

ground, study mode, and work experience are influential in the learning experience.

Part-time students, generally being older, are more likely than full-time students to have

acquired a rudimentary understanding of some of these topic areas through ‘acquired

life skills learning’. The study has also led us to conclude that students from non-

Western backgrounds, regardless of age, are more likely to struggle with the subject

matter, as they lack familiarity with the legislative and institutional context of Australia.

This has highlighted the importance of including a multi-cultural component into financial

planning courses. Students of both Western and non-Western backgrounds must under-

stand the impact of both financial systems on the wider global economic environment

and in providing financial advice to clients from different cultural backgrounds.

Students’ Perceptions of a Scaffolded Approach 143

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Full-time work experience in an area relevant to financial planning logically provides an

appropriate frame of reference for learning the skills required by a financial adviser, and

students with such experience require less individualised scaffolded instruction. This is an

important aspect for educators and professional bodies to consider when designing finan-

cial planning courses.

As populations of many Western countries continue to age, and financial systems

become more globalised, demand for and provision of personal financial planning services

will become more economically and socially significant. Financial planning educators

need to ensure the delivery of high quality programs so that personal financial advisers

are consistently capable of serving and meeting the expectations of post-GFC societies.

Our findings indicate that the use of scaffolded instruction is an effective teaching tool

in financial planning. Accordingly, we recommend that educators consider integrating

scaffolded instruction with individualised feedback into their financial planning courses.

Notes

1It should be noted that, for the purpose of the assessment, the ‘clients’ could retain anonymity and were not

necessarily required to disclose true information to students.2The questionnaire is available on request from the corresponding author.

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