Students’ professional identity and a fully online tax clinic

Abstract

A key benefit of work-integrated learning is the socialisation of students with their future professional career and identity. That is, students can start to appreciate what it means to be a professional in their chosen career, in terms of their conduct and how they identify with that. Due to the advent of restrictions imposed from the outbreak of COVID-19, the students involved at the Griffith University tax clinic had to move from a physical office space with face-to-face interaction with their tax agent supervisor and clients, to a totally online office via Microsoft Teams and YouTube. Activities conducted within this online environment included staff meetings, client meetings, client lodgements, presentations and research.

However, what effect did this online office environment have on the development of students’ professional identity as tax advisers? This chapter will describe how the tax clinic was able to operate fully online, and it will provide data as to how students perceived the development of their professional identity as a tax adviser in this online environment. To provide a comparison, data from prior cohorts who participated in the physical office space will also be considered.

Keywords: WIL, tax clinic, international student, self efficacy, professional identity

JEL Classification: I20, I24,K34, M40