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To date, no widely used, scientifically validated instruments designed for assessing secondary education students' teamwork skills exist. As CATME-B shows promising results and might suit secondary education's needs best, this study offers an initial investigation on (1) how students and teachers perceive the use of CATME-B in secondary education to assess students' teamwork skills and (2) whether CATME-B is effective in detecting changes in students' perceived teamwork skills when a group assignment is introduced. A mixed-methods in-depth approach with a smaller group of 79 students (surveys before and after a group assignment) and three teachers (semi-structured interviews) was adopted, offering a multi-actor perspective. Results revealed that students perceived CATME-B as feasible to use for self- and peer-assessment. Although teachers were more focused on practical impediments, they appreciated its content and offered valuable suggestions for using CATME-B in secondary education. Additionally, CATME-B was able to detect significant changes in students' perceived teamwork skills in the context of a group assignment.

The accounting profession no longer merely accentuates hard accounting skills, but also increasingly soft social skills. Previous studies have shown that teamwork, communication, leadership, and critical thinking skills became indispensable. Because accounting education is no longer aligned with these needs of the profession, a skills gap has arisen between the competences graduates possess, and the competences employers demand. We will answer the call of scholars and policymakers to investigate social skills from early on, in secondary education. The research objective is twofold. First, it examines which types of social skills are being addressed in secondary accounting education. Second, it focuses on the challenges and opportunities experienced by accounting educators when addressing social skills. We answer this research objective via semi-structured interviews with 14 Flemish educational stakeholders who represented three educational levels (i.e. microlevel accounting teachers, mesolevel pedagogical counsellors, and macrolevel policymakers), hereby accommodating a multivocal perspective. Results revealed that teamwork and communication are emphasized more frequently than leadership and critical thinking. Second, teachers identified various challenges and opportunities, such as overcrowded curricula, student diversity, and complex social skills assessment. Important implications for accounting educators wanting to enhance students' future employability by stimulating their social skills are discussed.