Exploring teachers’ experiences of teaching Accounting in rural schools: a case of novice teachers in Zululand district.
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Date
2021
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Abstract
The public education sector in South Africa has experienced drastic changes. This
includes curriculum changes and a shortage of both physical and human resources in
most parts of our country. The implementation of the curriculum has been affected by
various issues in both the urban and rural teaching context. Therefore, this study
focuses on newly appointed Accounting teachers’ experiences of teaching the
Accounting curriculum in the rural context.
The main purpose of this study was to explore Accounting novice teachers’
experiences of teaching the Accounting curriculum in three rural secondary schools in
the Zululand district. This study employed the interpretive paradigm and a qualitative
approach to obtain in-depth information about novice teachers’ experiences.
Purposive sampling was adopted in five Accounting novice teachers in Nongoma
circuit currently teaching the Accounting Further Education and Training (FET) phase,
who had less than five years of teaching experience. Semi-structured and focus group
interviews were conducted with the teachers in their schools and all sessions were
audio-taped. Thematical analysis was used to analyse the generated data, and
themes were developed.
The findings revealed that Accounting novice teachers experienced various
challenges linked to the implementation of the Accounting curriculum and the
development of Accounting pre-service teachers. On one hand, the teachers reported
problems such as inadequate teaching and learning resources, a lack of parental
support, stereotypical views of Accounting, contextual limitations on assessment and
teaching, learners’ lack of adequate foundational knowledge, and language barriers in
the Accounting classroom. These problems were linked to challenges deterring
implementation of the curriculum as planned. Inadequate preparation of Accounting
pre-service teachers, a lack of proper induction, lack of support and mentoring, and
professional isolation were issues revealed by novice teachers.
This study therefore made some recommendations based on the findings. Novice
teachers as innovative commerce teachers must work together with their schools to
approach local businesses and relevant stakeholders for any possible support in
respect of inadequate teaching and learning resources. Due to a shortage of human
resources, the financial literacy in grades 8 and 9 in the Economics and Management
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Sciences (EMS) subject must be taught by Accounting specialists to ensure that the
Accounting part is well implemented. The Department of Education (DoE) must
develop continuous programmes directed to novice teachers’ development in the
profession to increase the retention rate of teachers in a rural context. Also, principals
in rural schools must be well trained and monitored whether they implement teacher
developmental programmes in their schools.
Description
Masters Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban.