Teachers’ experiences of teaching grade 12 accounting in the context of curriculum changes: a case study of five secondary schools in Umlazi-South District.

Abstract

Curriculum has been changed for several times in the history of South African education. The changes were implemented in schools as per Department policy to have quality and equity teaching and learning. These changes took place across all the subjects in schools and has been experienced in Accounting subject. Teachers in the commerce department teaching Accounting have experienced these changes in Grade 12. Hence, this study focused on teachers‟ experiences of teaching Grade 12 Accounting in the context of curriculum changes. The main purpose of this study was to explore teacher‟s experiences of teaching Grade 12 Accounting in the contexts of curriculum changes in five secondary schools in Umlazi South district. The objectives outlined in this study are: (1) to explore teachers‟ experiences of teaching Grade 12 Accounting in the context of curriculum changes. (2) To identify influence of teachers experiences of teaching of Accounting Grade 12 in the context of curriculum changes. This study employed Interpretivist paradigm and qualitative approach to have in-depth information about teacher‟s experiences. Furthermore the researcher purposively sampled five Accounting teachers in Umlazi district who were currently teaching Accounting in Grade 12 and have a minimum of 10 years‟ experience in the field of teaching. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with the teachers in their schools and interviews were audio-taped. The researcher later analysed the data by listing to the audio taped interviews, developed themes and linked it with the theoretical framework of the study. The findings revealed that Accounting teachers warmly welcomed changed curriculum (CAPS) and they were positive in implementing the curriculum. Furthermore the study revealed that CAPS was very clear on the content, assessment guidelines were good and in line with the content and all documents provided were very user friendly. However, teaching strategies were not clear in Accounting, teachers revealed that they had to research and find their own teaching strategies that they were finding it to be effective in their teaching. Inadequate resources, Inadequate training on some topics, language barrier, lack of support from parents, HODs, and teacher union were some of the challenges discussed by teachers during the interview. Lastly the study recommended that teachers improvise in their teaching, as commerce teachers they can fundraise to generate income to buy some resources such as calculators that will be controlled by Accounting teachers. Teachers must work closely with the subject advisor to organise curriculum designers to come and train teachers on those topics. Furthermore Accounting teachers must work with together with the language teachers.