An exploration of grade 9 teachers’ experiences of teaching Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) in selected schools in Umlazi District.

Abstract

This study was an Exploration of Grade 9 Teachers’ Experiences of Teaching Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) in Selected Schools in Umlazi Distict in Durban. The objective of this study was to explore Grade 9 teachers’ experiences of teaching Economic and Management Sciences (EMS) in three selected schools in the Umlazi District and to examine the resources that these teachers draw on to teach Economic and Management Sciences (EMS). A literature review on the experiences of Grade 9 EMS teachers as a new and integrated subject in the GET Band was done. The researcher in this study adopted a qualitative approach as the study is concerned with understanding the experiences of Grade 9 teachers in teaching EMS. The researcher does not aim to predict what participants will do, but rather to understand how participants construct their real world. Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model and the Asset-Based approach were used in concert as conceptual framework in this study in order to respond to the research questions. The juxtaposition of these two theoretical frameworks showed that teachers were not working in a vacuum but were instead working within a web of systems and, this theory was helpful to explore this. It has been shown that a school is a system within different subsystems comprising staff, learners, curriculum and administration, interacting with other outside systems, such as the family or local communities. Research instruments in this study included one-on-one interviews, collages and researcher field notes. This study identified challenges the Grade 9 EMS teachers faced. The teachers were no longer seen as orators and possessors of all knowledge, but the teachers’ role moved more towards facilitating the learning process. Therefore, it required that Grade 9 EMS teachers make a ‘paradigm shift’ from their old teaching practices to new ones in order to understand the processes better, as well as the fact that they need to adhere with it if they are going to be competent implementers of the EMS Curriculum. The teachers’ strong subject matter knowledge in Accounting, Business Studies, and Economics were required combined with pedagogical skills, the capacity to work effectively with a wide range of learners, colleagues and other stakeholders within the school environment and outside by drawing on resources to contribute to the school and the profession, and the capacity to continue developing. The study showed that the prescribed textbook alone was insufficient, but other sources such as the learners, other colleagues, visual aids, the internet; DVDs, etc. were also relevant. Findings of this study showed that teachers provided two options to teaching EMS as an integrated subject. The first option was that the Department of Education should employ an Accounting specialist to teach Grade 9 EMS classes if there is a single teacher because of the demand of the EMS Curriculum for Grade 9. The second option mentioned was that different teachers could share the teaching load with respect to their specialisations within EMS.