This section outlines a summary of the key findings under each of the research questions’ objectives. These findings were then used to draw a conclusion and make recommendations. The findings are presented below according to the construction of the theoretical framework of the study.
The main purpose of this study was to explore novice teachers’ experiences of teaching the Accounting curriculum in rural schools of the Nongoma area in Zululand district. To achieve this purpose, the following research question was developed:
1. What are novice teachers’ experiences of teaching the Accounting curriculum in rural schools?
The objectives outlined in this study are:
1) To explore novice teachers’ experiences of teaching the Accounting curriculum in rural schools.
The summary of findings outlined in this section answers the above research question.
6.3.1. Experiences related to teaching of the Accounting curriculum
Findings of this study revealed that Accounting novice teachers confront multiple challenges which are related to teaching the Accounting curriculum in the context of rural schools. The study reported a lack of teaching and learning resources as the fundamental factor affecting the successful implementation of the Accounting
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curriculum in rural schools. It notes that neither the school nor the parents provide adequate teaching and learning resources to learners due to financial restraints, and thus learners lack essential learning materials while teachers lack basic teaching resources. The process of teaching and learning takes place in a school environment within a local community, and hence parental involvement is deemed necessary and important to ensure this process is best capitalised on. However, this study reported that Accounting novice teachers experienced a lack of parental support which negatively affected how they implement the curriculum. Lack of parental support added more strain on novice teachers and contributed greatly to a lack of learners’
involvement during curriculum implementation, including assessments. Both positive and negative views play a vital role in how one perceives a particular instance, hence this study found that both the school, parents and learners had stereotypical views about Accounting as a subject. Novice teachers indicated that this had a negative impact on how they implement the curriculum as planned as such views demotivate and discourage learners from enrolling Accounting. Furthermore, in the curriculum implementation, the teaching and learning process is vital, which includes both formal and informal assessment. This study, however, found that this process in rural schools is affected by various challenges, such as the context itself. Novice teachers reported that the context in which they work has its own unique limitations regarding both the teaching and assessment of learners. Contextual limitations, such as the distance covered by learners to get to school, poverty, unemployment, and the unavailability of public transport were major factors affecting the process of implementing the curriculum as planned. Moreover, in the South African curriculum plan, Accounting is offered in the FET band (Grade 10-12) while the subject is introduced in the GET band as the EMS subject incorporating Accounting, Business Studies and Economics.
However, this study revealed that in rural schools, learners lack foundational knowledge of Accounting in the FET band. Factors such as unqualified EMS teachers were discovered as the primary reason behind these teachers’ experience. Novice teachers indicated that this completely interrupts the Annual Teaching Plans (ATP) as learners lack the basic conceptual understanding the entire curriculum is built on.
Therefore, much time is devoted to correcting the mistakes from Grade 8-9. Lastly, this study reported that the language of teaching, which is English, as instructed by the curriculum is detrimental to the Accounting classroom in the rural school context.
Rural school learners are disadvantaged by this blanket approach as they lack basic
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English competency and therefore fail to understand basic Accounting concepts, supply sound financial solutions, analyse transactions, and interpret and comment on financial statements. This hamper successful implementation of the curriculum as planned, and therefore novice teachers indicated that though it is not a recommended practice, they employed code-switching to ensure that learners capture the intended curriculum.
6.3.2. Experiences related to development and continuous support of preservice teachers
The findings revealed that Accounting novice teachers were concerned with their development and support as both pre-service and novice teachers. They particularly reported that the teacher training programs offered in higher institutions inadequately prepared them as preservice teachers for a diverse teaching context. This refers to their view that the teaching practice program period is not enough to adequately expose them to a real teaching experience. Also, they noted that certain higher institutions expose them to an urban school experience only and neglected rural contexts due to the attached costs. Moreover, teachers believed that the Accounting curriculum offered in the higher institutions is incongruent with the Accounting curriculum offered to learners in schools in which expected to implement. Lastly, novice teachers believed that the current B Ed curriculum structure does not cater for diverse context as more relates to the urban schooling context. These teachers also noted that their development as novice teachers is not guaranteed in rural schools as they experienced a lack of induction, support, and mentoring, as well as professional isolation. With reference to the lack of induction, this study revealed that rural schools have no proper induction process in place for new teachers: this includes proper orientation. It was clear that orientation of new teachers is partially implemented while induction is completely unavailable. Lack of support and mentoring refers to novice teachers view that in rural schools, support channels are limited, while there is no mentoring process. Findings of this study show that the support novice teachers obtain is limited to the school as it is noted that there are no outside agents of support available in rural areas. Teachers reported that they only received social support from colleagues and superiors, but fewer academic support channels were available.
Novice teachers indicated that they receive less nor no support from their local circuits or districts level. Lastly, novice teachers experienced a feeling of isolation in the
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profession. They indicated that there is no continuous support of their development and growth in the profession by the school or the department. However, available teacher development programs group together all Accounting teachers once or twice a year. In additional, they indicated that district officials do not support them as they rarely pay them official visits.