STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING TEACHING AND LEARNING OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING TEACHING AND LEARNING OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS

The study aims to determine the strategies for improving teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in senior secondary schools in Ikwerre L.G.A

OTHER RELATED TOPICS HERE

CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION (STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING TEACHING AND LEARNING OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS )

1.1 Background to the Study

Steiner and Miner (1977), defined strategy as the formulation of missions, purposes, and basic organizational goals, policies, and programs to meet them and the methods needed to ensure that strategies are implemented to achieve organizational goals.

Miller and Dess (1996) defined strategy as a set of plans or decisions made to help organizations achieve their objectives.

Teaching according to Sharp (2007) is an attempt made to aid people to acquire some skills, knowledge, etc. In other words, the teacher has to create or develop the desirable knowledge he/she wants in the students.

Colander (2004) defines teaching as the interaction between teachers and students under the teacher’s responsibility to bring about the expected change in the student’s behavior. In other words, effective teaching is one that results in students maximally learning what is taught them.

Learning according to Cotton (1985) is a relatively permanent change in behavior or potential behavior resulting from experience.

There are so many schools established with the department of accounting with the sole aim of creating future teachers and accountants. However, they lack some effective strategies on how to teach the students some major parts of accounting which result in them losing interest and coming out with poor results. This is evident in the West African Certificate Examination (WACE).

The negligence of these strategies poses a negative effect on the teaching and learning of Financial Accounting. The educational system changes from time to time and the Financial Accounting teachers seem not to be aware of these changes. An example of this is what we call “balance sheet” which is now known as “statement of profit and loss account”. This is the reason they keep using the old fashioned way of teaching the students and by the time they get into the higher institution, they begin to find it difficult adapting to these changes.

This is a major issue that most secondary schools in Ikwerre LGA face and with the help of this research, they (the teachers) would be able to know more strategies for the improvement of teaching and learning of Financial Accounting if implemented.

However, in the cause of this research, we will be looking at three strategies and how they can be used to improve the teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in secondary schools in the Ikwerre local government area and they are; instructional materials, mentorship, and collaboration.

Instructional materials according to Ilori (2007) are aids the teacher uses to arouse the interest of the learners thereby enabling them to gain direct experience.

The various topics in accounting education demand the use of instructional materials in which the teachers pass out the required information to the learners. Examples of these instructional materials are; typewriter, videotapes, computer, chat (if the real-life material is not available), etc. with the aid of instructional materials the performance of the students will improve.

Mentorship is another strategy for improving the teaching and learning of financial accounting in secondary schools.

Mentoring is semi-structured guidance whereby one person shares their knowledge, skills, and experience to assist others to progress in their own lives and career.

Mentors need to be readily accessible and prepared to offer help as the need arises within agreed bounds.

A teacher should always make him/herself available to the students. He should be a source of encouragement to them, have a one-on-one talk with them to find out their constraints, and see how he can be of help in improving their academic performance and rekindle the lost interest or focus.

The third strategy that can be used to improve the teaching and learning of financial accounting is that of collaboration.

Collaboration is seen as a working practice whereby individuals work together to achieve a common goal.

Appley and Winder (2010) defined collaboration as a relational system in which individuals in a group share mutual aspirations and a common conceptual framework.

Collaboration can also be said to cooperate. The teacher should be able to help the students cooperate because each student has a different way of learning or understanding.

Some ways in which the teaching can help is by giving the students the chance to teach while he observes, making a group of 5-6 persons and giving them a topic to talk about, encourage them to present their ideas about a topic, etc.

In summary, collaborative learning when well planned, structures effective communication between peers and problem solving and the possibility that students will begin to teach each other

1.2 Statement of the problem

The concept of accounting has been greatly misconceived by a lot of people because they don’t know the value of the course. Some think it’s just mere addition and subtraction of figures and then go ahead to teach the students the way they feel it should be taught. This concept affects the performance of the students negatively and forces them to fall out of interest and love for the course.

Again, the time allocated to the teachers is sometimes not enough to cover the needed areas of a topic which amount to them rushing the class to meet up with the time and in the end, the students have no time to ask a question in the area they did not understand during the class. Accounting is very important and should be utilized in our everyday economic life and other business activities.

It has been observed that students offering this subject tend to encounter some problems which lead to their poor performance. All these lapses and more are the problems faced in the teaching and learning of financial accounting.

However, some of the problems we’ll be looking at in course of this research are;

1. Strategies for instructional material usage in teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in secondary schools.
2. Strategies for mentorship in teaching and learning Financial Accounting in secondary schools and
3. Strategies for collaboration in teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in secondary schools.

1.3 Aim and objectives of the study

The study aims to determine the strategies for improving teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in senior secondary schools in Ikwerre L.G.A

Specifically, the study will be designed to determine:

1. Strategies for instructional material usage in teaching and learning Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Ikwerre L.G.A
2. Strategies for mentorship in Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Ikwerre LGA.
3. Strategies for collaboration in teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Ikwerre L.G.A
4. Strategies to prevent factors that affect the teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Ikwerre L.G.A

1.4 Research Questions

To effectively carry out this study, the following questions were formulated:

1. What are the strategies of instructional material used in teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in secondary schools?
2. What are the mentorship strategies in teaching and learning Financial Accounting in secondary schools?
3. What are the strategies for collaboration in teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in secondary schools?
4. What are the factors that affect the teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Ikwerre L.G.A

1.5 Significance of the Study

The findings of the study will be of great benefit to teachers, students, parents, schools, and the society at large as they reflect on the various strategies that would improve the performance of under the option of accounting.

The study will be beneficial to the teachers because it provides strategies that would aid them in the teaching and learning process of financial accounting.

The students will benefit from it because it will encourage and motivate them to do better in the subject and equally not lose interest in it.

The parents are equally not left out because it will make them happy to see that the performance of their children has improved which is the joy every parent.

Also, the school will benefit from this research because it will improve the student’s performance and also enable them to come out with good grades not just in internal exams but also in the external ones e.g WACE, NECO, etc.

Finally, the society will be beneficiaries f this study because the strategies if implemented will help raise future teachers and accountants that would represent them at different levels.

1.6 Delimitation of the Study

This study will be delimited to some selected secondary schools in Ikwerre local government in Rivers state. It will concentrate on:

• Strategies for instructional material usage in teaching and learning Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Ikwerre L.G.A
• Strategies for mentorship in Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Ikwerre L.G.A
• Strategies for collaboration in teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Ikwerre L.G.A
• Factors that affect the teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in secondary schools in Ikwerre L.G.A

HIRE A WRITER FOR YOUR GIVEN TOPIC