STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING THE TEACHING OF PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTS

STRATEGIES FOR IMPROVING THE TEACHING OF PRINCIPLES OF ACCOUNTS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

The achievement of student in Nigeria has been and is still a source of concern and research interest to be educators, government, teachers and parent. This is so because of the great importance that education has on national development of the country. The role of secondary education is to lay the foundation for further education and if a good foundation is laid through the using good method of teaching from the teacher at is level, there is likely to be no problem at subsequent levels.

Accounting has been rated as highly technical field which can be understood only by those in the profession. Actually, nearly everybody practices accounting in one form or the other on daily basis. Accounting is useful in every profit-making organization that has economic resources such as money, machinery, and building. Hemchand T.K (2008) pointed out that Accounting is an interesting field of study that has many uses in the society.

Frankwood (2000) confirmed that, it provides information that will be a vital one in the process of taking decision in all organizations. Accounting is traditionally divided into financial Accounting and Managerial Accounting on the basis of the relationship between the organization and the user group’s information supplier. For example, internal and external users, the financial Accounting information is meant for external use, while managerial Accounting is meant for internal use.

Furthermore, as a result of the importance of Accounting that necessitates its introduction into secondary school curriculum in Nigeria under the present system of education (6-3-3-4). The subject was introduced to students at Junior Secondary Schools (JSS) as Book-keeping and as Principles of Accounts at the Senior Secondary Schools (SSS).

It is through proper teaching and learning of accounting that will make its execution more meaningful and possible in any financial area in which it shall be employed. Therefore, the study which shall be embarked on is to identify the Strategies for Improving the Teaching of Accounting in some selected secondary schools in Ijero-Ekiti.

Strategy according to oxford advanced learner dictionary is a plan that is intended to achieve a particular purpose or the process of planning something or putting a plan into operation in a skillful way.

In the actual sense, methods, techniques, and strategies are just three different levels of planning that a teacher can think about when preparing to teach and these are related to good teaching. A good method of teaching means a teacher’s approach to instruction. Soyede (2001) made it clear that, it is a general process to guide one in an orderly manner to achieve a set objective. This according to Ogunyemi (2000) defined teaching techniques as specific instructional devices employed by a teacher to teach his/her lesson. Therefore, strategy means the sequence of the techniques during a lesson and the teacher’s skill in Principles of Accounts.

The strategies for improving the teaching will go a long way to assist the teacher to have meaningful and effective teaching. The teachers sometimes do not present their lesson in the way the learner will understand and they don’t teach with relevant instructional materials which can bring improvement to the teaching of Principles of Accounts in secondary schools. In the same vein, some students were not interested in Accounting due to the method adopted by some teachers in the process of teaching.

In a study by Adewole (1977), it was found that majority of accounting teachers in Nigeria secondary schools took accounting as subsidiary subject. In other words, Adewole revealed that majority of accounting teachers in Nigeria secondary schools did not specialize in accounting. Furthermore, in another study by Ogunribido (1990), it was discovered that sixty percent (60%) Principles of Accounts teachers lack teacher education which does not give room for good impartation of Accounting knowledge into students.

Akintelure (1998) blamed the problem on accounting teachers’ insensitivity to the nature of Financial Accounting when planning instructional activities in the classroom. According to her, financial Accounting is not one of the subjects that can be mastered by mere memorization of the basic rules. It requires total determination, sound theoretical knowledge and intensive practice in application. The present study embarked on is to identify the strategies for improving the teaching of Principles of Accounts in senior secondary schools in Ijero Ekiti Local Government Area.

Statement of the Problem

There are challenges relative to the effective teaching of Principles of Accountings. For the fact that, accounting is technical and mathematical in nature, many students find it difficult to comprehend the technical aspect of the subject.

Also, some teachers fail to apply appropriate strategies in the teaching of Principles of Accounts consequently; many students were victim of failure. Another problem is the ability of the teachers to impart adequate knowledge to the students, because there is an ethical concept that says “Good actions are from good people” (concept of Ontologism). Many so called teachers lack the potency of sufficient knowledge of the subject matters.

Student’s performance depends to some extent on the method adopted by teachers, most teachers failed to use appropriate teaching methods which has greatly contributed to the problem.

Purpose of the Study

The purpose of this study is to investigate what teachers in senior secondary schools view to be their best strategies which wou ld enrich their knowledge of the subject and consequently improve the students’ performance in the subject.

Specific Objectives of the Study

The specific objectives for which this study was carried out were:

To find out the views of teachers on the choice of method of teaching as strategies for improving the teaching of Principles of Accounts.
To determine the views of teachers on the use of instructional materials as strategy for improving the teaching of Principles of Accounts.
To ascertain the views of teachers on whether the coverage of syllabus could be used as a strategy for improving the teaching of Principles of Accounts.
To find out the views of teachers on whether the allocation of periods or time could be used as strategy for improving the teaching of Principles of Accounts.

Significance of the Study

An understanding of the problem associated with students’ performance in Principles of Account as a subject which is contributed through the strategies adopted by most teachers, befitting solution will be propounded and there will be a tendency of positive changes in students’ performance therefore, the benefit of this study are:

To help the curriculum planners as well as the teachers to select appropriate teaching method for the teaching of Principles of Accounts.
To help the teacher to be able to use the appropriate instructional materials for the teaching of Principles of Accounts.
To assist teachers to be able to cover the syllabus at the appropriate time.
To help the school management to be able to allocate the appropriate time and period for the teaching of Principles of Accounts.

Scope of the Study

This research work is limited to students and teachers of some selected secondary schools in Ijero Local Government Area of Ekiti State. The subject to be covered is principles of Accounts.

Research Questions

In order to achieve the objectives set out for this study, the following research questions were generated.

How can the choice of method of teaching be used as a strategy for improving the teaching of Principles of Accounts?
In what ways could the use of instructional materials be used as strategy for improving the teaching of Principles of Accounts?
Could coverage of syllabus be used as strategy for improving the teaching of Principles of Accounts?
In what ways could allocation of periods or time be used as strategy for improving the teaching of Principles of Accounts?

CHAPTER TWO

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

Introduction

The teaching and learning of accounting has attracted various research works. These researchers have made several efforts to bring to the limelight, the strategies for improving the teaching of Principles of Accounts. This chapter intends to review the works done relative to this study with a view to highlighting the result of the studies.

In this chapter, the review of literature was made in the following areas: