Accounting teachers’ teaching practices associated with learners’ performance in high schools

Abstract

Grade 12 learners, in many instances, have early and late classes unlike the rest of the learners in the school. Sometimes their classes run over weekends and during school holidays. The aim of this study was to establish whether there was value in subjecting learners to extra classes over and above their normal class periods. We used the qualitative approach and purposive sampling to select the sample. The teaching of only 1 subject, accounting, was studied and the value of extra classes evaluated. Schools in the KwaZulu-Natal province, South Africa, that have consistently produced a 100% pass rate over a period of 3 years were selected to participate in the study. Data were collected using an interview schedule. The analysis of the data confirms that there is value in subjecting learners to more teaching because there is a direct relationship between teaching and learner performance. The worked example effect, as recommended through the cognitive load theory, was found to be dominant among the teaching strategies that accounting teachers used in extra classes.