TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF METHODS EMPLOYED IN TEACHING FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EGBA EDUCATION ZONE OF OGUN STATE

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CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Financial accounting is one of the vocational subjects offered at the senior secondary education level in Nigeria. Asaolu (2002) defined financial accounting as the process of recording, classifying, selecting, measuring, interpreting, summarizing and reporting financial data of an organization to the users for objective assessment and decision making. In addition, Udoh (2004) defined financial accounting as a discipline concerned with the recording, analyzing, interpreting and forecasting of incomes and wealth of a business and entity. Financial accounting according to Udoh (2003) is required to attain the goal of integrating an individual into a sound and effective citizenship and also to achieve other stated objectives for the moulding of individuals in the society. Financial accounting is of immense importance to the economy of Nigeria, as it provides a solid foundation for future accountants, managers, entrepreneurs and educators. Financial accounting in this study, therefore, is a discipline which equips students with the knowledge of recording, analyzing, classifying and interpreting financial information to users of financial statement. According to the National Examination Council NECO (2004), the objective of studying Financial accounting in secondary schools include: to enable senior secondary school students appreciate the business rules, functions and principles of accounting, to lay proper foundation for the study of accounting and allied courses at higher level and to enable students to understand basic accounting principles, practice and their applications to modern business activities. The successful and effective implementation of financial accounting curriculum is therefore, an essential activity of education in Nigeria.
The financial accounting curriculum is based on the National policy on education (2004). This policy made provision for the promotion of accounting education from pre-primary to university level. This can be achieved through effective teaching and learning of accounting as part of vocational and technical education. In this study financial accounting curriculum is viewed as a document that shows the comprehensive list of topics, performances, objectives, contents, teacher and student activities, teaching and learning materials and evaluation guide which learners are expected to cover before enrolling in the senior secondary school certificate examination. The Nigeria Educational Research and Development Council, NERDC (2007) noted that financial accounting curriculum has experienced constant reviews and amendments from time to time. The amendment is to suit the economic and financial needs of the country and to enable students to understand the financial and economic system of Nigeria sector.
The curriculum content of financial accounting is grouped into fifteen themes ranging from introduction and historical development of bookkeeping and accounting, principles and concepts of accounting to company accounts, government accounting and Nigeria capital market. The curriculum is grouped into three levels in senior secondary education which guides the teaching and learning of financial accounting in secondary schools. These three levels in senior secondary education in Nigeria is made up of senior secondary one, senior secondary two and senior secondary three which represent their first, second and third year in senior secondary school. The methods applied in the teaching of financial accounting would to a great extent determine the rate of success or failure in the subject. The degree of success or failure of students would show how effective a particular method is in teaching.
The teachers’ task is to create or influence desirable changes in behavior of his students. Dasko (2002) defined a teacher as a person that imparts knowledge to people, teach them how to read and write, and explains how problems are solved. It is well known that the quality and extent of the learners’ achievement are determined primarily by teacher competency, sensitivity and teacher motivation. The calibre of teachers of teachers who teach financial accounting in secondary schools are professional and unprofessional. (Adentwi, 2005). According to the author (2005), a subject specialist or professionally trained teacher is one who has pursued detailed formal and systematic study of a particular subject. The role of such a subject specialist is to act as storehouse of essential and well processed information leading his students to gain deep insights into the various subjects to be taught. According to Offorma (2010), the teacher is a vital factor in the teaching and learning process, and also the hub of any educational system. Since teachers are the key agents in the transformation of knowledge, their level of qualification, training, working conditions, perceptions among other variables have significant influence on the school curriculum and the entire education system, (Omoogun, 2009).
Perception as noted by Yolanda (2003) is the organization, identification and interpretation of sensory information in order to represent and understand the environment. It is the way something is regarded, understood or interpreted. Romanov (2011), stated that perception includes senses, feelings, ideas, thought and theories. The perception of teachers is very important for the purpose of developing curricula in a way that best engages students and promotes quality teaching (Addison, Best, & Warrington, 2005; Greimal-Fuhrmann & Geyer, 2003). Teachers’ perception in this study is seen as the feelings, ideas and thoughts of financial accounting teachers on the effectiveness of methods employed in teaching financial accounting. Impliedly, teachers’ sensory information about the methods would probably influence its application as instructional mode in financial accounting classrooms. However, other intervening variables such as: teacher’s year of experience, teacher’s qualifications, gender and school location, could determine teacher’s perception of the effectiveness of methods employed in teaching financial accounting.
According to Akinkuolie and Orifa (2011), there is a correlation between teachers’ experience and students’ achievement in that students taught by more experienced teachers achieve at a higher level, because their teachers have mastered the contents and acquired classroom management skills to deal with different classroom problems.
In addition to the factors that can determine teachers’ perception of the effectiveness of
methods employed in teaching is the qualification of teachers. Commenting on the qualification of teachers, Offorma (2010) noted that academically qualified teachers have shown tendency to succeed more than their non-qualified counterparts. The author further asserted that adequately qualified teachers have confidence and courage to use their initiative and experiment. Offorma (1993) also affirmed that a good qualification is a necessary pre-requisite for effective teaching of any school subject.
However, gender could determine teachers’ perception of the effectiveness of methods employed in teaching financial accounting. Gender refers to a social construct regarding culture-bound conventions, roles and behaviours as well as relations between and among women and men, boys and girls (Nwaubani, Okafor, and Onyeanusi, 2014). Gender is the fact of being male or female which affects role performance (Krieger, 2003). Gender of teachers has little effect on the academic motivation and engagement of boys and girls. Instead, students value teachers who are supportive regardless of their gender (Carrington, 2007). Accounting has been traditionally viewed as a male dominated profession with few female entrants, but recent studies show that there is an increasing influx of females into accounting profession, (Komori, 2008). The influx of females into accounting discipline in recent times has increased the number of females seeking accounting education at all levels including secondary schools (Williams, 1991).
School location is also a possible determinant factor in the effectiveness of methods of teaching financial accounting in schools. Location is a geographical place or an area (Ezeugo and Agwagah, 2000). It can also mean a settlement whether village, town or city usually occupied by human beings. School location therefore refers to school settings which could either be urban or rural, and this classification may have influence on educational development and achievement of secondary school students (Ezeugo and Agwagah, 2000). This is because the use of multi-media computers and Information Communication Technologies facilities seems more prominent in urban areas than rural areas (Idike, 2000). Indeed, it is usually taken for granted that teachers in rural school setting may not likely utilize innovative methods like team teaching, use of visual aids due to certain constraints such as the unavailability of those materials in the secondary schools.
Secondary school according to the Federal Republic of Nigeria (2004) in its National Policy on Education is a transitional stage of education. It is the level of education between the primary and the tertiary levels. Secondary Schools can be owned by private individuals, missionaries, and governments. Public schools are owned by government and predominantly occupied by citizens of lower socio-economic status in Nigeria (Najeema and Mohammed 2012). Accounting teachers should possess or have a reservoir of teaching methods to enhance easy acquisition of concepts, ideas, knowledge, skills and attitudes in accounting on the part of the learner.
However, despite the perceived importance of methods in teaching financial accounting, most financial accounting teachers seem not to apply it in the process of teaching and learning (Cooper, 2006). Available literature Agwu (2001), kiboss (2002) and Uwameiye (2005)) ascertained that the practices of financial accounting teachers do not conform to the expectations of curriculum planners in that teacher-centred pedagogy appears to be the dominant mode of instruction in schools. Despite the emphasis on practical, problem-solving, experiential and individualized methods of teaching, financial accounting is taught predominantly by expository method, in which the teacher stands most of the time giving verbal explanation while the students writes notes from the chalkboard. Kiboss (2002) has singled out the expository approach to be the dominant teaching method commonly used for bookkeeping and accounts instruction in our schools. Obviously such inadequate and limited teaching method tends to negatively affect the learners views of practical concept and associated methods. Thus, teacher’s feeling towards the effectiveness of any instructional method is vital to its success or otherwise. This position is supported by Grasha and Yangarber- Hicks (2000) who rightly observed that teachers’ perception of methods could contribute to the effectiveness of teaching-learning situations to reduce the poor performance of students in financial accounting.
The poor performance of students has been a major concern to parents and business educators as indicated in both internal and external examination in the shown performance in West African Senior School Certificate Examination (WASSCE) for the years (1998-2007) see (Appendix C, page 142). The breakdown of results for May/June SSCE examination conducted by WAEC also indicated an average failure rate of 72%, 74%, 75% and75% in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011 respectively in all subjects including financial accounting (Osuagwu, 2012). The general failure of secondary school students in financial accounting in Nigeria does not exclude secondary school students in Egba education zone of Ogun State.

TEACHERS’ PERCEPTION OF THE EFFECTIVENESS OF METHODS EMPLOYED IN TEACHING FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING IN SECONDARY SCHOOLS IN EGBA EDUCATION ZONE OF OGUN STATE