The Relationships between Experience, Qualification and Subject Specialization and Content Knowledge Mastery of Economic and Management Sciences Teachers: A Case of Accounting Teaching

Habasisa Molise

Abstract


This paper investigates the relationship between teaching experience, qualification, and subject specialization on the content mastery of teachers of financial literacy to Grade 9 learners. The sample consisted of 89 Grade 9 teachers of financial literacy in the Thabo Mofutsanyana education district of South Africa. Data was collected using a questionnaire that elicited biographical data and required teachers of financial literacy to answer questions on a variety of accounting topics, to diagnose the effect of teaching experience, qualification, and subject specialization on the content knowledge mastery of the teachers. The data revealed three distinct themes, namely, solving the accounting equation, understanding accounting concepts, and the connection between topics and application of accounting principles. The items of the questionnaire were clustered into three constructs: accounting equation, accounting concepts, and accounting principles and subsidiary journals. The results show that having experience of teaching the subject, having relevant qualifications, and having a minor or major subject specialization in financial literacy enhances teachers’ content knowledge and competence. This result suggests that teachers of financial literacy should have a minimum of three years of teaching experience before they teach senior classes, possess a relevant diploma or degree, and have had accounting as a subject until at least the second to the third year of their studies. In general, teachers should not be expected to teach subjects they did not specialize in, and their level of experience should be a determining factor in workload/subject allocation for teachers, especially for accounting (also known as financial literacy).

https://doi.org/10.26803/ijlter.20.8.3


Keywords


accounting teaching; content knowledge; teaching experience; subject specialization; financial literacy

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References


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