ASSESSING THE PEDAGOGICAL CONTENT KNOWLEDGE OF ACCOUNTING TEACHERS IN SENIOR HIGH SCHOOLS IN THE CENTRAL REGION OF GHANA

ABSTRACT

Accounting teachers‟ ability to identify the learning difficulties of the ir students  is  a  crucial  part  of  teachers‟  Pedagogical  Content  Knowledge . Accounting is a subject that most students have difficulty in learning, which is exhibited  in  their  performance.  Timely  identification  of  the  learning difficulties of  accounting students  by accounting teachers in order to  provide timely   intervention measures will be of much importance to the  students and all stakeholders in education. The purpose of this study was to find out  the  pedagogical techniques senior high school accounting teachers use to identify and address the learning difficulties  of  their  students.  Descriptive  design  was  used  to  survey  72 accounting teachers in the Central Region. Questionnaire was used to sample the  views  of  the  respondents  whilst  descriptive  statistics  were   employed  to analyse the resulting data.The  outcome  of  the  study  revealed  that  accounting  students  commitminor errors and careless  mistakes;  large class size also   poses difficulties to students‟  learning.  Accounting  teachers  confirmed  that  during  scoring  and grading of students‟  scripts,  they  are able to identify their  students‟  learning difficulties. Strictly adhering to accounting laws and principles was the major intervention  measure  accounting  teachers  used  to  address  their  students‟learning  difficulties.  It  is  recommended  that  accounting,  teachers  become extra careful and methodical  in presenting facts in class;  they  are entreated to spend quality time with students so as to diagnose their problems early enough to  address them in time.  Central and local governments  should provide  some more classrooms to ease the pressure on the already existing ones.