Accounting teachers’ experiences of communal feedback in rural South Africa

Abstract

This paper explores teachers’ experiences of providing feedback to accounting learners in a selected rural school in South Africa. In terms of the Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) for Accounting, assessment is viewed as an integral part of teaching and learning, with emphasis on continuous provision of feedback. Providing continuous feedback to learners in this manner influences the way in which the subject is taught and assessed. In this paper I adopted a qualitative case study design to understand teachers’ experiences in providing feedback to their accounting learners. Three accounting teachers teaching in the Further Education and Training Phase in one rural school were purposively selected for this study. Semi-structured interviews and lesson observations were employed to gain responses to the key research question. Thematic content analysis was carried out on the data collected. What emerged from the findings is that the contextual constraints that accounting teachers in a rural school face impede the quality and provision of constructive and timely feedback. This causes teachers to devise their own strategies of providing feedback.

Keywords: accounting language; accounting teachers; communal feedback; rural school