The use of case studies in the assessment of accounting in high schools

Abstract

The study seeks to investigate the common assessment practices of Accounting educators in the Further Education and Training Phase (FET). This was done through interviewing accounting educators in Secondary schools to understand how they assess in the FET phase. Only those educators who were teaching Accounting in quintile one schools at the time of the study were interviewed. Four teachers from the schools in quintile one were purposively selected from one circuit in the uMkhanyakude district. The findings of this research show that in as much as there are different assessment techniques for Accounting, educators feel that case studies seem to be the most appropriate for the assessment of Accounting. This study confirms that Accounting educators in the FET phase seldom set questions at the lower order level as listed in Bloom’s taxonomy. Students are mainly given a case study and are expected to read, interpret, analyse transactions and to record. This suggests that this subject mainly caters for a certain section of learners in class; those who can apply, interpret, and analyse whatever is learnt.