CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
Background of the Study
Accounting is one of the subjects in secondary schools which is envisaged to develop individuals’ skills, knowledge, attitudes and values towards solving problems in the areas mentioned in life. Financial Accounting is a business subject offered by students in Nigeria secondary schools. According to Udoh (2013), Financial Accounting is a specialized area of instruction that deals directly with business skills and techniques, business knowledge and facts, others include business understanding, economic understanding, business attitudes and appreciation necessary to understand and adjust to the economic and social institution called ―business. Sakky (2013), Financial Accounting is a process involving gathering, sorting, recording, classifying, verifying, measuring and summarizing financial transactions and subsequently interpreting and communicating information to the owners and users of accounting information for decision making.
Financial Accounting is a very important branch of business education in which much of daily life is governed and attached, by the results and application of business.
The National Council of Education (NCE) in 2007 gave the approval to the Nigerian Educational Research and Development Council (NERDC), the government agency saddled with the responsibility of developing curriculum for schools in Nigeria to review the existing senior secondary school education (SSSE) curriculum (Ahmed-Rufai, 2010). The author further affirmed that the new curriculum was set to meet up with both national and global challenges and issues. The NERDC has therefore fulfilled this task by the senior secondary school education (SSE) in line with the globally acceptable best practices.
Nwanunobi (2010) viewed that, the problem of failure in examination goes beyond the student's cognitive ability. The decaying infrastructure in most schools is directly responsible for the problem. The physical infrastructure like classroom and libraries are nothing to write home about. So with these problems in place how do you expect the student to perform brilliantly in examination? It is just not possible. The library considered to be the intellectual laboratory of the school. It is also the pressure vault of ideas, the store house of knowledge and the flowing streams of living thoughts. Furthermore, Chean (2012) stressed that, the school library is the sole institution that provide children services however, they are not adequately funded.
Reading habit of children is low because not all children have access to books even though the school may have some programmes for the children but the fact that the school library is not adequately funded; their wishes and aspirations could not be achieved. Most of the public secondary schools are overcrowded hence teaching in the classroom with the use of lecture and discussion methods in vocational courses like business education, cannot be employed for effective teaching process.
Onifade (2010) stated that government of both federal- and state have not shown commitment and will to find solution to the problem of education sector properly. As a result the basic facilities for teaching and learning are not there. Adequate teaching and learning facilities that are basic and essential for an effective teaching and learning of accounting are scarce.
Ughamadu and Okoye (2015) stated that, a learner is interested in a particular activity worthwhile to him and is for his advantage. In this way, a lesson may be amusing without really being interesting to the learner. The learner's interest must be considered while teaching because interest and ability are highly related. Edem (2014) stated that, the ability of the student to learn is to a large extent dependent on what the teacher address to arouse his interest in school work and to bring him to appreciate the importance of education as a human ability.
As such, poor performance is largely as a result of wrong attitude to study and this is in line with the view that, study skill is the ability to make use of adequate choice expected in the area of learning. Onifade (2010) stated that, many students are not ready to learn these days. Closely related to this truant behavior on the part of students is the failure of the parents to monitor their wards movement and activities during and after school hours. There is also need to provide guidance and counseling in the selection of individual career pattern. There are a lot of problems facing teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in senior secondary schools. Hence, this study intends to investigate the factors militating against effective teaching and learning of Accounting in senior secondary schools in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos state.
Problem of the study
Nigeria as a country, has been suffering from high rate of students ‘failure in key subjects among which Financial Accounting is one. Financial Accounting is faced with various challenges. The only available teachers are faced with lack of financial aids for their purchase of necessary equipment or materials. There is no cordial relationship between the lecturers and students in some secondary schools. Students are ignorant of the importance of the course as a tool for self-employment.
Hence, these pose challenges to teaching of Financial Accounting in secondary schools due to inadequate qualified teachers, inadequate teaching and learning facilities, inadequate infrastructure, and poor method of teaching, non-completion of syllabus before the term runs out and lack of confidence on the part of teachers and students. Thus, there is the need to address this problem on what can be done to stop the situation. Therefore, this study would appraise the factors militating against effective teaching and learning of Accounting in senior secondary schools in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos state.
Purpose of the Study
The main purpose of the study is to appraise the factors militating against effective teaching and learning of Accounting in senior secondary schools in Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos state. Specifically, the study sought to;
1. Investigate the problems facing the teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in senior secondary schools in the study area relative to facilities and equipment.
2. Appraise the methods used in teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in senior secondary schools in the study area.
3. Appraise the system of funding the teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in secondary schools in the study area whether it constitutes problem or not.
4. Appraise students’ perception on what they considered to be problems facing the teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in secondary schools in the study area.
Significance of the Study
The findings would be significant to student teachers, parents, school administrators, ministry of education as well as the society at large.
Teachers
This study will serve as an eye opener to the teachers in knowing the negative effects / consequences of various problems confronting effective teaching and learning of Financial Accounting. This research work will serve as information to the teachers on existing challenges facing effective learning of Financial Accounting by students as well as ways of solving them. Some Financial Accounting teachers find it very hard to teach students inside dilapidated classrooms. This contributes to their nonchalant attitudes towards teaching and learning process. In the light of this study, the teachers will be able to tackle some problems headlong themselves.
School Authorities
The school authorities will benefit immensely from this study, as it will help keep them informed on the various factors affecting effective teaching and learning of Financial Accounting. It will assist them to know how the inability of the school authority to provide adequate facilities (such as seats, electricity supply) hinders learning effective teaching and learning of Financial Accounting.
Government
Government would not be left out in the list of the beneficiaries of this study. The research work will help the government to see reasons why trained and qualified teachers should be recruited into secondary schools, why seminars and workshops should be organized by the government for the teachers to enable them to update their knowledge in order to alleviate problems affecting the teaching and learning of Financial Accounting.
Parents
This study will in no small measure assist parents and the society at large in knowing what their children and wards are facing relative to challenges confronting schools, as far as teaching and learning are concerned. They will see the need to provide necessary textbooks, writing materials to mention but a few for their children or wards. It is a well-known fact that lack of needed necessary educational materials, make learning difficult let alone examination preparation.
Students
Students will derive benefits from this study. It will expose the extent to which problems facing teaching and learning of Financial Accounting contribute to their academic performance. It will help them to know the way out of those problems.
Society
It is expected that this study will proffer salient information that would assist the society at large to rise up and curtail the level of challenges facing effective teaching of Financial Accounting in secondary schools. There is no gainsaying the fact that this study will go along a way to unravel the problems facing the teaching and learning of Financial Accounting and the various strategies that can be used to solve the problems.
Future Researcher
The would-be researchers in the related topic of this study will find this study as a point of reference to substantiate their facts and figures. It will serve as a foundational premise to fall back upon in carrying out their researches in the shortest possible time.
Curriculum Planners
It is expected that this study would help the curriculum planners to map out the curriculum in line with students’ ability to solve some problems related to such aspect in teaching and learning of Financial Accounting. So that the level of various challenges can be brought to bearest minimum. Without any iota of doubt, the study will point out some lopsided areas in the curriculum that makes students to face difficulties in their learning
Scope of the Study
This study is limited to Ikorodu Local Government Area of Lagos State. Due to the time factor and other commitment, this study will cover seventeen (17) public and private secondary schools in the selected local government area. The following problems will be highlighted: lack of instructional materials, textbooks, inadequate infrastructure, unavailability of learning resources, insufficient qualified teachers to mention but a few.
Research Questions
The following research questions have been formulated to guide the researchers.
1. Does the state of facilities in the secondary schools studied constitute problem to teaching and learning of Financial Accounting?
2. Does the state of teaching methods in the secondary schools studied constitute problem to teaching and learning of Financial Accounting?
3. Does the system of funding in the secondary schools studied constitute problem to teaching and learning of Financial Accounting?
4. Does the students’ perception of challenges facing teaching and learning of Financial Accounting in the secondary schools studied constitute problem to teaching and learning of Financial Accounting?
Hypotheses
The following hypotheses have been formulated to guide the researchers.
1. State of facilities in secondary schools constitutes no problem to teaching and learning of Financial Accounting.
2. State of teaching methods in the secondary schools constitutes no problem to teaching and learning of Financial Accounting.
3. System of funding in the secondary schools constitutes no problem to teaching and learning of Financial Accounting.
4. Students’ perception of challenges facing teaching and learning of Financial Accounting constitutes no problem to teaching and learning of Financial Accounting.
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