The challenges facing accounting education in high schools: the South African experience

Lilian Ifunanya Nwosu, Calvin Mahlaule

Introduction High school accounting is declining in recognition, and learners lose interest in taking accounting as a subject. Accounting is expected to equip learners with essential skills, promote critical thinking, and enhance financial literacy, contributing to academic and career success. The decline in the enrolment rate has created a concern about basic education in South Africa, which also affects the student's interest in the university. Even though accounting subject is not a prerequisite for learners to get university admission to pursue their careers as accountants, it can be deduced that the lack of interest in accounting subject is creating a roadmap for high schools to remove accounting from their curriculum. To address this problem, this study aims to ascertain the challenges facing accounting education in high school. Methods The study adopted a qualitative approach and interviewed accounting educators within the northwest province of South Africa to understand their perspectives on the problems surrounding accounting education and how they can be addressed. Results The study's findings show that teaching methodology, educators' qualifications, the inability of learners to study accounting, and a low number of learners choosing accounting as a subject (lack of interest) contribute to the decline in accounting students' enrolment. Discussion The study further proposes that learners should be provided with adequate career outreach to understand the importance of accounting as a subject. Educators, on the other hand, should present accounting to learners not as a difficult or irrelevant course but as a course essential to becoming entrepreneurs.