Mentoring as an intervention management strategy to improve academic success of Grade 12 accounting in selected Free State schools

Abstract

Accounting education in South Africa has been underachieving in terms of the expected pass rate of learners in Grade 12; learners are underprepared or unprepared for the real world. The South African Institute of Chartered Accountants demonstrates that the framework for a bright Accounting learner includes acquiring technical skills that match with the specific Accounting competencies in which the Grade 12 Accounting learners are not achieving. This study aims at applying an intervention management strategy to improve the academic success of Grade 12 Accounting learners. In order to carry out the study goals and objectives, the researcher used the parameters of critical emancipatory research and participatory action research. The research also focused on the mobilisation and establishment of a team of co-researchers and working out a strategic plan to address the problem within the critical emancipatory research lens. The identification and the relevancy of the co-researchers selected for this study are discussed in the design section. The data-gathering methods and techniques are highlighted. An interesting finding is that it was generally accepted that mentoring could contribute to the improvement of the academic success of Grade 12 Accounting learners if they were given the chance to perform optimally. Nevertheless, despite the assistance of government agencies, funding, training initiatives, such as theInternet Broadcast Project of the University of the Free State collaborating with the Department of Education, and the participation of the private sector, such as by Kagiso Trust and projects of Jenn, Grade 12 Accounting in South Africa is in a serious condition. The study, therefore, recommends that the teaching strategies used must conform to the contextual theory of learning where the purpose of education is the integration of the content learnt with the experience of the real world. So, teaching tools such as case studies, interactive simulations and games, and group work must serve in the framework of mentoring as an intervention strategy to improve the success rate of Grade12 Accounting learners.