Accounting teachers’ integration of Information and Communication Technology in South African secondary schools

This empirical paper sought to report the integration of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) of Accounting teachers in South African secondary schools. There is a notable challenge that teachers in South Africa struggle to integrate technology into teaching and learning practices. Consequentially, teachers’ level of ICT integration in teaching and learning is significantly inferior. Limited exposure to utilising technology tools, technology illiterate, and lack of professional support have been noted as impediments for teachers to integrate ICT into their instructional practices. Technological Pedagogical and Content Knowledge (TPACK) theory couched this study since it argues for types of knowledge necessary for teachers to effectively integrate ICT in their instructional practices. This qualitative study was foregrounded by a pragmatic paradigm and case study research design. Semi-structured interviews were administered with three Accounting teachers and inductive thematic analysis was used to analyse data. At the core of this paper, I intend to address one research question: how do Accounting teachers integrate ICT in teaching Accounting in secondary schools? I found that Accounting teachers attempt to integrate ICT in teaching Accounting by preparing for the lessons, presenting lessons, and assessing learners. Further, I found that teachers in Accounting highly use smartphones and WhatsApp to prepare, present, and assess learners. Therefore, I argue that smartphones must be officially allowed to be used in the classroom and there must be a policy guiding teachers on using smartphones in the classroom in schools. The policy must include technology pieces of knowledge from TPACK theory.