Accounting teachers’ readiness for e-learning in the Fourth Industrial Revolution: A case of high schools in the Eastern Cape, South Africa

Abstract

This study sought to explore Accounting teachers’ readiness to implement e-learning in their classrooms during the Fourth Industrial Revolution, specifically in schools in the Eastern Cape province of South Africa. To this end, the authors employed a qualitative approach and a case study research design. Interviews were used to gather data from Accounting teachers, with sampling resulting in six educators being purposively selected. The findings revealed that Accounting classrooms are not designed in a way that supports e-learning, while many of the subject teachers are not ready to promote e-learning in class. Accounting teachers tended to leave the technologies with which the education district had provided them at home, rather than using these to enhance their teaching and learners’ learning. To enable Accounting teachers to implement e-learning, their classrooms need to be reconfigured and supplied with crucial resources. To boost their motivation and skills levels, those teachers should be encouraged to undergo continuous computer training, for which they would ideally be awarded certificates. The recommendation made here, is that information and communication technology officials at the district level should establish educational platforms at the cluster level to service teachers, advising them on how to use helpful technologies in practice. The Department of Basic Education needs to establish relationships with local universities, so that the latter’s specialists might assist teachers in implementing e-learning in practice. Until the situation changes, learners who take Accounting as a subject need to demand that their teachers use electronic platforms to deliver e-learning.