A phenomenological investigation into the lived experience of selected accounting teachers in the Western Cape Province

This study investigates the lived experiences of selected Further Education and Training Accounting teachers residing in the Western Cape Province in South Africa.The main research question is: What are the lived experiences of selected Accounting teachers in the Western Cape province?The subsidiary research questions are: (i) How do Accounting teachers experience the circumstances (contexts) in which they teach?(ii) How did the various changes in the curriculum over the last two decade impact on their disposition towards the curriculum?(iii) How do the Accounting teachers' convictions (passion, confidence, certainty, belief) about who they are influence the way in which they experience their work?(iv) What motivates Accounting teachers to do what they do?To answer the main research questions and sub-questions accurately, I purposively selected five research participants.Three of the five participants teach at historically disadvantaged schools with a quintile index rating ranging from 1 to 2, while the other two participants teach at historically advantaged schools with the quintile index rating ranging from 4 to 5. To elicit rich descriptions of the teachers' subjective experiences, this study conducted in-depth semi-structured phenomenological interviews augmented with field notes for the data construction process.Each interview was divided into two parts.The first part of each interview captured the childhood and early adulthood experiences of the research participants.Their childhood and early adulthood experiences included where they grew up, the influential roles of their parents, their Accounting teachers and their Accounting lecturers at the institutions of higher learning where they acquired their teacher's training.The second part of each interview focused mainly on their practices as in-service Accounting teachers.The research participants' experiences as in-service Accounting teachers were captured from four perspectives.First, their challenges, fears and convictions as Accounting teachers were captured as well as the way they cope with the conditions within which they teach.Secondly, their teaching strategies were noted.Thirdly, their experiences of the changing landscape in education in South Africa over the last two decades were recorded.Finally, their drive to remain in Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za 'persons'.To Macmurray (2012) the term 'individual' signifies the over-reliance or dependence [of a child] on others as he or she develops.'Person', on the other hand, gives expression to a child's capacity to live in interdependent relations with others.This means the capacity to focus on what is other than themselves and in particular other persons.I was born and raised in a little town in the Northern Suburbs of Cape Town, South Africa.Indeed, drawing on Macmurray (2012), I now realise how dependent and over-reliant I was on both my mother and father for my learning.This was because my fatheran industrious and disciplined manwas a high school teacher (and later a lecturer) and my mother a quiet, stylish, stately ladya sales assistant (and later matron of a hostel for students).As a child I did not grow up with modern technologyas a matter-offact television because available in South Africa only when I was 10 years old.This lack of external influences, such as television, the internet and other technological sources, increased my 'individualism' as my dependence on my parents became more overwhelming to understand the world around me.Back then the TV schedule started at 18:00, so my brothers and I had to keep ourselves occupied until that time by playing imaginative games.My father discursively shaped my interest in teaching when he bought me a chalkboard, duster and chalk.My brothers and I played 'school-school' and I was always the teacher.Years later, when I asked my father why he bought the chalkboard, he replied: "We had to find a way to keep you busy, because you were hyperactive".Did God place that idea in my parents' hearts?All I remember is that I enjoyed playing the teacher, whose image assumes a prominent or a conspicuous quality in my childhood memory.In Adler's (1937) terms, the fact that I always wanted to be the teacher not only accentuates my desire for power and importance but also reveals valuable hints about my future goals and values.My mother in turn instilled my first love for Accounting when I was still very young as she told stories about how her fatherwho owned a green grocerwould teach her about saving and doing the books of a business.Through my parents' 'personal lives' and their perceptions of the world, I learned to see the world outside of me during this phase of my life.Contemplative experiences are important because one learns to make emotional bonds with Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za How do Accounting teachers experience the circumstances (contexts) in which they teach? How did the various changes in the curriculum over the last two decades impact on their disposition towards the curriculum? How do their convictions (passion, confidence, certainty, belief) about who they are influence the way in which the Accounting teachers experience their work? What motivates Accounting teachers to do what they do?1.5 Purpose of study In order to establish how Accounting teachers are coping with (experiencing) simply being Accounting teachers, this study intends to explore their inner landscapesin other words, the study will answer the question: Why do (certain) Accounting teachers do what they do.(The word 'certain' is in brackets because the findings cannot be generalisedeach person is unique.)In order to gain insight into how Accounting teachers experience simply being Accounting teachers, one needs to determine the possible challenges they face and how they are coping with these challenges, how the changes in the educational landscape over the last two decades might affect teacher morale and job satisfaction, and how institutional imperatives, for example, maintaining infrastructure at school, learner attitudes, management at school, departmental demands and workload, affect them, that is, affect their inner landscapes.The ultimate focus of this study is on understanding how Accounting teachers think, how they feel, how they react, who they are, and what motivates them to do what they do.1.6 Significance of the study Lived experience is at the heart of the educational experience.Phenomenology was the foundation of William Pinar's work on currere and informed the work of the greatest Canadian curriculum scholar, Tetsuo (Ted) Aoki and his notion of curriculum-as-lived after phenomenology was introduced to him by his student Max van Manen.Currere means 'to run the course', which is about the Stellenbosch University https://scholar.sun.ac.za educational experience.By studying the life histories of teachers from

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