Strategies for Managing Gifted and Talented Accounting Students in Pre-university Institutions

Abstract

This paper explored pedagogical strategies that accounting teachers employ in the classroom to manage Gifted and Talented Students (GATS) in the pre-tertiary institutions in Ghana. A multiple case study design was used to observe and interview 24 accounting teachers who were purposefully selected from three pre-tertiary institutions in Ghana. The interview guide and focus group discussion guide were the main instruments used to collect data and were analysed thematically. The study revealed that achievement tests, reasoning skills and problem-solving skills were the predominant strategies employed by teachers in identifying GATS. It emerged further from the study that all the teachers involved in the study do not prepare differentiated lessons for GATS and therefore teach all the students in the classroom with different learning needs the same content at the same time. Thus, the study recommends that the various stakeholders and policymakers in education such as Ghana Education Service (GES), the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA) and the Ministry of Education (MoE) should make a conscious effort to develop curricula and enact policies that will promote differentiated lessons in pre-university institutions in Ghana.