Pedagogical Challenges in the Teaching of N-Level 4 Economics

The lack of relevant Teacher Education Training Programme (TETP) specifically for economics teachers in Technical Vocational Education and Training (TVET) colleges globally, including South Africa has posed many challenges for teachers. This study reports on the pedagogical challenges of Economics teachers with Postgraduate Certificate (PGCE): Further Education and Training (FET) phase teaching N-level 4 economics in Technical and Vocational Education and Training colleges. The study investigated the pedagogical challenges experienced by economics teachers during the teaching and learning of N-Level 4 economics in one college at Motheo Technical and Vocational Education and Training College. The seven categories of teacher knowledge by Shulman's (1987), underpinned this study. In addition, the pedagogical challenges of Business Studies in secondary schools by Kimotho (2016) serve as a lens to understand the economics teachers’ challenges in a Technical, Vocational Education, and Training college. This qualitative research approach used an exploratory case study research design, and selected two economics teachers purposefully and their students who were observed in two different classrooms and later interviewed individually. The findings revealed that the economics teachers displayed five pedagogical challenges associated with content knowledge (CK), curriculum knowledge, pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), knowledge of students, and the interaction with students. Based on the study’s limitation, there is a need to identify the educational implications on economics teachers’ pedagogical challenges when teaching economics to N-Level 4 students.