Gender differences in academic performance of financial accounting students in selected senior high schools in the central region of Ghana

Abstract

The study examined gender differences in the academic performance of Financial Accounting students in selected senior high schools in the Central Region of Ghana. Descriptive survey design was employed to carry out the study. The simple random sampling and census techniques were used to select 331 students and 137 teachers of Financial Accounting respectively. Questionnaires were the instrument used in collecting the data. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics (means, standard deviation, percentages and frequencies), inferential statistics (t-test) and thematic approach. The study found that there are gender differences in students’ performance in Financial Accounting. Thus, the difference in the mean scores of male students and that of female students in Financial Accounting also implied that there are gender differences in students’ performance. The study also revealed that male students studying Financial Accounting perform better than female students. The mean of means score of both the teachers and the students indicated that male students perform better than female students in Financial Accounting. It is recommended that the Ministry of Education, policy makers, school principals and other stakeholders of education should advise Accounting teachers to motivate the female students to have positive attitude and perception about Financial Accounting. Again, the study recommended that teachers of Financial Accounting should be abreast of current pedagogical content orientation of the subject in order to teach to the level of each student in the class.