What is it about?
The paper is about how wellness affects the academic outcome of university education. In particular, the education of those who come from disadvantaged backgrounds may be compromised due to insufficient nutrition, exercise or other health-related problems. By educating students in the area of wellness and supporting their efforts to improve wellness overall, the long-term result may not only increase wellness but also academic marks and pass rates.
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Why is it important?
This is important because a lot of money is spent on improving both educational systems and the methods of teaching in order to increase higher education throughput. The problem of low pass rates, however, may not be that of education per se but that students' cannot take full advantage of the educational opportunities because they are not at their optimum level of wellness.
Perspectives
Often young people from disadvantaged backgrounds have to work harder at achieving university entrance status. When they do gain entry into the higher education system they are not on a level playing field with those students who are from middle and upper class backgrounds, who have two parents and more holistic educational engagement. Families who are better educated and fully employed have better health and those from less well-off backgrounds are more compromised, in this respect. This could be the reason why those from disadvantaged backgrounds fail more often and remain unemployed. By halting the downward spiral and attempting to reverse the health inequality that exists we have the possibility of making up for the health inequality. This in turn affects the students' performance and ultimately their chances of success.
Dr Angela A Morris-Paxton
Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Wellness and academic outcomes among disadvantaged students in South Africa: An exploratory study, Health Education Journal, July 2016, SAGE Publications,
DOI: 10.1177/0017896916650707.
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