Health barriers to learning a concern for schools
January 23, 2013
As parents and teachers gear up for the 2013 school year, research from the University of Canterbury (UC) highlights the
need for schools and parents to consider health issues that act as barriers to learning.
UC researchers Penni Cushman and Tracy Clelland have found poor nutritional choices and a lack of food are seen by
teachers to have a serious effect on students’ learning. Mental health issues such as stress, anxiety, depression and
emotional issues around self-worth, bullying and stereotyping were also of concern as well as a lack of sleep, a lack of
physical activity, and low fitness.
While teachers and parents want students to achieve to the best of their ability, UC Associate Professor Penni Cushman
and senior tutor Tracy Clelland believe greater attention to health barriers will make this more attainable.
They surveyed 1000 primary and secondary schools about health issues in schools. More than half (58 percent) of the
schools that responded identified issues relating to food choices, with teachers referring to food in crinkly packets,
junk food, foods high in fat and sugar, high-energy drinks and foods high in caffeine and low in nutrients, as barriers
to learning.
Poor food choices were seen by teachers to result in sluggishness and an inability to focus or concentrate in class.
When the issue of food choices was broken down by school decile level, type and location, it was apparent that food
choices were a greater issue in low decile urban schools than in the high decile, urban and rural schools.
Although 72 percent of the low decile respondents listed food choices as an issue, 44 percent of the high decile
respondents also said that food issues adversely affected learning, suggesting that poor food choices abound regardless
of family income.
Twenty-six percent of respondents perceived hunger to be affecting their students’ ability to learn. Primary school
students in low-decile urban schools were most likely to arrive at school inadequately nourished.
A total of 41 percent of respondents from these schools (compared with 12.5 percent of respondents from high-decile
schools) cited lack of food as a concern.
Schools are not ignoring the impact that poor food choices or lack of food can have on learning. Every school that
identified food-related barriers to learning also outlined a wide range of strategies they had implemented to address
these issues.
However a more comprehensive approach that incorporates parents, school and community working together is needed. The UC
survey findings supported research that shows a clear and consistent relationship between mental health and academic
outcomes.
The UC researchers said while secondary schools used their guidance counsellors to manage distressed students, primary
schools often had to rely on less qualified school-based help, as well as community-based resources regarding where a
school’s responsibilities began and ended.
ends