Physical growth and educational achievement of rural South African children: Ellisras longitudinal growth and health study

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to report the relationship between physical growth and the educational achievements of the rural South African children. A total of 1033 children (569 boys and 464 girls) in grades 4 to 8 (aged 7-14 years), who were part of the Ellisras Longitudinal Study, participated in the study. Anthropometric measurements of height and weight, were carried out according to the protocol of the International society for the advancement of Kinanthropometry. Educational Achievement Tests for Mathematics and English obtained from the Human Sciences Research Council (1995) were administered to the children. All children performed poorly in both English and Mathematics with the latter being worse throughout the grades. The results of the linear regression analysis showed that height and weight were positively related to both English and Mathematics performances (r ranged between 0 and 0.12). The study prompts further investigation into other factors such as curriculum and teaching environment and intellectual development which could influence children's educational achievement.

Key Words: Educational achievement, English and Mathematics, anthropometry, physical growth rural South African children.

AJPHERD Vol.10(4) 2004: 317-325