Desperate times call for desperate measures : student well- being and academic integrity during and post the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa

Abstract

Among the challenges caused by COVID-19, the pandemic brought issues of educational inequalities in South Africa, comparable to problems experienced in Europe due to the massification of university studies applied at higher education levels in the ‘70s. The affected well-being of South African university students has evoked concern which, based on empirical evidence, defines them as a ‘very high-risk population’ for mental disorders and psychological distress. The emergency remote learning applied during the pandemic has also caused a drastic surge in academic dishonesty across most universities, manifested mainly in plagiarism. Despite preliminary research on connections between academic dishonesty and students’ well-being, the field is under-researched, with an evident gap in the South African context. This study aims to enhance the South African educational system through awareness of students’ well-being and academic integrity issues related to unpredicted circumstances of the COVID-19 pandemic. Considering its destructive role, the research has analysed students’ experiences during and after the pandemic from two angles, psychological, in terms of their emotional state of mind, and ethical in terms of their thinking, reacting, and acting in the context of academically dishonest behaviour.

The subject matter has been diachronically approached through the qualitative method applied with the participation of 35 students in three asynchronous phases. To contextualise their mental well-being and involvement in academic dishonesty, the two first phases took place during COVID-19, in the framework of the collective pandemic health crisis. Considering the circumstances to be calmer and the students’ reactions less subjective, the data collection and analysis were realised in beginning 2023. The purposively planned phase-interval, we believe, sustains this study in terms of credibility and accuracy. To raise awareness through empirical knowledge, initially a group of 20 students from the Faculty of Education at a South African urban university participated in a photovoice study. The students were tasked to search for photos during the pandemic, illustrating academic dishonesty and student well-being. From an artistic, pedagogical viewpoint, the phenomenon of plagiarism, beyond textual content, was focused on another group of 15 participant students tasked with creating counterfeit objects. Through their design skills, students were tested on their views on ethics expressed from a satirical and humorous point of view. Conclusively, unpredictable collective disasters causing socio-educational changes can negatively affect a student’s mental health in terms of doubting human value system and disillusionment regarding higher education principles and the consequently increasing academic dishonesty. Positively, students’ well-being was also associated with awareness of one’s inner self, the value of resilience and peer interaction importance in the campus space.