Abstract
With the rapid expansion of the somatology industry more graduates are opting to work on board cruise ships. As a somatologist working on board a cruise ship, it is expected from somatologists not only to work long hours, but also to cope with the pressures of retail, homesickness, culture diversity and a lack of privacy. Working under these conditions imply that somatologists’ wellness could be at risk. In a constantly changing world, higher education institutions ought to deliver wellrounded graduates that are able to transfer multi-disciplinary knowledge into novel contexts of the work world. To ensure an integration of various hard and soft skills that will assist somatologists to maintain their wellbeing, a holistic curriculum seems necessary. To this end, the study aimed to explore how a holistic curriculum at higher education institutions is preparing somatologists to work on board a cruise ship in line with the purpose of holistic education. Given the above background, the following question arises: How does the holistic curriculum of higher education institutions prepare somatology students for working on board a cruise ship?” In answering this question, a basic interpretive qualitative approach employing focus group discussions, individual semi-structured interviews and document analysis was used. To ensure proper ethics, quality and rigour of the study, appropriate ethical measures and principles of trustworthiness were implemented. The theoretical framework for this study was mainly drawn from the ideas of holistic education that includes different levels of wholeness. The underlying premise of this idea is that a holistic curriculum aims to integrate the different wellness domains (social, emotional, physical, social and spiritual) within students while incorporating the multiple layers of meaning and experience through engagement with the community, society and curriculum. ..
M.Tech. (Somatology)