School swim programs floundering

It’s summer soon and that means swimming but as it turns out many children won’t be fully water safe if they’re relying on school swim programs alone.

Swimming is a crucial skill to learn in Australian culture, but is seems 36.7% of parents intended to persist with lessons only if their child expressed interest to continue.

A combination of intensive school swim programs in conjunction with regular lessons to be the most effective mode for swim skill retention, but the retention of skills learned in intensive school programs was level-dependent.

Peninsula Leisure, in partnership with Deakin University’s year-long study – Swim Lesson Models: Effectiveness and Impact Study – found parents who solely relied on school swim programs overestimated their child’s swimming and water safety abilities.

Furthermore, parents placed more emphasis on their child being safe around water, rather than developing technical swimming skills – both of which are vital for the overall safety of the child.

Kate Moncrieff and Jacqui Peters, lecturers within Deakin University’s School of Education, found that while school swimming intensives resulted in an improvement of swimming and water safety skills, children in the earlier stages of learning tended to lose the skills they had gained when retested again at the end of the school year.

“Extending the accessibility to swimming lessons beyond intensive school swim programs is important to ensure all children, no matter what level, are retaining these vital skills.

“The findings have prompted us to call for a review of the State’s school swim programs to ensure they meet the development needs of Victorian children,” Moncrieff said.

Peninsula Leisure Chief Executive Officer Tim Gledhill said this study reinforces just how important it is for parents to ensure children are learning to swim all year round.

“Eighty-five per cent of Australians live within 50km of the coast. This study is a timely reminder on the importance of learning to swim and maintaining regular practice to ensure our children remain safe. It also highlights the need to redesign the way we deliver learn-to-swim programs.”