Education, education, education was the mantra of some UK PM wannabe a decade or so ago but now it appears that education is the answer to EVERYONE’s problems.
However, I would argue that teaching swimming in school would actually make matters worse. Many school swimming programmes are run by non-specialist teachers who can teach the basic concepts and skills but their competency in teaching students to swim strong enough to ‘not drown’ is questionable. Even with trained swimming instructors for students to achieve the ‘to not drown’ level of competence would require a lot more than every Tuesday for Term3. Even if by the end of the primary years, with skilled, trained instructors, with enough sessions to reach competence in the water, there are still many, many seasons where the students might feel more confident than really they should.
There are several options for a solution that should be considered:
- Don’t teach kids to swim- If they are unfamiliar with the water then they are less likely to enter the water unsupervised and therefore NOT drown.
- Increase funding to schools to employ swimming instructors for an intense swimming course for ALL students to reach an appropriate level of competence.
- Provide funding direct to swimming pools to fund lessons for students outside the school curriculum and put the responsibility back on parents.
But always remember:
“Children should never be left unsupervised or under the care of another child by the water” Alan Muir
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