Olympic legend Dawn Fraser rips into government, school principals over state’s water safety program

Olympian Dawn Fraser says school swimming funding should be dumped and instead parents should be subsidised to pay for private lessons for their kids. VOTE IN THE POLL

Olympic swimming legend Dawn Fraser has slammed the Queensland Government’s swimming education program, insisting the $3.7 million annual funding should instead be transformed into a subsidy to help parents pay for private lessons for their child.

The four-time Olympic gold medallist is heavily involved in her local school’s swimming program and said if some principals cannot be trusted to use the funding properly, it should go to parents to help them afford lessons through a provider of their choice.

The state government maintains swimming lessons are compulsory in all state primary schools through its Water Safety and Swimming Education program established in 2018, which recommends at least five lessons per child.

However, parents claim the rollout is confusing and inconsistent because it is being left up to individual schools and principals to implement.

Some students are reportedly only getting lessons in certain year levels, while other parents are being asked to pay extra for lessons, and it is becoming an increasingly tougher task for students in rural towns to travel to local pools to teach water safety.

Australia’s Golden Girl Dawn Fraser on the river at Noosaville. Photo: Lachie Millard.

Ms Fraser has seen the difference swimming lessons can make at her local Good Shepherd Lutheran College in Noosaville.

“There are a lot of principals who don’t believe in teaching children to swim,” she said.

“I don’t think the state government understands the magnitude of the issue, we must teach children to swim from six months on.

“If principals aren’t going to use the money, then the government must have a good look into it, and give the money to the parents for them to use for their child learning to swim.”

In the past five years, the state government has opened 21 new schools, but none have their own pool. Statewide, only about 200 of the roughly 1200 public schools have their own pool.

Ms Fraser was shocked by these numbers having seen how vital Good Shepherd Lutheran College’s pool has been to the local community.

“At our school, they have their own 25-metre width and length pool and it is working from 6am to 6pm six-and-a-half days per week teaching kids to swim,” she said.

“Every school that is built now should have a heated pool, it doesn’t have to be indoors, but it should have some kind of roof on it for babies learning to swim. It is vital.”

Ms Fraser said starting children on swimming lessons while they are in childcare could also be an important initiative.

“The child is learning to read and write before going into school, so why not teach them to swim?” she said.

Victoria’s swim safety program received $72 million over four years, meaning Queensland’s almost $16 million over four years is less than a quarter of its interstate rivals.

Education Minister Grace Grace addressed some concerns last week.

Education Minister Grace Grace has conceded “there is not a one size fits all approach” when it comes to state school swimming education. Photo: Liam Kidston

“Principals, in conjunction with their school communities will implement swimming lessons and a water safety program in the way that works best for their students,” she said.

“Schools that don’t have a pool on site or within one kilometre automatically receive Learn to Swim funding to cover transport and pool admission costs.

“I’d encourage parents and carers who think these lessons should be delivered differently to talk to their local school in the first instance, and of course if there are examples of schools not delivering what they’re required to, we want to fix that.”

However, another complicating factor is a shortage of swim teachers.

Training provider AUSTSWIM found across their Queensland swim schools up to six more teachers were needed at each to meet demand.

AUSTSWIM chief executive Brad Low said the shortages were reported after visiting some of the 307 swim schools they operate locally.

“With one AUSTSWIM teacher teaching up to 100 children per week, the shortage of teachers means approximately 185,000 Queenslanders are unable to access swimming and water safety lessons,” he said.

Originally published as Olympic legend Dawn Fraser rips into government, school principals over state’s water safety program