Opinion: No child should be left behind in learning to swim
It is one thing for the government to claim swimming lessons are compulsory in all Queensland state primary schools, but in reality, many children can’t swim to save themselves by the time they finish year 6.
Opinion
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It is one thing for Education Minister Grace Grace to claim swimming lessons are compulsory in all Queensland state primary schools.
But in reality, children are slipping through the cracks and many can’t swim to save themselves by the time they finish year 6.
And it seems the reason for this is that the rollout of swimming lessons in schools is inconsistent to say the least.
Parents are reporting having to pay for the lessons, and some say their school doesn’t offer them for all year levels.
With just $3.7m allocated a year to the program, it is hardly surprising that schools are having trouble implementing it to a reasonable standard – there are roughly 900 state primary schools in Queensland, after all.
Instead of hiding behind the refrain that swimming lessons are already “compulsory”, Ms Grace needs to ensure the program is being implemented in a way that does what it is intended, which is to save lives.
What the Queensland government is losing sight of here is that what should be compulsory is for all students leaving primary school to have a certificate that says they can swim.
And they must be able to swim to an acceptable level, reaching the appropriate benchmarks.
Yes, there will be parents who don’t want their child to participate in school-based lessons, but equal access should still be provided.
The state government needs to make it hard for parents to say no, and that includes ensuring a fair number of the lessons are free and parents must have a good reason for their child not to participate.
Yesterday, Ms Grace was quick to point out that swimming lessons “are already compulsory in all Queensland primary schools”, which resulted in backlash when she posted a statement to that effect on her Facebook page.
She was soon inundated with comments from annoyed parents who pointed out their schools did not, in fact, offer swim lessons for all students – or they did, but families were forced to pay.
“We had to choose which year 2 levels could go this year as there is not enough money to send all our Prep to Year 3s. So in reality they get 5 lessons over a week,” one parent wrote. Another pointed out: “Some parents with multiple kids still have to pay over $100 for their kids to do 5 school swimming lessons.”
Ms Grace’s social media team spent hours responding to the comments – assuring parents the lessons should be for students in prep to year 6, and parents should not be paying for swimming lessons in state schools.
“It shouldn’t be the case that state schools are charging for access to these swimming lessons,” was the response to one parent who said they had paid.
“Principals in consultation with their school communities decide the best way to implement the program.”
As The Courier-Mail reported on Monday, a Royal Surf Life Saving report noted that in Queensland “no consistent statewide programs exist to ensure students meet the benchmarks” for swimming.
And that is what is at the heart of the issue – the program in Queensland is not fit for purpose.
The purpose of it is to save lives.
And this is Queensland – as this editorial noted on Monday, the Sunshine State should be setting the benchmarks for swimming, not failing to reach them.
According to the same Royal Surf Life Saving report, the Victorian government has allocated $72.8m to its Swimming in Schools program over the 2021-2024 forward estimates.
It makes Queensland’s $3.7m a year seem paltry.
Almost five years ago, the Queensland government pledged to improve the delivery of swimming lessons in schools as a result of The Courier-Mail’s Save Our Schoolkids (SOS) campaign.
It is clear the program needs to be reviewed and experts consulted again to determine if it is working – and if not, what can be done to fix it.
This needs to be done sooner rather than later. Our children’s lives depend on it.
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