Teachers call for audit of school swim safety programs

TEACHERS are calling for an audit to find out how many primary school students are receiving swimming and water safety lessons to assist the push to boost their skills and save lives.

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TEACHERS are calling for an audit to find out how many primary school students are receiving swimming and water safety lessons to assist the push to boost their skills and save lives.

Education Minister Grace Grace held two stakeholder roundtable meetings in February and April to examine ways to improve vital swim and survival skills in children.

Another is scheduled for June 5, with delegates expected to give final advice in August.

The summits were sparked by The Courier-Mail’s Save Our Schoolkids (S.O.S.) campaign, which revealed concerns from aquatic safety experts that young Queenslanders were less equipped to cope in the water than previous generations.

Caroline Brooks, vice-president of the Australian Council of Health, Physical Education and Recreation Queensland, said an audit of how many children were being taught water safety lessons and what programs were operating would be the logical starting point to devising a plan to lift standards.

Ms Brooks, a teacher in the state system for more than four decades, said the Government roundtables would find it difficult to find solutions without a clear idea of the status quo.

“We know there are a wide variety of programs in our schools and it’s important to collect information on the year levels taught, program content, who is teaching the program and the program duration,’’ Ms Brooks said.

Another veteran teacher told The Courier-Mail that several schools ran a week of basic swimming for younger students at the start of the year, and another at the end of the year.

“So this might be about 10 lessons. Does this produce a competent swimmer? No, it doesn’t. And because it’s not sustained, what we are now seeing is many kids reaching high school with very little ability in the water,’’ the teacher said.

A Department of Education spokeswoman said it did not gather data on the number of students involved in swimming lessons. The spokeswoman said that, on average, students who were involved in lessons were funded for 10 lessons per year.

Windsor State School in Brisbane has a proud tradition of swimming.

Principal Grant Baker said that since the school pool opened in 1925, students had enjoyed the opportunity to engage in swimming and water safety lessons.

Mr Baker said students from Year 1 to Year 6 swam once a week during Term 1 and 4 — about 20 lessons per year.