‘If you can’t afford it, they miss out’: Parents hit back as minister defends school swimming program

Queensland schools are not adequately funded to offer swim lessons, according to parents, while teachers agree lessons are not compulsory as the Education Minister has insisted.

Queensland parents have claimed their schools are not being adequately funded to offer swim lessons with P&Cs picking up the extra costs, as Education Minister Grace Grace defended the state’s school swimming policy.

After calls for mandatory swimming lessons for students, Ms Grace on Tuesday put out a statement saying she would “like to reassure families that swimming lessons are already compulsory in all Queensland state primary schools”.

“Our statewide Water Safety and Swimming Education Program was introduced as a result of the Ministerial Water Safety Roundtable the Palaszczuk Government established back in 2018, with funding of nearly $4 million a year,” she said.

But while all Queensland state schools are required to offer a water safety and swimming program in Prep to Year 6, a Queensland Department of Education fact sheet states: “Student participation in these programs is not compulsory. Parents can choose for their children not to participate.”

Education Minister Grace Grace joined defended the swimming program in state schools.

A number of parents commented on Ms Grace’s Tuesday post, raising concerns about how the policy was being implemented, with some citing costs and a lack of availability for lessons.

One posted “we had to choose which 2 year levels could go this year as there is not enough money to send out our Prep to Year 3s. Not enough to actually learn to swim when some kids are petrified of even getting in the water in prep and year 1”.

Another said “a lot of families decide against it because of the costs”, while another said “parents opt to take their children out of these lessons, believing they are not important”.

Ms Grace’s team responded to a number of comments, saying “there is extra funding available to state schools to cover these costs if needed, they can speak to a departmental regional team”.

One mum posted “I have a child that goes to a state school and yes they do offer it, but if you can’t afford to pay the $60+ dollars your child can’t go”.

“So it’s great to say it’s compulsory but if you don’t have the money the child misses out”.

A Brisbane-based state high school teacher said the only time students would visit the pool was for swimming carnivals.

“It’s supposed to be mandatory but that’s an elastic word,” the teacher said.

“Students can opt out of lessons for whatever reason. And when there are insufficient numbers they just don’t do it.”

Another state school teacher, who wished to remain anonymous, said that school swimming lessons were not compulsory.

“(Lessons) are offered and parents are required to pay the fee for students to attend,” the teacher said.

“Students who think ‘I can swim’ tell their parents they’re not going and teachers are required to find another classroom teacher to supervise them while we go.”

“Swimming in my context is prep - 3 only for a duration of one week only, approx. 45-minute lessons, all based in pool - not theory as (Education Minister) Grace Grace suggested.

The teacher said that students receive a certificate at the end of the week and the parents are provided with a voucher for discounted lessons.

She said that swim instructors “do their best to cover as much as possible” as well as “cater for groups of up to 75 students”.

The teacher confirmed that Grades 4 to 6 are offered a beach safety day run by Surf Life Saving Australia at a beach, but that this is an “opt-in activity with a small transport fee”.

She said that Grade 3 to 6 have a swimming carnival during the year despite the fact two of these grades are not provided with any lessons.

“The amount of students, even in Year 4, who are not confident in a 25m pool is alarming,” she said.

The teacher, who is also a parent, said “when students are invoiced for swimming it has been around $25 for the week. That covers the bus and a very small fee for swimming lessons so I am assuming the funding has subsidized some of the swimming fee but not all…..if you knew how many students there were in primary in Queensland altogether - divide the $4 million by the amount of students, it’s minimal subsidy per student.

“I had my own child enrolled in swimming from 6 months to 7 years of age $20+ per week until I felt she was confident swimming longer distances. Other parents will tell me they’ve never done swimming lessons by Year 3,” she said.

“One student excelled in the swimming carnival and the parent said ‘I suppose I should get her lessons as she’s so good’, whereas the point is on safety and awareness, not success at athletic level.”

Laurie Lawrence this week called for a minimum of 10 swimming lessons to be part of the school curriculum and said all children should have access to lessons even if they couldn’t afford it.

The teacher said that the pools attended are often private facilities that are not “aligned to the state government funding”.

Asked whether all Queensland students should have equal access to swimming lessons, the teacher said: “Absolutely. We had a student on flexible attendance and timetabled it so he would be able to attend also, as well as his first ever carnival. He wanted a ribbon yet barely could do doggy paddle at age eight.”

“I do believe parents have the onus on ensuring their child is a competent swimmer though, and unfortunately gone are the days of the Laurie Lawrence campaigns and ads on TV. In fact, I think this year is the first summer I haven’t seen him do the 5, stay alive campaign on TV.”

Laurie Lawrence, who founded the Laurie Lawrence Swim School in 1966, on Monday had called for a minimum of 10 swimming lessons to be part of the school curriculum and said all children should have access to lessons even if they couldn’t afford it.

“We have children who can swim 50m by four years old. If kids aren’t able to meet those benchmarks, it’s terrible. They are very low benchmarks in my opinion,” Mr Lawrence said.

“Everyone thinks Queensland is going great because we have a bunch of national swimmers. But if 40 per cent of kids aren’t able to swim 50m, are we really in a good shape?”