BACKGROUND

Royal Life Saving has long held concerns that many children miss out on learning to swim and survive, fall well below National Benchmarks for Swimming and Water Safety before leaving primary school, making them vulnerable to drowning when exposed to hazards in rivers and at beaches as teenagers, and throughout their lifespan.

This study explored children's swimming and water safety skills from the perspectives of school teachers and parents.

KEY INSIGHTS

Teachers perceive that:

• 48% of year 6 students cannot swim 50 metres and tread water for 2 minutes.
• 40% of year 7-10 students cannot achieve the National Benchmark for primary school students.
• After year 7 there is little improvement in swimming ability.
• 84% of year 10 students cannot swim 400 metres, the National Benchmark for 17 years.

Teachers report that:

• 7.5 hours is the median time allocated by schools to learn to swim programs.
• 31% of schools do not offer a learn to swim program.
• One in four schools do not conduct a school swimming carnival.
• 55% indicated that low swimming skills of students are a leading reason for not conducting swimming carnivals.

Parents perceive that:

• 46% of children aged 11-12 years (year 5 & 6) cannot swim 50 metres.
• 8% of children aged 11-12 years cannot float or tread water for 2 minutes.
• 46% of children aged 7-14 years cannot achieve the National Benchmark for 6 years. Of this 13% are aged 11-14 years.

Parents report that:

• One in ten children aged 5-14 years have never attended swimming lessons.
• The majority being from low socio-economic backgrounds and those living in regional locations.
• 33% of children stop lessons between ages 7-9 years.
• 59% of children first enrol in formal swim lessons between 0-3 years old.

KEY ISSUES

1. Primary-aged students falling further behind on National Benchmarks.
2. Swimming skills don't improve much in high school.
3. School programming is under pressure.
4. School swimming carnivals are rapidly becoming for squad kids only.
5. Parents are doing the heavy lifting, but many cannot afford the costs.
6. Children start early, and stop by age seven.