Swimming lessons

Teaching swimming

Swimming lessons are the process of learning to swim. In most countries there is a definition of a number of swimming levels that are reached in the process of the curriculum. The respective certificates of swimming tests are required for further training in aquatic abilities. Many countries have defined a minimum swimming level that children should reach by the end of primary education, in most cases with the help of school swimming classes being part of the normal curriculum. Children are often given swimming lessons, which serve to develop swimming technique and confidence. Children were traditionally viewed not to be able to swim independently until 4 years of age,
but infant swimming lessons are now recommended to prevent drowning and increase water familiarality. There are many different ways of learning to swim with swimming lessons. There are community center lessons, semi private lessons and private lessons. Swimming lessons can support children with special needs through adaptive swimming lessons.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommends swimming lessons for children from 1–4, along with other precautionary measures to prevent drowning. In 2010, the American Academy of Pediatrics reversed its previous position in which it had disapproved of lessons before age 4, indicating that the evidence no longer supported an advisory against early swimming lessons. There is an essential difference between the new infant swimming lessons and the traditional parent child water play sessions. Infant swimming lessons, sometimes called infant swim recovery, teach infants and toddlers how to recover from an accidental fall into a body of water. Unlike traditional parent/toddler classes, which encourage the child's face in the water through blowing bubbles, infant swimming lessons instill in the child the skills to regain buoyancy from a submerged state and to tilt the head back, getting it out of the water to take breaths and cry for help. Children ages one to six years old learn advanced safety skills to roll to their backs to take a breath and then to roll back to their stomachs to continue swimming. Swimming lessons reduce the risk of drowning by 88% for babies and children up to 4 years old.

In many locations, swimming lessons are provided by local swimming pools, both those run by the local authority and by private leisure companies. Many schools also include swimming lessons into their physical education (PE) curricula, provided either in the schools' own pools, another school's pool, or in the nearest public pool. The Department for Education in England includes learning to swim as a compulsory element in primary school PE curriculum. According to the department's website, at the end of year 6 (age 11), all children "should be taught to swim 25 metres" (front and back) and demonstrate an understanding of water safety. Schools can decide when and where pupils will learn to swim. Many children in the UK learn to swim in lessons that are not provided by their primary school and can swim 25 meters by the age of 6. The National Governing body for Swimming is Swim England who train and accredit 80% of swimming teachers in England and Wales * [Ofqual statistics 2012 17] Advocates for school swimming lessons in the United States frequently cite the CDC estimate that 34% of 80%American adults are unable to swim 24 yards. In Sweden, Denmark, Norway, and Finland, the curriculum for 11 year olds in the fifth grade states that all children should learn how to swim as well as how to handle emergencies near water. Most commonly, children are expected to be able to swim —of which at least is on their back—after first falling into deep water and submerging their head underwater. Even though about 95 percent of Swedish schoolchildren know how to swim, drowning remains the third most common cause of death among children. In both the Netherlands and Belgium, swimming lessons during school time (schoolzwemmen, or school swimming) are supported by the government. Most schools provide swimming lessons. There is a long tradition of swimming lessons in the Netherlands and in Belgium; the Dutch translation for the breaststroke swimming style is schoolslag (schoolstroke). The children learn a variant of the breaststroke. In recent years however, most Dutch towns have abolished school swimming in order to cut expenses. In Germany and Austria, school swimming (Schulschwimmen) is part of the elementary school curriculum leading to the entry level certificate (Frühschwimmer) for about 90 percent of the children (a 95% goal set by the ministers for education with actual percentages ranging as low as 75% in some schools). About 50 percent reach a higher swimming level certificate during school swimming. In Switzerland most schools offer a swimming course, though only 70% of the students take part in it, which has led to the Schulschwimmen für alle petition in 2007. Unlike in Germany and Austria, the Swiss school swimming test commonly includes a jump from the diving tower. In France, school swimming (natation scolaire) is part of the curriculum for physical education in the second and third grade in elementary school, or for children aged between 4 and 6 years of age. The aim is successful completion of entry into water then swimming for , before floating for 10 seconds, then swimming on the front and on the back for each, ending with retrieval of an object from deep water of more than
In England, the "Top ups scheme" calls for those schoolchildren who cannot swim by the age of 11 to receive intensive daily lessons. These children who have not reached the National Curriculum standard of swimming by the time they leave primary school will be given a half hour lesson every day for two weeks during term time. In Canada and Mexico there has been a call for swimming to be included in the public school curriculum, which has been implemented slowly in a few schools. In Singapore, most swimming schools teach the SwimSafer Programme introduced by Singapore National Water Safety Council in July 2010 with support from the Singapore Sports Council. The SwimSafer Programme combines instruction in swimming and life saving skills.

The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Österreichisches Wasserrettungswesen (working committee for water rescue in Austria) is a joint committee of private organizations and government bodies. They have defined four grade levels of swimming lessons used in school swimming. Entry level Frühschwimmer (early swimmer—badge showing a penguin) requires jump from side, of swimming and 5 rules of swimming. Level 1 Freischwimmer (free swimmer—badge with one wave and a bronze pin) requires 15 minutes of swimming (any style), jump into water, and 10 rules of swimming. Level 2 Fahrtenschwimmer (trail swimmer—badge with two waves and a silver pin) requires 15 minutes of swimming, dive jump or jump from height, of swimming underwater, pickup of a thick object from deep water ( water, weight), of back crawl, and 10 rules of swimming. Level 3 Allroundschwimmer (routine swimmer—badge with one wave and gold pin) requires of continuous swimming (100 metres front crawl and 100 metres back crawl), sport swimming of 100 meters under 2 minutes 30 seconds, of swimming underwater after dive jump, pickup of a thick object from deep water ( water, weight), of back crawl, of rescue swimming with a person of about the same weight, and 10 rules of swimming. Additionally, the ÖWR water rescue organization's testing requirements for the Jugendschwimmerschein (youth swimmer certificate) includes 50 metres of breast stroke under 1 minute 5 seconds, 50 metres front crawl under 1 minute, 50 metres back crawl under 1 minute 19 seconds, description of lifeguard rules, 50 metres of rescue swimming with another similar weight person, 100 metre snorkel under 1 minute 50 seconds, and 100 metres of swimming while clothed.

In Canada, the Canadian Red Cross Swim program is used, with over one million Canadians enrolling each year. Similar to the system set out by the American Red Cross, the Swim Kids program for school aged children consists of ten levels that progress from basic confidence building skills to more complicated strokes and techniques. In beginner levels, students learn breathing techniques, basic water safety skills, and introductory swimming techniques including how to float and glide in the water at shallow depths. At intermediate levels, students are taught six swim strokes including front crawl, sculling, back crawl, breast stroke, elementary back stroke, and sidestroke. Advanced levels of the program teach students to use these techniques to swim in deeper water and remain safe while swimming. Upon successful completion of the ten levels of the program, students are eligible to enter the Bronze Medal programs (Bronze Star, Bronze Medallion, and Bronze Cross) to learn lifesaving skills. After completing all three Bronze Medal program courses, students can further advance with additional programs such as Water Safety Instructor (WSI) that teach them how to become swimming instructors themselves. Additional programs following the same structure at a faster pace are also available for teenagers and adults who wish to learn how to swim safely and build confidence in the water.

The Schwimmabzeichen (swimming badge) is assigned in four levels: Entry, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. The levels are defined by the Bundesverband zur Förderung der Schwimmausbildung (federal association for promotion of swimming lessons—assembling NGO associations) in coordination with the federal Kultusministerkonferenz (assembly of the ministers for education of each Bundesland state). The entry level Frühschwimmer (early swimmer) includes a swimming test where the student shows a jump from side, a 25 metre swim (no style prescribed), and pickup of an object underwater. The Frühschwimmer level is better known by its mascot Seepferdchen (seahorse) shown on the badge, leading many to refer to it as the Seepferdchen certificate. The bronze badge requires 200 metres of swimming in under 15 minutes (no style prescribed). The silver badge requires 400 metres of swimming in under 12 minutes, pickup of an object from deep water (more than 2 metres), jump and dive from the side, and 10 metres of swimming underwater. The gold badge requires 1,000 metres of swimming (under 24 minutes for males and under 29 minutes for females), sport swimming of 100 meters (under 1:50 for males and 2:00 for females), 100 metres of back crawl, 50 metres of rescue swimming, 15 metres of swimming underwater, pickup of three objects from deep water (2 metres minimum, under 3 minutes, maximum 3 attempts). Lifeguard certificates are defined separately by each organization; the entry level is Junior Retter (junior rescuer) at the DLRG (the largest aquatics life saving organization in the world) and Juniorwasserretter (junior water rescuer) at the Wasserwacht (water rescue branch of the German Red Cross). Extended Lifeguard certificate grades can be obtained at three levels of the Rettungsschwimmabzeichen (rescue swimming badge) in bronze, silver, and gold.

In Switzerland the Schwimmtests (swimming tests) are not organized in levels; instead each ability is tested by itself and a number of test certificates are put in a group designation. The swimming tests are defined by "swimsports. ch", which is an association of swimming NGOs and the federal institute for sports (BASPO). The Entry level has six tests: Ente (duck), Schwan (swan), Seehund (sea lion), Nilpferd (hippo), Schildkröte (turtle), and Biber (beaver). The Basic level has seven tests: Krebs (crab), Seepferd (seahorse), Frosch (frog), Pinguin (penguin), Tintenfisch (cuttlefish), Krokodil (crocodile), and Eisbär (polar bear). The Advanced level has eight tests: Wal (whale), Hecht (pike), Hai (shark), Delfin (dolphin), and four additional tests with no symbols assigned.