2010 SURVEY OF SWIM SCHOOL MANAGERS.

Transcription

1 2010 SURVEY OF SWIM SCHOOL MANAGERS

2 Royal Life Saving Society Australia and AUSTSWIM 2010 All Rights Reserved The views expressed and the conclusions reached in this report publication are those of the author. This report is copyright. This work may be reproduced in whole or in part for research, training or drowning prevention purposes subject to the inclusion of an acknowledgement of the source and provided no commercial usage or sale is made. For any other enquiries concerning reproduction, contact Royal Life Saving National Office on (02) Suggested Citation: Royal Life Saving and AUSTSWIM Ltd (2010) 2010 Survey of Swim School Managers Report, Royal Life Saving Society Australia and AUSTSWIM Ltd, Sydney. The Royal Life Saving Society Australia (RLSSA) Royal Life Saving is active all over Australia. Our branches, members, volunteers, trainers, employees and lifesavers are found in almost all communities. Lifesavers are everywhere. They can be teachers, students, mums, dads, firemen, plumbers or accountants. They patrol the houses, streets, workplaces and parks of the communities in which they live. They don t always wear a uniform but they can and do save lives. The Royal Life Saving approach is inclusive and some of their biggest achievements occur away from large capital cities. The Australian Council for the Teaching of Swimming and Water Safety AUSTSWIM AUSTSWIM is the Australian Council for the Teaching of Swimming and Water Safety. It has a representation in each state and territory of Australia and is a non profit organisation. AUSTSWIM s vision is that every Australian will be taught to swim by an accredited AUSTSWIM teacher, enabling them to safely enjoy aquatic environments and activities. This is underpinned by the philosophy that all Australians should have appropriate and relevant swimming and water safety skills and understand the principles and practices of water safety. Acknowledgements This survey was developed with the support of the Australian Government. The Royal Life Saving Society Australia National Office staff Amy Peden, Richard Franklin and Penny Larsen developed this survey with assistance from Justin Scarr from Royal Life Saving and Gordon Mallet and Susan Sturt from AUSTSWIM. Disclaimer While the Royal Life Saving Society endeavours to provide reliable analysis and believes the material it presents is accurate, it will not be liable for any claim by any party acting on such information. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 2

3 Executive Summary Introduction: This report has been produced to describe the results and recommendations of a national survey of swim school managers, undertaken by Royal Life Saving (RLS) in partnership with AUSTSWIM. Last year in Australia there were 56 children under the age of 18 years who drowned. Swimming and water safety skills and knowledge are integral parts of a child s development, as well as a means of reducing their risk of drowning. However the current participation rates of Australian children in swimming and water safety programs is unknown. This survey aimed to explore swimming and water safety skills from a swim school s perspective and forms part of a broader project being undertaken by RLS to benchmark the swimming and water safety skills and knowledge levels of primary school aged children in Australia. Methods: An invitation to participate in an online survey was sent to a swim schools database. There were 834 swim schools across Australia (934 in total however 100 swim schools did not have an address) invited to participate. Results were collected using Survey Monkey and were analysed in SPSS. Results and Discussion: Who participated in the study: Of the 834 swim schools invited via to participate in the survey, there were 372 responses (44.6%) received and 43 respondents who opted out of the survey. The majority of respondents were aged between years (29%) and years (28%) and just over three quarters (76%) were female. Unfortunately there were very few responses from people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background (2%) or who could speak a language other than English (7%). Recommendation: Studies be undertaken to explore swimming and water safety teachers from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds. What should children be able to achieve by age 11: The survey found that there were clear groupings of skills and knowledge topics that respondents considered more important for children aged 11 years to be able to perform or have knowledge about. These were: knowledge about safety at specific aquatic environments, being able to tread water, survival techniques and strategies, knowledge of aquatic hazards, deep water exits, knowledge about water safety signs and the ability to float. Butterfly was seen as the least important skill. Respondents were also asked if there were any skills or knowledge topics missing from the surveyed list. Of the responses received CPR skills was the most common, others included using a lifejacket, the HELP position, and knowledge of what items could be used in a rescue situation. Another issue identified was the need for swimming and water safety teachers to understand children s development (i.e. physical, emotional and intellectual development). Recommendation: Consider the inclusion of basic CPR as a foundation skill for children to learn as part of their swimming and water safety education. Recommendation: Provide professional development to teachers of swimming and water safety on children s development (i.e. physical, emotional and intellectual development). What is being taught and when: The respondents were asked to map a specific set of skills equivalent to Swim and Survive Level 4 (2008 program) across their swim school s award levels. The RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 3

4 survey identified a wide range of award levels (0 20) being used at swim schools across Australia. The average was 7.8 levels. The survey also found that a number of swim schools did not include some skills considered by Royal Life Saving to be an important part of a child s swimming and water safety education. The skills not likely to be included are: compact jump, clothed survival swim, throw rescues (using a rope or PFD), reach rescue and sculling feet first on the back. Recommendation: Explore models where school based programs and swim school programs complement each other to achieve an optimal outcome for children s swimming and water safety skills (achieving recommended national levels). Recommendation: Map swim school programs against Level 4 of the Swim and Survive program (2008). Recommendation: Encourage more swim schools to incorporate water safety as an integral part of their swimming program. Benchmarking Certificate: The survey found strong interest among swim school managers in providing a benchmarking certificate to their students when they achieved a certain national standard of performance. There was also a strong willingness to provide data to Royal Life Saving on children s achievements to assist in evaluating Australian children s achievements in swimming and water safety. Recommendation: Develop a set of criteria against which swim schools could provide a benchmarking certificate. Recommendation: Work with swim schools, primary schools and information technology specialists to explore the most effective means of collecting appropriate information on swimming and water safety skills and knowledge attainment. The industry: Broader operational questions were also included in the survey to gain a more holistic understanding of the swimming and water safety industry. The survey found that the most common type of swim school was privately owned, that a wide range of databases are utilised by swim school managers, the most popular being Links Modular Solutions and Centaman. The survey found that 5,284 teachers were employed across 300 swim schools, or 17.6 teachers per school. The majority of these worked on a part time basis, and were paid on average $22.50 per hour. Extrapolating out the findings of the survey, it can be estimated that the wages bill per annum for the learn to swim and water safety industry is between $155.1 million and $231.9 million. Recommendation: Further work needs to be done to explore the true contribution of the swimming and water safety industry to the Australian economy. Participation of children in swimming and water safety lessons: Using the Australian Bureau of Statistics population estimates, this survey suggests that swim schools are currently only reaching approximately between 17% (741,000) and 24% ( 1 million) of all Australian children under 14 years (4.2 million) per annum. Class sizes were also examined in this survey Class sizes ranged from 1 child to approximately 12 children, with an average class size of 6.5 children for children aged under 24 months. This dropped to an average of 4.2 children per class for children aged 3 5 years. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 4

5 The average price of a lesson was around the $29 for children under 5 years of age and then increased as children aged. This somewhat correlated with the length of swimming lessons for children under 5 years of age being approximately 30 minutes and then increasing as children aged. Recommendation: Explore means of increasing both the participation in and amount of time spent participating for all students from all backgrounds in swimming and water safety lessons. Recommendation: Conduct further research into the desired number of swimming and water safety lessons children need to become proficient. Facilities: Nearly half (49%) of swim schools use only one pool and a third (32%) use two pools. These pools are predominately indoors (75% of primary pools and 54% of secondary pools). The primary pool compared to the secondary pool tended to be newer (17 years compared with 21 years), smaller (average length = 22m compared with 26m) and warmer (30.2 O c compared 28.8 O c), with the average maximum depth being deeper (1.7m compared with 1.6m). Recommendation: Further work needs to be undertaken to explore the suitability of different pools for the teaching of swimming and water safety. Conclusion: The results of this national survey have important implications for the future delivery of swimming and water safety in Australia. As there has previously been very little research into benchmarking Australian children s swimming and water safety skills and knowledge levels, these results will assist in improving the content of learn to swim and water safety classes in Australia, as a means of achieving a reduction in child drowning. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 5

6 Table of Contents Executive Summary... 3 Table of Figures... 8 Introduction Aims Methods Questions Benchmarking Swim School Management Demographics Development & Online Hosting Piloting Database, Invitations and Reminders Incentive Coding & Analysis Benchmarking the award levels of particular skills Ranges Demographics: Postcodes Limitations Results Responses by State and Territory Respondent Demographics Age Group and Sex Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage and Language(s) other than English Current Status as a Swimming and Water Safety Teacher and Years Teaching Swimming Aquatic Industry Experience Benchmarking Swimming and water safety skills by importance Swimming Strokes Survival Skills Entry and Exit Skills Rescue Skills Water Safety Knowledge Topics Benchmarking: Other Comments Award Levels Water Safety Knowledge Frequency of teaching water safety knowledge RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 6

7 Methods of teaching water safety knowledge Methods of teaching water safety knowledge: other comments Benchmarking Certificate Swim School Management Types of swim schools Database(s) Number of Swimming and Water Safety Teachers Employed Qualifications required for staff Pay Ranges Professional Development Delivery Number of children participating in swimming and water safety lessons Swimming lessons costs, length and pool entry costs Swimming Pool Information Discussion Who participated in the study? What should children be able to achieve by age 11? What is being taught and when? Benchmarking Certificate The industry Participation of children in swimming and water safety lessons Facilities Conclusion References Appendix 1: Questionnaire Appendix 2: Postcode Coding Details RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 7

8 Table of Figures Figure 1: Responses by State and Territory Figure 2: Respondents by Age group (n=264) Figure 3: Respondents by Sex (n=264) Figure 4: Respondents by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Heritage (n=264) Figure 5: Respondents by Language other than English (n=264) Figure 6: Respondents by Current Status as a Swimming and Water Safety Teacher (n=322) Figure 7: Respondents by years teaching (n=270) Figure 8: Respondents by Aquatic Industry Experience (n=51) Figure 9: Average rating by perceived importance for all surveyed skills and knowledge topics Figure 10: Average rating by importance for all surveyed swimming strokes Figure 11: Freestyle and Survival Backstroke distance and importance Figure 12: Breaststroke, Backstroke and Sidestroke distance and importance Figure 13: Butterfly distance and importance Figure 14: Average rating by importance for all surveyed survival skills Figure 15: Individual survival skills by time and importance Figure 16: Average rating by importance for all surveyed entry and exit skills Figure 17: Individual entry and exit skills by importance Figure 18: Average rating by importance for all surveyed rescue skills Figure 19: Individual rescue skills by distance and importance Figure 20: Average rating by importance for all surveyed water safety knowledge topics Figure 21: Individual water safety knowledge topics by importance Figure 22: Number of award levels at survey swim schools (n=321) Figure 23: Average level where skills are taught and proportion who do not incorporate skill in program Figure 24: Proportion who do not include each skill in their program Figure 25: Average levels where skills are taught Figure 26: Frequency of teaching water safety knowledge (n=325) Figure 27: Methods of teaching water safety knowledge Figure 28: Interest in Issuing a National Benchmarking Certificate (n=325) Figure 29: Willingness to Pay (n=232) Figure 30: Willingness to send data (n=262) Figure 31: Methods of sending data for benchmarking certificate (n=238) Figure 32: Swim School Categories (n=323) Figure 33: Databases used by swim schools (n=241) Figure 34: Proportion of Swim Teachers by age and sex (n=5,284) Figure 35: Qualifications required for staff (n=372) Figure 36: Other qualifications (n=90) Figure 37: Pay ranges by type of student Figure 38: Pay range variation by type of student Figure 39: Factors affecting pay ranges for swim school staff (n=372) Figure 40: Swim School Professional Development (n=316) Figure 41: Schedule of teaching blocks (n=300) Figure 42: Average number of children participating in swim lessons per swim school Figure 43: Percentage change in average participation number per swim school Figure 44: Proportion of people participating in swimming and water safety lessons by age groups. 38 Figure 45: Proportion of children participating in swimming and water safety lessons by age groups (excludes: squad, adults and special needs) RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 8

9 Figure 46: Class participant size for a single lesson Figure 47: Learn to Swim Program Used (n=266) Figure 48: Average costs of swimming and water safety lessons by age groups Figure 49: Average costs of swimming and water safety lessons for each age group by State or Territory Figure 50: Average length of swimming lessons by age group (minutes) Figure 51: Entry costs for child (n=265) Figure 52: Entry cost for supervising adult (n=265) Figure 53: Number of pools used by swim school at facility (n=265) Figure 54: Most frequently used pool, indoor vs outdoor (n=265) Figure 55: Second most frequently pool, indoor vs outdoor (n=134) Figure 56: Characteristics of the primary and secondary pool RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 9

10 Introduction From swimming to fishing and boating to surfing, interacting with water is part of the Australian culture. It has benefits for child development 1, as well as health and wellbeing, and swimming is a good form of exercise for those who wish to lose, and keep weight off. Child participation in swimming continues to increase, with a 2009 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) survey finding that swimming was the most popular sport undertaken by children 5 14 years of age, with a participation rate of 19% (502,900). While for boys swimming was the second most popular sport after outdoor soccer (240,100), it was the most popular sport for females with 20% or 262,800 girls participating 2. With this high rate of aquatic participation comes a high toll, as children continue to drown in Australia. Between 1 July 2009 and 30 June 2010, the Royal Life Saving Society Australia s National Drowning Report 2010 identified 56 children (0 to 17 years) who drowned in Australia. Of these, 59% were under five years of age, with the most common location for drowning in children under five being swimming pools, changing to rivers for most other age groups 3. To address the number of people who drown in Australia each year the Australian Water Safety Council (AWSC) has developed a number of strategies (please visit for more information). The most recent strategy (Australian Water Safety Strategy ) identified the need to continue to work towards increasing the foundation aquatic skills of school aged children to provide a platform for future aquatic participation. Foundation aquatic skills include water safety knowledge, water confidence, survival skills, safe water entry and exit and elementary swimming skills 4. The AWSC, in the Australian Water Safety Strategy , also sets out a national target for the achievement of swimming and water safety skills by Australian children. This target is set at 100% of primary school aged children achieving competencies equivalent to Swim and Survive Level 4 (2008 program) by the time they leave primary school 4. While increasing the number of children with foundation aquatic skills is seen as a strategy for reducing drowning, the current participation rates in swimming and water safety programs and the skill levels of Australian children are unknown. Thus, an examination of participation rates in learn to swim and water safety programs, along with increasing understanding of current standards and gaps in the provision of services, is required. To fill this gap the Royal Life Saving Society Australia has been working on a benchmarking study examining the swimming and water safety skills and knowledge levels of Australian children. New Zealand has conducted two studies aimed at benchmarking swimming and water safety abilities of children. The latest, conducted in 2008 by Water Safety New Zealand, examined the swimming and water safety skills of students at the end of Year 6 and Year 8. The research found that teachers perceived that student ability had worsened since a previous study in According to teachers, one quarter of all students could not cross 25m of water, keep afloat or tread water. By Year 8, 41% of teachers said that at least half of students were capable of performing the previously mentioned skills. The New Zealand research found that generally, aquatic ability increased from Year 6 to Year 8, however there were a group of students who failed to achieve basic aquatic skills (such as swimming and water confidence) prior to entering high school 5. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 10

11 In 2009 a benchmarking study of children in the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) was conducted. This project examined the swimming abilities of ACT students participating in a program delivered during school hours against the National Swimming and Water Safety Framework 6. This research identified that the current level of swimming and water safety skills of ACT public primary school students is well below the national target. Only 28% of students in years 3 6 achieved the minimum target level and there was a significant difference in skill attainment between schools, with 34% of students at public schools achieving the target level compared to 93% of students in private schools 7. School based programs are only one part of the strategy to improve children s swimming and water safety skills. Programs outside of school hours and at vacation times also play a role in improving swimming and water safety skills. As such, the Royal Life Saving Society Australia as part of their larger benchmarking research project, has begun to explore the role of swim schools, in partnership with AUSTSWIM. The first component is a national survey of swim school managers, owners and coordinators. This national survey explores the operations of swim schools across Australia and aims to gain a greater understanding of how swim schools are contributing to the prevention of drowning in Australia, with a specific focus on benchmarking the swimming and water safety skills and knowledge levels of Australian children. This report details the aims, methods and findings of this national survey. Aims The primary aim of this survey was to introduce the concept of benchmarking and ask respondents to examine a list of skills and identify the distance and/or length of time they should be performed for, by an 11 year old child. An additional component of the question was to identify if a particular set of skills appeared across one award level or more than one award level at the swim school they own or manage. A secondary aim of the survey was to discover more about the way in which swim schools are run in Australia. This included gathering responses on topics such as: qualifications and experience levels of staff, the types of programs and age groups taught, characteristics of aquatic facilities used, pay rates, teaching schedules and professional development activities. The survey also collected some basic demographic information including age, sex and postcode of the respondent. The long term aim of the research is to contribute to improving swimming and water safety skill and knowledge levels of Australian children as a means of achieving the Australian Water Safety Council s aim of a 50% reduction in drowning deaths by the year 2020 as outlined in the Australian Water Safety Strategy RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 11

12 Methods Questions This survey is made up of a possible 66 questions distributed across the following sections: Benchmarking Swim School Management Demographics Benchmarking This section of the survey dealt with the benchmarking questions and asked respondents to rate the importance and length of time or distance that a particular skill should be performed, for children aged 11 years old. These skills include different swimming strokes, survival skills, treading water, entries and exits and categories of water safety knowledge. This section also asks about the frequency with which water safety knowledge is taught and the means used to teach it, and levels of interest among respondents towards a proposed National Benchmarking Certificate. Swim School Management The main section of the survey dealt with swim school management such as type of swim school, employment status of swim teachers, years of experience of teachers, industry experience, qualifications of staff employed and swim school demographics such as number of male and female teachers employed, number of children taught, age groups of children taught, types of learn to swim programs delivered, cost and length of lesson and characteristics of facilities. Demographics The final section of the survey collected demographic information including: name of swim school, name of the pool where the swim school conducts its operations, pool postcode, sex of respondent, languages spoken other than English, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent and respondent s home postcode and age group. A copy of the full survey questionnaire as it appeared online can be found in Appendix 1 of this report. Development & Online Hosting The survey was developed in house at Royal Life Saving National Office. The draft survey was originally developed in Microsoft word before being transferred to Survey Monkey, the online survey hosting tool for piloting and delivery ( Piloting The draft survey was piloted with a group of 6 people involved in aquatic education including representatives from AUSTSWIM. As a result of the feedback of this group minor changes were made. One of the most important was moving the benchmarking section to the front of the survey to ensure that the highest percentage of respondents would answer these questions. Representatives from Royal Life Saving also tested the useability of the survey and the e mail based invitation process. Database, Invitations and Reminders In order to identify participants for this survey, Royal Life Saving utilised its national database of swim schools. This Excel Spreadsheet database included where possible: swim school name, address, phone number and name of manager. This database had the details of approximately 834 swim schools on file. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 12

13 An invitation to participate in the survey was drafted online within the survey monkey tool and drew in custom data from the database. This custom data included: First name, last name and Name of Swim School and was loaded into the invitation electronically by Survey Monkey after a modified database was uploaded containing the relevant information in the correct order. The invitation was then ed to all 834 schools on file using Survey Monkey s online invitation tool. Where a bounce back was received for an incorrect address, this swim school was contacted by phone and an online search was conducted for a more up to date address. All schools with no valid addresses were contacted three times by phone (leaving voice mail messages where possible) before they were classified as not willing to participate in the survey. Three reminder s were sent throughout the 42 days that the survey remained online and open to respondents. These s were sent to both people who had partially completed and those who had not started the survey at all. The survey was open for a period of 42 days (March 10 to April 20, 2010). Also the AUSTSWIM newsletter contained information about the survey for interested parties who did not receive an invitation and a notice was placed on the Royal Life Saving Society website ( While s were sent to 834 swim schools, there were another 100 swim schools which did not have an e mail address (either could not be contacted or were contacted but did not have an e mail address 77), no longer operating (18), or refused to participate (5). This takes the estimated total number of swim schools in Australia to 934. Incentive As a means of encouraging a higher response rate, prizes were offered to the first 10 respondents and another 10 chosen at random. A major prize was also offered to one respondent who completed the entire survey, also chosen at random. Coding & Analysis After closing the survey, the survey data was downloaded to Excel spreadsheets. The data was then cleaned and coded for analysis in SPSS 8. For questions where coding was required that process is discussed below: Benchmarking the award levels of particular skills Where a skill or area of knowledge was found within a single award level, the number of this award level was captured in the excel spreadsheet of results. For a skill or area of knowledge that sat over multiple award levels, the following coding was used. M for multiple, followed by the total number of levels it went over followed by the level at which that skill started. For example a skill or area of knowledge that went over levels 4,5 and 6 was expressed as follows: M3_4. Where the skills or area of knowledge sat across multiple award levels that were not consecutive the following code was used. M for multiple, followed by the total number of levels it went over, followed by each level. For example a skill or area of knowledge that went over levels 1,3 and 5 was expressed as follows: M3_135. For ease of analysis, an additional column was added for each skill that indicated the start level by number. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 13

14 Ranges Where a range was entered for pay rates (eg $25 $35 per hour), the mid point was used for analysis purposes (eg $30). Where the number of children taught was entered as a range (eg ), the mid point was used for analysis purposes (eg 475). The same was done for ages of children taught when expressed as a range by the survey respondents. Demographics: Postcodes Postcodes were coded into their respective states using the information in Appendix 2: Postcode Coding Details. Limitations While all effort was undertaken to ensure the accuracy of the information provided the authors of this report identified following limitations: Due to the survey inviting people to participate via and then being undertaken online there is a possibility that some people may have been excluded if they did not have an address or could not access the internet. As such, the results may not be representative of the industry as a whole and may have unintentionally exclude people where access to the internet is limited (e.g. from rural and remote areas). To limit this we publicised the survey to swim teachers via AUSTSWIM and industry gatherings and people could request a paper copy (no requests were received). The survey was written in English and therefore may have made it difficult for people from non English speaking backgrounds to complete. This is an area where more work is required. The invitation system was based on an existing database. Some of the addresses were returned as undeliverable (due to not being a valid address) and as such would not have been received. Where this occurred, a Google search / yellow pages search was undertaken for an updated address or the swim school was phoned. Spam, it is possible that some filter may have blocked the , however we have no evidence to show that this was the case. The time of year that the survey was administered. It is unclear if there is a better time of year to survey swim schools. When we surveyed the swim schools some may have been closed or on holidays, or may have been too busy to respond. The distances listed for the reach rescues. The distances used, except for the smallest distance, were too far for a person to be able to undertake a reach rescue and as such the results may not be valid. Where people were asked the number of people employed and students taught, these were often estimates instead of actual numbers. Thus reducing the accuracy of the information provided. The authors made an assumption that the people who participated in the survey represented the wider industry, which may not be true. Results that have been extrapolated should be used with caution as the authors cannot guarantee that the results hold true for the industry as a whole or are biased towards those who responded. When asking respondents to record class sizes, the survey did not ask about number of teachers, supervisors or support staff that were utilised to improve safety per class. This means no judgement could be made on the safety of particular ratios. The survey grouped all swim school operation categories (e.g. privately owned, council run etc) together and as such the authors did not explore any issues associated with particular operational categories. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 14

15 Results Responses by State and Territory y Royal Life Saving identified 934 swim s schoolss in Australia. Of these, 8348 swim schools were ed as part of this survey (i.e. the authors were able to find valid addresses). There were 372 (44.6%) responses received and 43 respondents who opted out of the survey. NSW was the State with the highest number of responses followed by QLD and VIC. In terms of response rate, Tasmania had the highest response rate (76.4%), followed by the SA (72.2%) and ACT (69.2%) (Figure 1). It should be noted that not all questions were answered by each respondent. Figure 1: Responses by State and Territory State Original Sent E mail No E mail Opted Out Responses Received Response Ratee (%) * ACT NSW NT Qld SA Tas Vic WA Total * Response rate = (Responses plus opt out) o divided byy those who were e mailed (Sent E mail) multiplied by 100. Respondent Demographics Basic demographic information on the respondents such as age, sex,, Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage, language other than English, current status as a swim teacher, years teaching and general aquatic industry experience was collected. The provision of this t information by the respondent was not compulsory. Age Group and Sex The majority of respondents were aged between years (29%) and a years (28%). The year age group was the group with the smallest number of responses (4%) (Figure 2). Justt over three quarters (76%) of the respondents to the survey were female (Figure( 3). Figure 2: Respondents by Age group (n=264) years 28% 55+years 14% yearss 4% Figure 3: Respondents by Sex (n=264)) MaleM 24% years 29% years 25% Female 76% RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 15

16 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage and Language(s) other than English Almost all of the survey respondents identified as not being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander (96%), with 2% identifying as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander and another 2% % preferring not to answer the question (Figure 4). Again almost all of the respondents (93%) did not speak a language other o than English, with 7% stating they did (Figure 5). Languages other than English spoken among respondents were: Chinese, French, Italian, Spanish, African, German, Hebrew, Hungarian, Korean, Polish, Serbian, Swedish and Tagalog. Figure 4: Respondents by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Heritage (n=264) No 96% Prefer not to answer 2% Figure 5: Respondents by Languagee other than English (n=264) Yes 7% No 93% Yes 2% Current Status as a Swimming and Water Safety Teacher and Years Teaching Swimming Of the 322 responses received for this question, 84% were currently teaching swimming and water safety, 14% had taught in the past but were not currently teaching and 2% of respondents had never been teachers (Figure 6). Of those that weree currently teaching, or had taught inn the past, 30% of respondents had been teaching for 20+ years, with just 6% of respondents having taught for 0 4 years (Figure 7). Figure 6: Respondents by Current Status as a Swimming andd Figure 7: Respondents by years teaching (n=270) Water Safety Teacher (n=322) Currently teaching 84% Have never r been a teachee r 2% Past teacher 14% 20+ years 30% % yearsy 17% % 5 9 years 23% years 24% 0 4 years 6% Aquatic Industry Experiencee Respondents were asked about their t experience within the aquatic industry more generally. 33% of respondents had worked in the aquatic industry for 20+ years, followed by 27% who had worked for between years and 20% who had worked for between 5 and 9 years ( RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 16

17 Figure 8). RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 17

18 Figure 8: Respondents by Aquatic Industry Experiencee (n=51) 5 9 years 20% 20+ years 33% 0 4 years 6% years 27% years 14% Benchmarking Swimming and water safety skills by importance The first part of the survey examined five (5)) areas of swimming and water safetyy skills swimming skills, survival skills, entry and exit skills, rescue skills, and water safety knowledge. Under each of these areas there were 27 sub skills/knowledge topics of importancee for childrenn aged 11 years. Those skills or knowledge topics that were rated the most importantt were: information about safety at specific aquatic environments, ability to tread water, survival techniques and strategies, information about aquatic hazards, ability too exit deep water, water safety signs and floating on the back. The skill seen as the least important was butterfly (Figure 9). Figure 9: Average rating by perceived importance for r all surveyed skills and knowledge topics 5.50 Average Importance Rating Safety at specific aquatic environments Tread water (n=372) Survival Techniques and Strategies (n=359) Aquatic Hazards (n=357) Deep water exit (n=372) Water Safety Signs (n=356) Float on back (n=373) Perform a clothed swim using survival Reach Rescue (n=359) Feet First Entry (n=372) Throw rescue flotation aid (n=359) Freestyle (n=373) Rescue Principles (n=359) Survival Backstroke (n=371) Throw rescue rope (n=359) Backstroke (n=372) Stride entry (n=373) Theory on entries and exits (n=357) Compact jump (n=373) Breaststroke (n=372) Sculling head first on back(n=370) Fall entry (n=370) Dive entry (n=371) Sidestroke (n=367) Sculling Feet first on Back (n=370) Theory on appropriate swimming strokes Butterfly (n=363) Note: Rating: 1=Unimportant, 3= Moderately and 5=Very RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 18

19 Swimming Strokes Respondents were asked to rank a list of six (6) swimming strokes in terms of importance, as well as the preferred distance respondents felt they should be performed for by students aged 11 years. Freestyle was the swimming stroke that was ranked of the highest importance, with 69% of respondents ranking it very important. This is compared to butterfly, where only 7% of respondents ranked it as very important. There were three clear groupings of strokes: a) freestyle and survival back stroke (most important); b) breaststroke, backstroke and sidestroke; and c) butterfly (least important) (Figure 10). Figure 10: Average rating by importance for all surveyed swimming strokes 5 Average Importance Rating Freestyle (n=372) Breaststroke (n=371) Backstroke (n=371) Butterfly (n=362) Survival Backstroke (n=370) Sidestroke (n=366) Note: Rating: 1=Unimportant, 3= Moderately and 5=Very When asked to assess the preferred distance for these strokes, the majority (73%) of respondents stated that children aged 11 years old should be able to perform over 100m of freestyle, compared with five (1%) respondents for butterfly. In contrast, the majority of respondents stated that butterfly should only be performed for a distance of 50 metres at the most (Figure 11). Survival backstroke was identified as the second most important swimming stroke with 68% of respondents saying that it is very important and 1% saying unimportant. Consistent with this high level of importance, the majority of respondents (118) stated that survival backstroke should be performed for 200+ metres by children aged 11 years old (Figure 11). Figure 11: Freestyle and Survival Backstroke distance and importance 150 Freestyle (n=372) 127 Freestyle (n=371) Number of responses <25 m 25 m 50 m 100 m 200 m 200+ m Very 69% 27% Moderately 4% RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 19

20 Survival Backstroke (n=370) 118 Survival Backstroke (n=370) Number of responses <25 m 25 m 50 m 100 m 200 m 200+ m Moderately 9% Of little Importance 2% Unimportant 1% 20% Very 68% Breaststroke was ranked as the next most important stroke with 38% of respondents ranking it as very important, followed by backstroke (deemed very important by 31% of respondents) and sidestroke where more people rated it as of little importance (8%) and unimportant (4%) (Figure 12). Figure 12: Breaststroke, Backstroke and Sidestroke distance and importance Number of responses Breaststroke (n=371) <25 m 25 m 50 m 100 m 200 m 200+ m Moderately 17% Of little Importance 1% Unimporta nt 0% Breaststroke (n=369) Very 38% 44% Number of responses Backstroke (n=371) <25 m 25 m 50 m 100 m 200 m 200+ m Backstroke (n=369) 44% Very 31% Moderately 24% Of little Importance 1% Number of responses Sidestroke (n=366) <25 m 25 m 50 m 100 m 200 m 200+ m Moderately 20% Of little Importance 8% Unimporta nt 4% Sidestroke (n=369) 28% Very 40% RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 20

21 Butterfly was deemed to be the least important stroke with only 6% of respondents stating it was a very important stroke. The majority of respondents deemed it moderately important (37%) or of little importance (39%). The majority of respondents also stated that it should be performed for 50m or less by children aged 11 years old (Figure 13). Figure 13: Butterfly distance and importance Number of responses Butterfly (n=362) <25 m 25 m 50 m 100 m 200 m 200+ m Butterfly (n=368) Of little Importance 39% Moderately 37% 9% Very 6% Unimporta nt 9% Survival Skills Of the five (5) survival skills respondents were asked to rank based on importance for 11 year olds in Australia to be able to perform, treading water was rated the most important. This was followed by floating on their back and perform a clothed swim using survival strokes. Sculling feet first on the back was deemed the least important when compared to the other skills but was still ranked more than moderately important (Figure 14). Figure 14: Average rating by importance for all surveyed survival skills 5 Average Importance Rating Sculling Feet first on Back (n=369) Sculling head first on back(n=369) Tread water (n=371) Float on back (n=372) Perform a clothed swim using survival strokes (n=370) Note: Rating: 1= Unimportant, 3= Moderately and 5= Very Respondents were also asked to specify the time each survival skill should be performed for by children aged 11 years. The most common response for sculling feet first on the back was 1 2 minutes. The majority of teachers surveyed believed children should be able to perform the skills of treading water, floating on the back and perform a clothed swim using survival strokes for more than 4 minutes ( RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 21

22 Figure 15). RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 22

23 Figure 15: Individual survival skills by time and importance Number of Responses Number of Responses Sculling Feet first on Back (n=367) <1 min 1 min 2 min 3 min 4 min 4+ min Sculling head first on back(n=369) <1 min 1 min 2 min 3 min 4 min 4+ min Moderately 29% Of Little Imprtance 12% Unimporta nt 2% Moderately 26% Unimporta nt 0% Of Little Imprtance 6% Sculling feet first on back (n=369) Very 32% 34% Very 23% Sculling head first on back(n=369) 36% Number of Responses Tread water (n=371) <1 min 1 min 2 min 3 min 4 min 4+ min 18% Moderately 3% Of Little Imprtance 0% Tread water (n=371) Very 79% Number of Responses Float on back (n=372) <1 min 1 min 2 min 3 min 4 min 4+ min Of Little Imprtance 0% Unimporta nt 0% Moderately 6% 23% Float on back (n=372) Very 71% Number of Responses Perform a clothed swim using survival strokes (n=368) <1 min 1 min 2 min 3 min 4 min 4+ min Perform a clothed swim using survival strokes (n=370) 27% Moderately Of Little 8% Imprtance 1% Very 63% Unimporta nt 1% RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 23

24 Entry and Exit Skills A list of six (6) entry and exit skills was also provided for respondents to rank in order of importance for a child aged 11 years. Deep water exit was ranked as the most important followed by a feet first entry. A dive entry was ranked the least important of the entry and exit skills, although it was still ranked moderately important (Figure 16 and Figure 17). Figure 16: Average rating by importance for all surveyed entry and exit skills 5.00 Average Importance Rating Feet First Entry (n=371) Deep water exit (n=371) Dive entry (n=370) Compact jump (n=372) Stride entry (n=372) Fall entry (n=369) Note: Rating: 1= Unimportant, 3= Moderately and 5= Very Figure 17: Individual entry and exit skills by importance Feet First Entry (n=372) Deep Water Exit (n=372) Moderately 7% Of little importance 0% Unimporta nt 1% Of little importance 5% Unimporta nt 1% Moderately 26% Very 28% 28% Very 64% Dive Entry (n=371) 40% 18% Moderatel y 4% Of little importanc e 1% Moderately 24% Of little importance 4% Unimporta nt 1% Compact Jump (n=373) 38% Very 33% Very 77% Stride Entry (n=373) Fall Entry (n=370) Moderately 20% 36% Moderately 22% 36% Of little importance 4% Unimportant 1% Very 39% Of little importance 7% Unimportant 2% Very 33% RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 24

25 Rescue Skills Respondents to the survey were also asked to rank the importance and their preferred distance to be performed of three (3) rescue skills: a reach rescue, a throw rescue with a flotation aid and a throw rescue with an un weighted rope. These three skills were all ranked as being extremely important for Australian children aged 11 years to learn and be able to perform (Figure 18). Figure 18: Average rating by importance for all surveyed rescue skills 5.00 Average Rating Reach Rescue (n=359) Throw rescue flotation aid (n=359) Throw rescue rope (n=359) Note: Rating: 1= Unimportant, 3= Moderately and 5= Very The majority of respondents stated that a reach rescue should be demonstrated at less than 3 metres and for a throw rescue (both) should be performed to a distance of 5 metres (Figure 19). Figure 19: Individual rescue skills by distance and importance <3 metres 21 Reach Rescue (n=359) metres 5 metres 7 metres 10 metres Throw rescue flotation aid (n=359) <3 metres 49 3 metres 5 metres 7 metres 10 metres 10+ metres metres Moderately 5% Of little importance 2% Of little importance 1% Unimporta nt 0% 27% Moderately 6% Unimporta nt 0% Reach Rescue (n=359) 30% Very 66% Throw rescue flotation aid (n=359) Very 63% <3 metres Throw rescue rope (n=359) metres 5 metres 7 metres 10 metres metres Moderately 10% Of little importance 3% Unimporta nt 0% Throw rescue rope (n=358) 36% Very 51% RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 25

26 Water Safety Knowledge Topics A list of seven (7) water safety knowledge topics was also evaluated based on perceived importance of those topics by the respondents. Safety at specific aquatic environments was the most important, followed closely by survival techniques and strategies, knowledge on aquatic hazards and water safety signs. Theory on appropriate swimming strokes was deemed the least important (Figure 20). Figure 20: Average rating by importance for all surveyed water safety knowledge topics Average Rating Survival Techniques and Strategies (n=359) Safety at specific aquatic environments (n=359) Theory on entries and exits (n=357) Aquatic Hazards (n=357) Water Safety Signs (n=356) Theory on appropriate swimming strokes (n=358) Rating: 1= Unimportant, 3= Moderately and 5= Very Rescue Principles (n=359) Safety at specific aquatic environments and survival techniques and strategies were both deemed very important with no respondents rating them of little importance. Theory on appropriate swimming strokes was rated as the least important but 36% deemed it an important water safety knowledge topic and 12% of respondents deemed it moderately important for children aged 11 years in Australia (Figure 21). RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 26

27 Figure 21: Individual water safety knowledge topics by importance Survival Techniques and Strategies (n=359) 19% Moderately 2% Of little importance 0% Very 79% Theory on entries and exits (n=357) Safety at specific aquatic environments (n=359) 14% Moderatel y 2% Very 84% Aquatic Hazards (n=358) Moderately 24% Of little importance 4% 39% Very 33% Moderately 3% 22% Very 75% Water Safety Signs (n=357) Moderately 3% 25% Very 72% Rescue Principles (n=360) Theory on appropriate swimming strokes (n=358) Moderatel y 12% Of little importanc e 1% 36% Unimporta nt 0% Very 51% 36% Moderately 12% Of little importance 1% Unimportant 1% Very 50% Benchmarking: Other Comments When asked if they had any further comments on skills or knowledge topics missing from those listed in the benchmarking section of the survey, respondents offered a variety of additional responses. Knowledge of basic CPR was the most commonly added response as well as basic first aid and being able to demonstrate the recovery position. Knowledge of the child s own limitations and the dangers posed to them when assisting someone else in trouble was also a common response. As one RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 27

28 respondent said: DRABCD in theory, these kids are grades 4+5. I think that they need to know the basic principles of resus & their own personal safety. Several respondents expressed concern about the maturity and physical skill level of 11 year olds being sufficient to undertake rescues themselves. They should know their own limitations and the dangers posed to them when assisting someone else in trouble was one suggestion from a respondent. It was suggested that children be taught non contact rescues and to seek out adults, lifeguards or emergency services in an emergency situation, rather than risking their own life. There was generally an emphasis on safety and survival skills over swimming skills, with respondents suggesting children should get used to emergency situations by acting out scenarios, being able to estimate the distance to safety, knowing their own ability to swim specific distances and also have the ability to swim without goggles. There were also several comments around including theory with the teaching of survival strokes, such as knowing when and why to use them being as important as being able to perform these skills. A respondent said: In our swim school we teach kids to survive before swimming and we do a lot of talking about water safety and getting the kids to think. For example I have a 4 year old who has a beautiful freestyle stroke but when asked to jump in the pool and get herself back to the edge, she sinks to the bottom of the pool and panics. We practice skills to save their lives and then we learn to swim!! Survival skills in a Personal Flotation Device (PFD) were also discussed such as the HELP and huddle positions, safe entries and exits, swimming whilst wearing a PFD and correctly putting one on in and out of the water. Knowledge of the ability to use other objects for rescues such as buckets and plastic bottles was also mentioned as was more information for parents and caregivers on the dangers associated with different aquatic locations. Award Levels As part of the benchmarking component of this survey, respondents were asked to identify how many award levels their swim school has and where a list of skills (equivalent to the skills listed in the Swim and Survive program Level 4) sat across their award levels. There were on average 7.8 levels (range 0 20), the most common number of levels was 7 (65 swim schools). Forty three and 41 schools respectively had 5 and 6 levels at their swim schools. (Figure 22) Figure 22: Number of award levels at survey swim schools (n=321) Number of responses Award Levels at Swim Schools RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 28

29 Skills such as performing an exit from deep water and finding an object from water with a depth equivalent to the candidate s height (recover object) were introduced on average at lower levels (Levels 2 3). Whereas, skills such as the 75 metre continuous swim (with 50m above water arm recovery and 25m below water arm recovery) and the clothed survival sequence (involving a combination of sculling, treading water, floating, swimming using survival strokes and floating with an open ended flotation aid for a minimum of 6 minutes) tended on average to be taught around Level 5 (Figure 23). Figure 23: Average level where skills are taught and proportion who do not incorporate skill in program Level Also collected in the survey was information on those who did not incorporate a particular listed skill in their program. Common skills not included were the compact jump, clothed swim and rescues (Figure 24). Figure 24: Proportion who do not include each skill in their program While the use of the data overall provides a picture of what level skills fall in, by grouping the programs down into number of levels (0 5, 6 7, 8 9, and 10 or more), we can more accurately see at what level particular skills are occurring ( RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 29

30 Figure 25). RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 30

31 Figure 25: Average levels where skills are taught Schools with between 0 and 5 Levels Schools with between 6 and 7 Levels Schools with between 8 and 9 levels Schools with 10 or more levels Water Safety Knowledge While the development of skills is important, the acquisition of water safety knowledge is also important to ensure children are safe when in, on or around water. Frequency of teaching water safety knowledge Respondents were asked about the frequency with which their swim school teaches water safety knowledge to their students. The majority (55%) stated that they incorporated water safety knowledge into every lesson, with 16% responding that they taught it once per school term and only 1% saying that they never taught it (Figure 26). Figure 26: Frequency of teaching water safety knowledge (n=325) Every lesson 55% Never 1% Once every uni semester 1% Once per month 4% Once per school term 16% One off safety week or day 9% Yearly 2% Once per term One lesson per system teaching cycle 5% 7% RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 31

32 Methods of teaching water safety knowledge The survey also asked about the ways in which water safety knowledge was taught at the respondent s swim school. The most commonly employed method was water safety tips given to students during lessons, followed by oral questioning and dry land activities. The least favoured method was online delivery (Figure 27). Figure 27: Methods of teaching water safety knowledge Percentage of Responses Methods of teaching water safety knowledge: other comments Respondents were asked to provide other comments if their method of teaching water safety was not included in the survey options listed. The most common other methods of teaching water safety knowledge were a one off water safety/water awareness week, demonstrations, scenarios and role playing in rescue situations, using DVDs and educating parents about hazards and CPR. One respondent said: we do practical activities as well, practicing performing rescues using ropes and noodles. Another said we use DVDs and encourage all to watch the CPR section along with their parents. Benchmarking Certificate Of the 325 responses to this question 258 (79%) said they would be interested in issuing a National Benchmarking Certificate to children at their swim school who achieve a particular level (Figure 28). Of those interested in issuing a certificate who also answered the question (232) 146 (63%) said they would be willing to pay for it at an amount to be determined (Figure 29). Figure 28: Interest in Issuing a National Benchmarking Certificate (n=325) Figure 29: Willingness to Pay (n=232) No 21% Yes 79% Yes 63% No 37% RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 32

33 Of the 262 responses to this question 238 (91%) said they would be willing to send their data to Royal Life Saving to help us compile a national picture of swimming and water safety skills (Figure 30). The most common method selected was entering the data online followed by uploading the data on the internet (Figure 31). Figure 30: Willingness to send data (n=262) No 9% Yes 91% Figure 31: Methods of sending data for benchmarking certificate (n=238) Percentage of Responses Upload the data on the internet 77.3 Enter the data online Sending a disc through the mail Sending a hard copy of the data through the mail 8.0 Other Swim School Management The management of Australian swim schools was investigated within the survey. Questions were asked around type of swim school (management model), the prevalence of database use in swim school management and the types of databases which are used most commonly, as well as years of teaching experience, number of teachers employed and number of students taught. Types of swim schools Respondents were asked about the type of swim school they manage. The majority were privately owned, followed by council run and swim schools that are run as part of a management group. Only one swim school was a combination of models (Figure 32). Figure 32: Swim School Categories (n=323) 250 Number of Responses Combination Community based 71 Council run 35 Part of a management group 197 Privately owned 13 School RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 33

34 Database(s) Of the 323 responses to this question 248 (66%) said they used a database to manage participant s personal details, enrolments and assessment results. Of the 241 responses on type of database, there were 24 different database systems being used, with the three most common types being Links Modular Solutions (21%), Centaman (15%), and privately designed (15%) (Figure 33). Figure 33: Databases used by swim schools (n=241) Number of Responses Number of Swimming and Water Safety Teachers Employed From the responses (n=300) there were 5,284 teachers employed or an average of 17.6 teachers per swim school. Females represented 78% of the people employed as swimming and water safety teachers. The age group with the most teachers employed was the years age group (41%). (Figure 34). Extrapolating this number to the 934 swim schools in Australia, we estimate that there are between 14,606 and 18,218 swimming and water safety teachers employed in swim schools across Australia. Figure 34: Proportion of Swim Teachers by age and sex (n=5,284) <16 Years Years Years Years Years Years Years Male Female Each swim school pays for on average 133 teacher hours and 44 hours of administration (including on deck supervisors) per week. Extrapolating this information to the whole industry we estimate that there are between 106,203 to 142,639 hours paid to swim teachers. The authors also estimate that there are between 26,390 and 55,602 hours paid for administration. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 34

35 Qualifications required for staff The most common qualificationss swim school managers and coordinators required of their staff to have were; AUSTSWIM Teacher of Swimmingg and Water Safety (83%) followed by CPR (76%)) and AUSTSWIM Teacher of Preschool and Infant Aquatics (58%) (Figure 35). 3 Figure 35: Qualifications required for staff (n=372) Percent of Responses AUSTSWIM Teacher of Swimming and Water Safety AUSTSWIM AUSTSWIM AUSTSWIMM Teacher of Preschool Teacher for Peoplee with Teacher of Towardss and Infant Aquatics a Disability Competitive Strokes AUSTSWIM Teacher of Adults RLSSA Bronze Medallion RLSSA Examiner CPR First Aid Other There were a variety of other qualifications mentioned by respondents includingg Swim Australia (32%) and ASCTA (23%) (Figure 36). Figure 36: Other qualifications (n=90) Other 8% Working With Children 14% Swim Australia 32% ASCTA 23% AUSTSWIM Other 3% Higher Educaiton 2% Life Guard 11% SwimEd 7% Pay Ranges Pay for teachers per hour ranged from $10 to $50 with an average around the $22.50 mark. In the responses there were 13 peoplee who said they were paying an award rate and six who were paying higher than the award, but did not specify the dollar amounts (Figuree 37). RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 35

36 Figure 37: Pay ranges by type of student Age of students taught n Minimum ($) Maximum ($) Mean ($) Std. Deviation ($) Infants (<6 months) Infants (6 12 months) Toddlers (13 24 months) Toddlers (25 36 months) Pre school (3+ 5 years) School age (5 12 years) Young Adults (13 18 years) Squad Adults (18+ years) Special Needs Other (please specify) Figure 38: Pay range variation by type of student Infants (<6 months) (n=176) Infants (6 12 months) (n=230) Toddlers (13 24 months) (n=235) Toddlers (25 36 months) (n=240) Pre school (3+ 5 years) (n=249) School age (5 12 years) (n=252) Young Adults (13 18 years) (n=210) Squad (n=193) Adults (18+ years) (n=198) Special Needs (n=170) Other (please specify) (n=12) Respondents stated that rates of pay for staff were based on qualifications (51%) and experience (47%). Very rarely was pay rate based on age (2%). Other factors that were used to determine pay included; commissions, company rate, distance travelled and professional development (Figure 39). Figure 39: Factors affecting pay ranges for swim school staff (n=372) Percentage RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 36

37 Professional Development Respondents were asked if theirr swim schools conduct professional developmend nt for their staff, of which 87% stated they did (Figure 40). Figure 40: Swim School Professional Development (n= =316) Yes 87% No 13% Delivery Near three quarters (74%) of swim schools deliver their teaching on a term basiss linked to the local school system. Other options forr delivery included a term system but not linked to the school system, all year round, monthly, summer (this may also include part of the school year and not just the holidays), and 5 / 6/ 7 / 8 / 10 week blocks (Figure 41). Figure 41: Schedule of teaching blocks (n=300) School terms 74% Other 1% Term system 10% All Year round 6% M Monthly Summerr 4% 2% Week Blocks 3% Number of children participating in swimming and water safety lessonss The number of children participating per term in 2009 ranged from 156,6321 (average 791 per swim school) in Term 3 (n= =198) to 210,785 (average 937 per swim school) in Term 4 (n=225) (Figure 42). There is a significant variation in the numberr of children participatingg per term (Figure 43), with more children participating during the warmer terms (Terms 1 and 4). 4 While some children will leave, others will join over the year and there will be variations by State and Territory, we estimate (assuming all other things are equal for estimated 934 swim schools in Australia) ) that at least between 741,763 and 1,008,2200 children participate in water safety and swimming lessons per annum in Australia. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 37

38 Figure 42: Average number of children participating in swim lessons per swim school Average number of childre participating per swim school Term1 (n=208) Term 2 (n=202) Term 3 (n=204) Term (n=212) 30.0 Figure 43: Percentage change in average participation number per swim school Percentage Percentage Percentage change fromm term change from term change from term 1 to 2 (n=217) 2 to 3 (n=205) 3 to 4 (n=204) School age children 5 to 12 years were the group participating in thee largest number of lessons, followed by preschool children aged 3 5 years (Figure 44). Of the children who participate in swimming lessons (Figure 45), 52% are aged between 5 and 18 years. Thus we estimate that somewhere between 386,858 and 525,826 children aged between 5 18 years participate in swimming and water safety lessons per annum (based on ABS population figuress and swim school s reported participation). Figure 44: Proportion of people participating in swimming and water safety lessonss by age groupss Figure 45: Proportion of children participating in swimming and water safety lessons by age groups (excludes: squad, adults and special needs) Toddlers (25 36 Months) 8% Pre School (3+ 5 years) 22% School age (5 12) 43% Toddlers (13 24 months) 6% Young Adults (13 18 years) 4% Squad 8% Adultss Special (18+ Needs years) ) 1% 2% Infants (6 12 Infants (<6 months) months) 5% 1% Pre School S ( years) 25% Toddlers (25 36 Months) 9% School age (5 12) 48% Toddlers (13 24 months) 7% Young Adults (13 18 years) 4% Infants (<6 months) 1% Infants (6 12 months) 6% The number of people in each class varies depending on the age of the participant (Figure 46). For children under 24 months the average class size was 6.5, this decreased for toddlers months to 5.6 and for preschoolers 3+ to 5 years of 4.2 children per class. Maximum class sizes for the children under 5 tended to be around 12 with 1 or 2 swim schools having larger classes than this (it should be noted that we did nott ask how many teachers / support staff / parentss were also involved or supervising). Squads averaged around 13 people but one respondent reportedd their squad size was 96. Special needs classes were the smallest with an average class size of 2.4 people (Figure 46). RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 38

39 Figure 46: Class participant size for a single lesson Infants (<6 months) (n=88) Infants (6 12 months) (n=201) Toddlers (13 24 months) (n=215) Toddlers (25 36 Months) (n=218) Pre School (3+ 5 years) (n=238) School age (5 12) (n=236) Young Adults (13 18 years) (n=138) Squad (n=119) Adults (18+ years) (n=133) Special Needs (n=113) There are a large number of learn to swim programs available with 53% of respondents having their own program, Swim and Survive was being used by 34% of respondents and was the single most common program (Figure 47). Figure 47: Learn to Swim Program Used (n=266) Swim and Survive 34% AUSTSWIM 4% Swim Australia 1% Other 5% Aqua Safe 3% Own Program 53% Swimming lessons costs, length and pool entry costs The cost per lesson for swimming and water safety classes on average across Australia was just under the $30 mark for children up to 5 years of age. For children 5 12 years of age the swimming and water safety lesson costs are on average slightly higher at $32.77 per lesson and increase again for children years ($41.51). Squads were the most expensive at an average of $65.05 per lesson, followed by adults at an average of $44.21 (Figure 48). There was some variability in the average cost of a lesson for a particular age group by State and Territory, however this should be interpreted with some caution as in some instances the number of respondents per State or Territory was low. For example for infants less than 6 months in ACT, Queensland and NSW were cheaper than elsewhere or in the case of school aged children aged 6 13 years ACT was the cheapest and Tasmania the most expensive (Figure 49). RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 39

40 Figure 48: Average costs of swimming and water safety lessons by age groups $80.00 $70.00 $65.04 $60.00 $50.00 $41.51 $44.21 $40.00 $30.00 $28.77 $29.11 $29.31 $29.30 $29.54 $32.77 $29.18 $20.00 Infants Infants Toddlers Toddlers (<6 (6 12 (13 24 (25 36 Months) Months) Months) Months) Pre school (3+ 5 years) School age (5 12 Years Young Adults (13 18 years) Squad Adults Special Needs Figure 49: Average costs of swimming and water safety lessons for each age group by State or Territory Infants (<6 months) $32.00 $30.00 $28.00 $26.00 $24.00 $22.00 Infant (6 12 months) $32.00 $30.00 $28.00 $26.00 $24.00 $22.00 $20.00 ACT NSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA $20.00 ACT NSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA Toddlers (13 24 months) $34.00 $32.00 $30.00 $28.00 $26.00 $24.00 $22.00 Toddlers (25 36 months) $34.00 $32.00 $30.00 $28.00 $26.00 $24.00 $22.00 $20.00 ACT NSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA $20.00 ACT NSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA Pre school (3+ 5 years) School age (5 12 years) $34.00 $32.00 $30.00 $28.00 $26.00 $24.00 $22.00 $20.00 ACT NSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA $38.00 $36.00 $34.00 $32.00 $30.00 $28.00 $26.00 $24.00 $22.00 $20.00 ACT NSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 40

41 Young Adults (13 18 years) $55.00 $50.00 $45.00 $40.00 $35.00 $30.00 $25.00 $20.00 ACT NSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA Squad $80.00 $70.00 $60.00 $50.00 $40.00 $30.00 $20.00 ACT NSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA Adults $55.00 $50.00 $45.00 $40.00 $35.00 $30.00 $25.00 $20.00 ACT NSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA Special needs $32.00 $30.00 $28.00 $26.00 $24.00 $22.00 $20.00 ACT NSW QLD SA TAS VIC WA Note: NT was not included due to low numbers. This information should be used with caution due to the low number of respondents in some States and Territories. The average length of swimming lessons for children up to 12 years of age was approximately 30 minutes (Figure 50). The minimum length of time for swimming lessons for children less than 6 months was 7.5 minutes and the maximum was 30 minutes. For children aged 6 months to 12 years the minimum lesson length reported was 10 mins and was 12 minutes for year olds. The maximum reported lesson length increased from 45 minutes for 6 36 month olds to 60 minutes for 3 5 year olds and 80 minutes for 5 to 12 year olds and 90 minutes for year olds. Squads went for the longest time, just over an hour on average (65 minutes) and ranged from 15 minutes to 120 minutes. Adult classes on average went for 44 minutes and ranged from minutes. Special needs lessons averaged 29 minutes and ranged from 10 minutes to 60 minutes. Figure 50: Average length of swimming lessons by age group (minutes) Minutes Infants (<6 Months) (n=108) Infants (6 12 Months) (n=220) Toddlers (13 24 Months) (n=228) Toddlers (25 36 Months) (n=235) Pre school (3+ 5 years) (n=250) School age (5 12 Years) (n=250) Young Adults (13 18 years) (n=174) Squad (n=175) Adults (n=167) Special Needs (n=135) RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 41

42 When children participate in swimming lessons they normally do nott pay to enter the pool. Either the pool is only used for swimming lessons (49%) or entry is includedd in their lesson cost (42%) (Figure 51). This also holds true for f adults who bring and are supervising their children, where there is either no cost as the pool is only used for swimming lessons (51%) or adult entry costs are includedd in the lesson fees (43%) (Figure 52). Figure 51: Entry costs for child (n=265) No cost entry for child included as part of lesson fees 42% Child must pay full entry fee 4% No cost pool only used for swimming lesson 49% Other 3% % Child must pay a reduced entry fee 2% Figure 52: Entry costt for supervising adult (n=265) No cost (facility only used for swim lessons) 51% No cost entry for supervising adult included in lesson fees 43% Other 4% Supervising adult must pay full entry free 1% Supervising adult must pay reduced fee to be a spectator 1% Swimming Pool Information Of the 265 responses to this question nearlyy half (49.1%) of swim schools who responded only used one swimming pool, while one third (32.1%) used two pools (Figure 53). Figure 53: Number of pools used by swim school at facility (n=265) 140 Numebr of Responses Number of Swimming Pools Used 5 RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 42

43 The pool most commonly used for learn to swim lessons was an indoor pool, used as both the primary and secondary pool (Figure 54, Figure 55). Figure 54: Most frequently used pool, indoor vs outdoor (n=265) Figure 55: Second most frequently pool, indoor vs outdoor (n=134) Both 3% Unknown 2% Indoor 75% Leisure 0% Outdoor 20% The average length of the primary pool was 21.8m, slightly shorter than the secondary pool. The depth of the pools ranged from 0 3m. Temperature of the primary pool was 30.2 O C and slightly lower for the secondary pool at 28.8 O C. The average age of the primary pool was 16.9 years and the secondary pool was 21.3 years (Figure 56). Figure 56: Characteristics of the primary and secondary pool Primary Pool Both 1% Unknown 3% Other 1% Secondary Pool Average Length 21.8m 25.8m Length Range 5-51m 5-50m Average Minimum Depth 1.0m 1.0m Average Minimum Depth Range m m Average Maximum Depth 1.7m 1.6m Average Maximum Depth Range m m Average Temperature 30.2 O C 28.8 O C Temperature Range O C O C Average Age 16.9 years 21.3 years Age Range 0-60 years 1-60 years Indoor 54% Outdoor 40% Leisure 1% RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 43

44 Discussion This study forms part of a broader project being undertaken by the Royal Life Saving Society Australia to examine swimming and water safety skills of primary school aged children. This component of the study, was undertaken in partnership with AUSTSWIM to examine swimming and water safety skills from a swim schools perspective. This study set out to: examine swim school managers perceptions of the importance of different swimming and water safety skills children may achieve by the age of 11 years, current numbers of children participating in private learn to swim classes, the current costs associated with swimming lessons and information about the facilities used and the person responding to the survey. As children age their drowning risk changes; for young children, bathtubs and swimming pools are the prime locations; however, for children in their teens; rivers, lakes, dams and beaches are popular locations for recreation as well as common locations for drowning deaths 3. Also as children age their need for swimming and water safety skills increase. Last year in Australia there were 56 children under the age of 18 years who drowned. Swimming and water safety skills and knowledge are integral parts of a child s development, as well as a means of reducing their risk of drowning. Who participated in the study? Overall there were 415 (50%) responses from the 834 swim school contacted via e mail. Of these, 372 (90%) responded to the survey and 43 (10%) opted out. While the authors of this report were hoping for a higher response rate, there appears to be no systematic bias in the data. As expected the majority of respondents were females (76%) with both aquatic experience and teaching experience of over 10 years. Therefore the authors feel the group who responded to the survey are generally very knowledgeable about children s swimming and water safety abilities. It is also interesting to note that the majority (84%) of people who are managing swim schools who responded to this survey are also currently teaching and only 2% of swim school managers who responded had never been a swimming and water safety teacher. Thus, all respondents would have a clear understanding of children s learning ability. Unfortunately there were very few responses from people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background (2%) or who could speak a language other than English (7%). This could be a reflection of the nature of the survey, i.e. it was distributed via e mail and conducted online and in English or it could reflect the nature of the industry, i.e. few people from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds and those who speak a language other than English may not run swim schools. Recommendation: Studies be undertaken to explore swimming and water safety teachers from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) backgrounds. What should children be able to achieve by age 11? There were five overarching areas of swimming and water safety for children examined; these included swimming skills, survival skills, entry and exit skills, rescue skills, and water safety knowledge. Overall there were 27 skills/knowledge topics explored as part of this study. There were clear groupings of skills which were considered the most important, these are, in ranked order: knowledge about safety at specific aquatic environments; being able to tread water; survival techniques and strategies; knowledge of aquatic hazards; deep water exits; knowledge about water safety signs; and the ability to float. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 44

45 Learning butterfly was seen as the least important (by a long way) followed by learning theory on appropriate swimming strokes and sculling feet first on back. These results show that swim school managers place a higher importance on rescue skills and survival strokes rather than teaching children strokes which are more suited to competition. Therefore swimming programs that focus on rescue and survival skills and water safety knowledge rather than competitive swimming outcomes will be far more widely accepted within the swimming and water safety teaching community. Respondents were also asked if there were any other skills/knowledge topics that were not included in the survey, that children should possess at 11 years of age. While there were very few people who identified additional skills, those identified included; knowledge of basic CPR and being able to demonstrate the recovery position, using a lifejacket, the HELP position, and knowledge of items that may be used in a rescue. Other issues identified included the teaching of scenarios and understanding of children s development (i.e. physical, emotional and intellectual development). Recommendation: Consider the inclusion of basic CPR as a foundation skill for children to learn as part of their swimming and water safety education. Recommendation: Provide professional development to teachers of swimming and water safety on children s development (i.e. physical, emotional and intellectual development). What is being taught and when? There was a wide diversity in the number of award levels children were able to achieve at a given swim school, ranging from 0 to 20 levels. However the median (middle) was seven levels and the average was 7.8. The ramification of this is that particular skills are taught at different levels by different swim schools. It could be assumed that skills which are easy to learn occur earlier in the learning sequence (level). If this is true then exit from deep water, followed by recover object and reach rescue are the three easiest skills to learn. Whereas the continuous 75m swim and the clothed survival swim were the two activities which occurred last in the learning sequence and as such could be seen to be the hardest to achieve. It is also significant to note that a number of swim schools did not include some skills, considered by Royal Life Saving, to be part of a child s swimming and water safety education. The skill most likely not to be included was a compact jump, while other skills included the clothed survival swim, throw rescues using a rope or PFD, reach rescue and sculling feet first on back. While it is acknowledged that teaching of swimming and water safety can be achieved through a range of teaching styles, techniques and timeframe, it is clear that the criteria set by the Australian Water Safety Council 4, that 100% children achieve the equivalent to Swim and Survive (2008 version) Level 4, will not be met if some skills are not taught. There has been some concern expressed about the interaction between swim school and school programs. While this study did not examine these interactions, there is a need to explore models where both systems enhance the other and thus improve children s swimming and water safety skills. It should be noted that 84% of swim schools deliver to the school term system operating in their state or territory, thus aligning systems which enhance each other should in theory be achievable. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 45

46 Not having school programs means that children who cannot afford private lessons will miss out on swimming and water safety tuition, however those children who do participate in private lessons may not benefit from the school lessons unless their current participation is recognised and a program that extends their skills and knowledge implemented. Currently this is often achieved via the water safety component being a focus of the school program and swimming being a focus of the private swim lessons. The need for more time spent on water safety was evident from the survey, just over half (55%) of children who participated in private swimming lessons received some form of water safety information every lesson, usually via oral questioning or water safety tips during the lesson. The rest of the students usually received their water safety information in one lesson. Recommendation: Explore models where school based programs and swim school programs complement each other to achieve an optimal outcome for children s swimming and water safety skills (achieving recommended national levels). Recommendation: Map swim school programs against Level 4 of the Swim and Survive program (2008). Recommendation: Encourage more swim schools to incorporate water safety as an integral part of their swimming program. Benchmarking Certificate As this study is only part of an ongoing process to be able to report on current levels and forecast the future of children s swimming and water safety skills as well as monitor future achievements, the respondents were asked about their willingness to provide a benchmarking certificate, to pay for the certificate, to provide data for the process and how this data could be provided. There was strong interest in providing a certificate (79% of responses) and some willingness to pay for the certificate (63% of those who were interested in issuing a certificate), showing that swim school managers were interested in both seeing how their children perform against a set level and also to reward the children for achieving this level. Of the responses to the questions on willingness to send data the majority (91%) said they would be willing, the most common method chosen was to enter the data online (77%), followed by uploading the data on the internet (41%). Further work is required with the providers of swim school databases, swim school managers and technology experts to see what methods will be the easiest for the transfer of information into a central repository which allows for the exploration of children s swimming and water safety levels without the identification of individuals. Recommendation: Develop a set of criteria against which swim schools could provide a benchmarking certificate. Recommendation: Work with swim schools, primary schools and information technology specialists to explore the most effective means of collecting appropriate information on swimming and water safety skills and knowledge attainment. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 46

47 The industry The survey was sent to all swim school managers representing a range of operational categories under which swim schools work. The most common operational category was privately owned, followed by council run and then swim schools that were run as part of a management group. There are also a wide range of databases used by swim schools to manage enrolments and capture information on children and their achievement of swimming and water safety skills. The most common system was Links Modular Solutions, followed by Centaman. There were also a number of either privately designed databases or databases designed in a Microsoft office program. While the learn to swim and water safety industry may appear to be small, there were 5,284 teachers employed across the 300 swim school or 17.6 teachers per school. It should be noted that most of this work is on a part time basis as each swim school pays for on average 133 hours or approximately just over three full time equivalents (i.e. 38 hours per week equals one full time equivalent). Thus, on average, each swimming and water safety teacher is working 7.6 hours per week. There is also the equivalent of one full time person employed per week to undertake administration duties. When this information is extrapolated out to all swim school there is on average between 106,203 to 142,636 hours of paid swimming and water safety tuition per week or the equivalent of between 2,795 and 3,754 full time people. If we take the average of $22.50 per hour (note this rate of pay varies based on children being taught, qualifications, length of employment, experience and employer) then somewhere between $2.4 and $3.2 million is paid each week to swimming and water safety teachers or based on 52 weeks of pay, somewhere between $124 million and $167 million is spent on teachers of swimming and water safety pay per year. For administration between $593k and $1.2 million is spent per week or between $30.9 million and $65.1 million per annum (based on the $22.50 an hour, which may be an overestimation). This equates to a wages bill per annum for the learn to swim and water safety industry of between $155.1 million and $231.9 million. There are a range of qualifications required by swim schools for people to be able to teach within the school. The two most common are AUSTSWIM Teachers of Swimming and Water Safety and CPR. The majority (87%) of swim school also said that they undertake professional development. Recommendation: Further work needs to be done to explore the true contribution of the swimming and water safety industry to the Australian economy. Participation of children in swimming and water safety lessons Swim schools in Australia play an important role in the training of children in water safety and swimming skills and knowledge, however with 4.2 million children aged between 0 and 14 years 9, they are only currently reaching approximately between 17% (741,00) and 24% (1 million) of all children in Australia per annum. It should also be noted that the majority (65%) of swimming lessons are to children aged 3 12 years, with 21% of lessons to children under 3 years of age. This means that between 75 80% of children are not participating in private swimming lessons per annum. There is currently no indication about how many lessons are required for children to become proficient in swimming and water safety to keep themselves safe. While a child may not need to participate in a swimming lesson each week from 6 months to 14 years to achieve proficiency, it is likely that they would require a number of lessons over several years to become proficient. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 47

48 Class size was also examined as part of the survey. Class size ranged from 1 to approximately 12 (there were a few larger classes) with an average size of 6.5 for children under 24 months, dropping to an average of 4.2 for children aged 3 5 years, then increasing again. It is also interesting to note that the average price of a lesson across Australia was around the $29 mark for children under 5 years of age and then increasing as children aged. This was somewhat correlated with length of swimming lesson for children under 5 years of age being approximately 30 minutes and then increasing as children aged. Overall (91%) the fee paid for the swimming lesson allowed the child to enter the pool and undertake the lesson, similarly 94% of swim schools did not charge anything extra for a supervising adult to enter the facility. Recommendation: Explore means of increasing both the participation in and amount of time spent participating for all students from all backgrounds in swimming and water safety lessons. Recommendation: Conduct further research into the desired number of swimming and water safety lessons children need to become proficient. Facilities Nearly half (49%) of swim schools use only one pool and a third (32%) use two pools. These pools are predominately indoors (75% of primary pools and 54% of secondary pools). The primary pool compared to the secondary pool tended to be newer (17 years compared with 21 years), smaller (average length = 22m compared with 26m) and warmer (30.2 O c compared 28.8 O c), with the average maximum depth being deeper (1.7m compared with 1.6m). Recommendation: Further work needs to be undertaken to explore the suitability of different pools for the teaching of swimming and water safety. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 48

49 Conclusion The results of this national survey have important implications for the future delivery of swimming and water safety in Australia. As there has previously been very little research into benchmarking Australian children s swimming and water safety skills and knowledge levels, these results will assist in improving the content of learn to swim and water safety classes in Australia, as a means of achieving a reduction in child drowning. Swim schools in Australia employ a large number of people across the country and provide significant value to the Australian economy. Swim schools are providing swimming lessons to between 0.74 and 1.01 million children per annum, with just over half of these children (55%) receiving water safety information in every lesson. Further work is required in ensuring all Australian children reach a minimum benchmarked level of swimming and water safety skills and knowledge. This will only be achieved through the school sector and the private sector working together to complement each other s programs. RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 49

50 References 1. Morgan DP. Primary school physical education: Far from realising its potential. Every Child 2005;11(1): Australian Bureau of Statistics. Children's Participation in Cultural and Leisure Activities, Royal Life Saving Society Australia. Royal Life Saving 2010 National Drowning Report. Sydney: Royal Life Saving Society Australia, Australian Water Safety Council. Australian Water Safety Strategy Sydney, AC Nielsen. Investigating issues relating to school student swimming and water safety skills. Wellington: Water Safety New Zealand, Royal Life Saving Society Australia. The RLSSA National Swimming and Water Safety Framework. Swimming & Lifesaving 5th edition Version 2. Marrickville: Elsevier, Hodges S, Franklin R. Study Into the Swimming Abilities of ACT Primary School Students. Australian Water Safety Conference 2010, SPSS for Windows [program]. Rel version. Chicago: SPSS Inc, Australian Bureau of Statistics Population by Age and Sex, Australian States and Territories. Table 9. Estimated Resident Population By Single year Of Age, Australia. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics, RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 50

51 Appendix 1: Questionnaire RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 51

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59 Appendix 2: Postcode Coding Details The first one or two digits generally denotes the state or territory that the postcode belongs to: State/Territory Abbreviation Postcode range New South Wales NSW (LVRs and PO Boxes only) Australian Capital Territory ACT (LVRs and PO Boxes only) Victoria VIC (LVRs and PO Boxes only) Queensland QLD (LVRs and PO Boxes only) South Australia SA (LVRs and PO Boxes only) Western Australia WA (LVRs and PO Boxes only) Tasmania TAS (LVRs and PO Boxes only) Northern Territory NT (LVRs and PO Boxes only) RLSSA & AUSTSWIM 2010 Page 59

60 FOR MORE INFORMATION: AUSTSWIM LIMITED Head Office Phone Visit Royal Life Saving Society - Australia National Office Phone info@rlssa.org.au Visit