Swimming lessons


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. There are many different ways of learning to swim with swimming lessons. There are community centre lessons, semi-private lessons and private lessons.

Infant swimming lessons

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 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.

School swimming

In many places, 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 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, all children "should be taught to...swim 25 metres" 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 metres by the age of 6. Advocates for school swimming lessons in the United States frequently cite the CDC estimate that 34% of 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 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. 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 is part of the elementary school curriculum leading to the entry level certificate for about 90 percent of the children. 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 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 the UK, 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 Great Britain's 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.

Swimming levels

Austria

The Arbeitsgemeinschaft Österreichisches Wasserrettungswesen is a joint committee of private organizations and government bodies. They have defined four grade levels of swimming lessons that are used in school swimming.
Additionally, the ÖWR water rescue organization's testing requirements for the Jugendschwimmerschein 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.

Canada

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 to learn lifesaving skills. After completing all three Bronze Medal program courses, students can further advance with additional programs such as Water Safety Instructor 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.
Additionally, 800,000 Canadians participate annually in Lifesaving Society swimming, lifesaving, lifeguard, first aid, and leadership training programs. Each year LSS certifies thousands of instructors who provide the leadership for those training programs. As Canada's leading lifeguarding experts, LSS sets the standard for professional lifeguard training and certify Canada's National Lifeguards.

Germany

The Schwimmabzeichen is assigned in four levels: Entry, Bronze, Silver, and Gold. The levels are defined by the Bundesverband zur Förderung der Schwimmausbildung in coordination with the federal Kultusministerkonferenz.
The entry level Frühschwimmer includes a swimming test where the student shows a jump from side, a 25-metre swim, and pickup of an object underwater. The Frühschwimmer level is better known by its mascot Seepferdchen 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.
The silver badge requires 400 metres of swimming in under 12 minutes, pickup of an object from deep water, jump and dive from the side, and 10 metres of swimming underwater.
The gold badge requires 1,000 metres of swimming, sport swimming of 100 meters, 100 metres of back crawl, 50 metres of rescue swimming, 15 metres of swimming underwater, pickup of three objects from deep water.
Lifeguard certificates are defined separately by each organization; the entry level is Junior-Retter at the DLRG and Juniorwasserretter at the Wasserwacht. Extended Lifeguard certificate grades can be obtained at three levels of the Rettungsschwimmabzeichen in bronze, silver, and gold.

Netherlands

The Dutch National Swimming diploma is issued by the National council for swim safety. The national swimming diploma exist of the Swim-ABC and separate swimming skill diplomas. The National Council for swim safety advises children to get the full Swim-ABC program. This three-stage program will teach children the basic skills of swimming. When a child understands and masters the fundamentals of the basic swimming skills, they will earn a diploma. The Swim-ABC program consists of three separate diploma's. After getting all diploma's you officially meet the standards of the National norm of swim safety.
The Singapore SwimSafer program works to help children learn how to swim and how to be safe in the water. This is a six-stage program that encourages kids to have fun and to learn at a pace that is right for them.
In Switzerland the Schwimmtests 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.
The Entry level has six tests: Ente, Schwan, Seehund, Nilpferd, Schildkröte, and Biber.
The Basic level has seven tests: Krebs, Seepferd, Frosch, Pinguin, Tintenfisch, Krokodil, and Eisbär.
The Advanced level has eight tests: Wal, Hecht, Hai, Delfin, and four additional tests with no symbols assigned.

United Kingdom

Scotland
In Scotland swimming lessons are undertaken by pupils at an age 8 or 9 when the child is in Primary 5. These lessons take place during the school day. The Scottish Amateur Swimming Association – known as Scottish Swimming – has called for all young children to be entitled to free swimming lessons as they have been in England and Wales since the 1990s. Swimming lessons in Scotland have come under criticism because of the long waiting lists where in some counties there is a waiting list of up to 2000 children, or 1040 days. This has led to an increase of private swimming schools start up which are able to use private pools.
Lessons in Scotland generally follow two main award schemes, the STA or ASA award schemes. The council lessons tend to follow the ASA Award Scheme whilst private swimming lessons use either of them. There have been a number of high-profile cases of private swimming lessons changing from ASA to STA. The STA also teaches about life-saving techniques in their lessons which the ASA largely ignore.
In England, all schools must provide swimming instruction either in key stage 1 or key stage 2. In particular, pupils should be taught to: swim competently, confidently and proficiently over a distance of at least 25 metres use a range of strokes effectively perform safe self-rescue in different water-based situations. There is no provision for this in the Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland.

United States

In the United States, most swimming schools use the swimming levels "Learn To Swim" as defined by the American Red Cross.
Lifeguard certificates are obtained directly in courses of the American Red Cross. The course length varies with 30 to 37 hours with an option for blended learning for the five certificates of Pool Lifeguarding, Waterfront Lifeguarding, Waterpark Lifeguarding, Aquatic Attractions Lifeguarding and Shallow Water Lifeguarding.