Australian children are missing out on vital water safety skills because they are splashing out of lessons too early.
The new research from Royal Life Saving reveals kids are not achieving essential lifesaving benchmarks, as they are starting lessons at a younger age.
The study, Benchmarking Australian children’s swimming and water safety skills: swim school data, analysed children from private swim schools in four states.
Overall, four-year-old children made up the highest age group of children attending private swimming lessons. A total of 65 per cent were under the age of seven, and just over half of primary school children who took lessons could not swim 10 metres of freestyle of backstroke.
Data also shows that 75 per cent of kids stop lessons by the time they are eight.
This study confirms that children are not achieving the minimum skills of the National Benchmark as outlined in The National Swimming and Water Safety Framework.
Royal Life Saving Society’s Justin Scarr says this is worrying.
“This is a massive transformation,” he said.
“Younger is not always better. Our concern is many children exit swimming lessons at an age where they are less likely to learn the lifesaving skills that will help to protect them as they enter adulthood and are exposed to more hazardous water environments.”
He says busier lifestyles are partly to blame.
“It can be hard for parents to maintain their child’s enthusiasm for lessons after age six or seven with weekend sport, parties and the need for after school care,” he said.
”However this reinforces the importance of ensuring that 10-11 year-olds have access to lessons in order to build survival skills.”
Manager of Little Fins swim school at Kirrawee and Bangor, Scott Longworth, says more parents are pulling their children out of lessons in Sutherland Shire.
“Our biggest age group is three to six, but in the past three years, we have seen a significant reduction in numbers,” he said.
“Classes are getting smaller, especially in the seven to eight age bracket, where children can swim quite confidently. Because parents think they’re good enough, they stop, and would rather do something else like tutoring or piano lessons. It’s a big concern.”
“We also see a 15-20 per cent drop-off over winter.
“When we start them young, we build good habits and muscle memory, with repetition, but then that reflex changes to a skill. That skills is for life, and one that needs to be ongoing.”
Mr Longworth says swimming lessons should be seen as an essential activity.
“It’s a financial impact for parents year-round but it’s important to save a life,” he said.
“There are sporting voucher rebates which are a good idea, but the government has been slow in delivering this.
“Schools also need to have a bigger role to play in beach safety. As an indoor pool we can teach safety elements like how to recover from a fall into water, but we can’t stimulate other environments like oceans and rivers.”
