Parents in Cupar, Fife have reacted with disbelief to a decision which bans swimming teachers from being in the water with children. A spokesperson for Fife Sport and Leisure Trust has said: “The decision that instructors should supervise from the pool side was based on guidance from Scottish Swimming, the national governing body for swimming. Part of the reason for this advice is improved safety of students in the pool because, as the case with lifeguards, higher elevation allows the instructor to better way to spot potential safety issues.” Via Fife Today.
Parents are now concerned that this is ‘bureaucracy gone mad!’, that children are naturally anxious about being in the water on their own when learning to swim, and that there is no comparison between the quality of teaching provided by a hands-on approach in the water, and a pool-side only approach.
I’ll tell you the solution, as we do it here in small town Toftir. Have at least one teacher on deck who keeps an eye one everyone, and at least one teacher in the water. There, solved it for you, now go teach!
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Have a lifeguard on duty while the class is in progress and/or make the classes smaller if safety is a concern. Also it depends on the level of skills brought to the class. When teaching swimming it is like no other subject, at the beginning the instructor has to be in or there is going to be trouble.