Scottish Government

Audit of Swimming Provision in Schools 2001/2002

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Introduction:

On 24 May 2001, in response to concerns raised about a perceived decline in the availability of swimming lessons for pupils of Scottish schools, Nicol Stephen, then Deputy Minister for Education, Europe and External Affairs, announced that, up-to-date information on the provision of swimming lessons would be gathered from local authorities across Scotland. This study was carried out using a questionnaire developed with the help of sportscotland and the Association of Directors of Education. Returns were received from all 32 Scottish local authorities on Swimming Provision by schools in their area. In gathering the information it was important to establish not only the level of provision made by schools, but the means by which any provision is evaluated and any barriers to providing pupils with swimming lessons. The following is a summary of the main points.

Question 1. In 2000-2001, did pupils attending any schools in your area have an opportunity to learn to swim through a program of lessons provided as part of the curriculum?

All 32 authorities responded positively. At least some swimming had been taught in their schools during 2000-2001.

Question 2. How many schools provided a programme of swimming lessons?

Argyll & Bute failed to answer this question. Falkirk only provided figures for primary schools. Fife and West Dunbartonshire did not supply figures for secondary schools. Of the remainder that did respond, the following can be reported:

All Schools: 72.4% of authority schools provide some swimming lessons. The 7 authorities which reported 100% of schools making swimming available are Dumfries & Galloway, Dundee City, East Lothian, Falkirk, Fife (secondaries not known), Orkney Islands and Stirling. 4 authorities reported less than half of their schools teaching swimming. These were Moray (18.8%), Aberdeen City (25.3%), Aberdeenshire (27.1%) and Highland (39.4%).

Primary: 79.6% of primaries taught swimming. All primaries provided lessons in 18 authorities. Those with less than half were Aberdeen City (7.5%), Moray (10.9%), Aberdeenshire (20.5%) and Highland (41.7%).

Secondary: 58.5% of secondaries taught swimming. All secondaries provided lessons in 8 authorities. Those with less than half were Midlothian (0%), South Ayrshire (0%), Highland (17.9%), East Dunbartonshire (22.2%), Renfrewshire (30.8%), East Ayrshire (33.3%), Inverclyde (37.5%), North Lanarkshire (38.5%), East Renfrewshire (42.9%) and South Lanarkshire (47.6%)

Question 3. At what stage of education were these lessons normally provided?

The following figures are the number of authorities that said that swimming was normally provided for each stage:

It can be seen from the above table that P6 is the most common stage for providing lessons, with the first four years of secondary also popular.

Question 4. Was any form of assessment/certification included in the programme of lessons?

30 out of 32 authorities performed some sort of assessment. The two that didn't were Eilean Siar and Moray.

Of the 30 that claim to perform assessment, the range of assessment type varies considerably. Also, some authorities have an authority-wide approach to their assessment while others listed the various schemes that their schools take part in - the implication being that in these cases it may be the school that decides which assessment it uses.

At least 12 authorities use a nationally recognised scheme. Those from the ASA and the SQA were most often mentioned. At least 6 authorities have developed their own swimming assessment schemes.

Question 5. What is the structure and duration of swimming lessons?

The majority of lessons last 40 or 45 minutes for 8, 10 or 12 weeks. The shortest lessons offered are 30 minutes, usually for 10 weeks although in one case (East Renfrewshire) the 30 minute lessons last for only five weeks for primary children.

Question 6. Were any charges levied for the provision of swimming lessons?

A number of authorities responded that some charges were made but subsequently explained that the Education Department was charged for the use of the pool / instructors but the charges were not passed on to the children. After this has been taken in to account, there remained 8 where some charges were made to the pupils. This practice was not always authority-wide but decided at school level.

Question 7. If so, for what aspects of swimming were these levied?

Question 7a. Were concessions/exemptions offered to any pupils?

The most common reason for charging was to pay for teaching (7 authorities). The other reasons that were given were transport (5) access to pool (4) and extra supervision (3).

One authority (Aberdeenshire) was clear about the circumstances where the charges to pupils were waived. It didn't charge pupils who received school meals or where the pupil was not able to pay.

Question 8. What facilities were used?

The following table summarises the responses to this question.

Question 9. Were lessons provided by:

Although asked for the number of lesson providers in each category, several simply ticked boxes, indicating that they had at least one provider in that category. For the 22 authorities that provided good responses, the following table summarises the responses to this question.

The above table, which reports the totals from a sample of Scottish authorities, shows that there are a variety of types of lesson provider used. However at authority level, many authorities show that they strongly favour one particular category of lesson provider.

Question 10. Do they have swimming and/or life guarding qualifications?

Question 10a. Do you have a minimum level of qualification required?

Almost all authorities ticked boxes to indicate that their lesson providers were qualified in teaching swimming and lifeguarding.

26 out of 32 authorities have some form of minimum qualification required. The most common qualifications mentioned were ASA Teacher / Assistant Teacher certificates or RLSS or RTCC qualifications. 5 authorities specify a PE Teaching qualification is needed while one requires that it is a GTC registered teacher that takes the lessons.

Question 11. If no provision is made, what barriers prevented the provision of swimming lessons?

Those authorities that reported there was a barrier to providing lesson didn't identify a single main reason

Although not asked, a couple of authorities provided a breakdown of the number of schools in each category. These identified funding as the main barrier, followed by transport and then facilities and time together in third position. However, the number of answers in this sample is too small to be taken as representative of the overall figures.

Question 12. Are there any local authority targets on the provision of swimming lessons and/or the level of ability reached?

16 out of 32 authorities had set targets. 9 of these were of the form that all children in a particular stage would be given lessons or get the opportunity to learn to swim. 6 state that they aim to have all children able to swim / water confident by a certain stage while Clackmannanshire have produced a Swimming Development Plan and supplied a copy.

Question 13. If not, is it the intention to set targets?

5 out of 16 authorities with no targets intend to set some. These are generally being set in the context of sports development plans but little detail of timescales has been received.

Question 14. If not, why not?

The reasons given include:
not necessary - swimming covered in overall PE programme
not seen as a requirement or priority
council funding withdrawn
bulk of swimming is provided outwith school day

Question 15. Are there any other related opportunities available within the local authority to learn to swim?

24 out of 32 authorities identified other opportunities for pupils to learn to swim. Some of those that didn't identify other opportunities commented on rural isolation and lack of available pools.

Conclusion:

It was discovered that the provision of swimming in Scottish schools is higher than perhaps expected due to the concerns over a decline. All authorities provided some provision for swimming lessons in the curriculum, in 18 authorities all primary schools taught swimming as part of the curriculum. However, over 25% of schools do not make any provision for swimming and only 7 authorities make provision in all their schools, 4 authorities have lower than 50% provision in all the schools within their area.

The authorities that provide this lower percentage of provision tend to be in the more rural areas. Other barriers to making this provision were reported as a lack of funding, time and transport.

30 local authorities reported that they carry out assessment, but the assessment varies between these 30. At least 12 authorities use a nationally recognised scheme and 6 authorities have developed their own assessment schemes. Some authorities have an authority-wide approach to their assessment while in others it may be the school that decides which assessment scheme that it uses.

From this study it can be taken that the provision of swimming in Scottish schools is not as poor as was first thought, but that in some areas, the provision is lower than in the rest of the country. The reasons behind this could be a greater number of barriers to overcome, such as not having the facilities near by, or the time to travel to a local pool. The findings of this report are to be taken into account in the recently formed PE review group, and Learning and Teaching Scotland have been commissioned to gather exemplar material on the provision of swimming lessons, particularly how schools have overcome the barriers that they faced.