100m swim defeats most students

More than half of schoolchildren cannot swim 100 metres and experts say the decline of swimming lessons in the curriculum is to blame.

A study by Kevin Moran, from the University of Auckland, shows that 54 per cent of Year 11 students cannot manage four lengths of a standard 25m pool.

Other research, from Water Safety New Zealand, suggests the problem could be worse. It says three out of four children cannot swim 200 metres - the minimum "safe standard" to get out of trouble.

In a country surrounded by water, experts say children lack the abilities of generations before them.

A lack of emphasis on swimming, poor teacher training in aquatics and the high costs of pools against a tight budget are all blamed for the dip in children's abilities - and the result is the high numbers who drown each year.

Mr Moran, who has researched the issue for more than a decade and has worked as a lifeguard for 30 years, said it was time to introduce a Level 1 NCEA unit in secondary schools based around swimming and water survival.

The current curriculum states that it is expected that all students will have the opportunity to learn fundamental aquatic skills by the end of Year 6.

"That's the only thing in the curriculum and what does it mean? Nothing really," said Mr Moran.

Students were expected to be able to perform two swimming strokes at level 2 (aimed at 7 and 8-year-olds) and three strokes at level 3 (8 and 9-year-olds), but there was no absolute requirement for students to meet these standards as they passed through the school system.

He said lots of schools did a very good job, but some did not do it at all and they could be broadly divided into high decile (wealthy) schools and low decile.

Part of the problem was a curriculum change in the late 1980s, which was impacting on those who had come through schools since. Mr Moran said there used to be explicit requirements but in today's crowded curriculum, "something's got to give and unfortunately it's swimming".

The decline in swimming teaching has been recognised by the Government.

The Accident Compensation Corporation Drowning Prevention Strategy, fronted by ACC Minister Ruth Dyson, said the majority of schools provided some form of aquatic programme, "but the quality varies, and ... the belief that all children in New Zealand learn to swim as part of their school education is no longer true".

It is a trend that prompted Water Safety New Zealand (WSNZ) to launch a Swim for Life programme with the aim of every child being able to swim 200 metres by the age of 12.

However, project director Matt Claridge said that would not begin to have a proven effect before 2008.

Executive director Alan Muir said learning to survive in the water had "slipped off the radar in terms of importance". WSNZ had supported the training of 1500 teachers to become swimming instructors.

Teachers who have spoken to the Herald say this is a step in the right direction. They said teacher training colleges offered little or no instruction in teaching swimming.

Mr Moran said without a grounding in schools, the good work of water safety organisations was "swimming against the tide". Water safety in primary schools, NCEA exams in secondary schools and life-saving skills programmes should all be incorporated into the curriculum.

Mary Chamberlain, senior curriculum manager at the Ministry of Education, said the needs of students within each school differed so the ministry did not prescribe any specific programme for aquatics education.

The previous curriculum required schools to cover specific areas, she said, but today schools planned their programmes after analysing what their particular students needed to learn. But Mr Moran said schools needed a clear direction from the ministry.