2015 Swimming Teachers Recruitment Survey Results August 2015

Introduction  Industry Swimming Teachers Recruitment Survey – July 2015  Designed to understand how widespread of an issue swimming teacher recruitment is in the UK; and to understand what the main challenges are and the impact on swim schools and swimming  229 respondents, representing private and public sector – who together teach* in excess of:  18, year olds every week  30, year olds every week  33, year olds every week  23,000 9 year olds + every week  6,500 adults every week  3,000 people with disabilities every week  *average number from slide 6 ‘how many learners do you teach each week’

Section 1 About the Respondents

1. What Best Describes your Swim School?

2. In Which UK Regions Do you Teach Swimming?

3. How Many Learners Do you Teach Per Week? Age GroupsNumbers per week (%) None 0-2 years 17.03% (39) 13.54% (31) 15.28% (35) 10.92% (25) 8.73% (20) 1.75% (9) 1.31% (3) 31.44% 2-5 years 14.85% (34) 13.1% (30) 18.78% (43) 15.72% (36) 23.14% (53) 3.49% (8) 1.75% (4) 9.17% 5-8 years 8.3% (19) 10.04% (24) 17.9% (41) 17.47% (40) 25.76% (26) 6.55% (15) 4.37% (10) 9.61% 9 years % (48) 14.41% (33) 18.34% (42) 13.97% (32) 14.85% (34) 2.18% (5) 2.62% (6) 12.66% Adults 45.85% (105) 14.41% (33) 10.48% (24) 1.75% (4) 0.44% (1) 0.44% (1) 1.31% (3) 25.33% Disability 49.78% (114) 7.86% (18) 9.61% (22) 1.75% (4) 0.87% (2) 0% 30.13%

4. Do you Currently Have a Waiting List?

Do You Currently Have a Waiting List? (by region for Q4)

Section 2 Recruitment

5. Are You Currently Looking to Recruit Qualified Swimming Teachers?

6. Do You Find it Difficult to Recruit Qualified Swimming Teachers in your Area?

Do You Find it Difficult to Recruit Qualified Swimming Teachers in your Area? (by region for Q6)

6a. Answers to why Respondents Find it Difficult to Recruit (those who answered yes to Q6)

6b. Successful Recruitment Strategies Used (those who answered no to Q6)

7. Does finding it Difficult to Recruit Qualified Swimming Teachers Affect the Running of your Swim School?

7a. How Does this Affect your Swim School?

8. Is there a Specific Type of Qualified Swimming Teacher that is Difficult to Recruit?

9. When Recruiting, do you Have a Preference on the Type of Qualification you want the Teacher to Hold?

10. Is your Swim School Prepared to Invest in Professional Swimming Teacher Training for Unqualified Candidates?

Is your Swim School Prepared to Invest in Professional Swimming Teacher Training for Unqualified Candidates? (breakdown to Q10. by swim school type)

Section 3 Market Viewpoints

11. Why do you think there is a shortage of qualified swimming teachers in the UK?

Why do you think there is a shortage of qualified swimming teachers in the UK? (by region who answered ‘shortage of courses’ in Q.11)

12. If you think there is a current shortage of swimming teachers, do you think this is impacting on the opportunity for learners to access regular swimming lessons, and ultimately learn how to swim in your area?

If you think there is a current shortage of swimming teachers do you think this is impacting on the opportunity for learners to access regular swimming lessons, and ultimately learn how to swim in your area? (by region by those that strongly agreed or agreed to Q12)

Other General Comments  There does seem to be a lot of courses run by ASA / STA but we are not seeing the teachers on poolside, why I don't know - it might be peer pressure from parents. I do talk to my parents but for young teachers it can be difficult with pushy parents  Not enough effort and money is dedicated to apprenticeships in swimming teaching or enough focus on this as a potential career that can have gradual progression to a highly qualified professional status. Schools and colleges do not offer it as a potential career path

Other General Comments  Additional costs - teaching courses are very expensive, + additional individual insurance preferable to having cover only provided by club / swim school + DBS disclosure + safeguarding costs. Teachers need to update knowledge & insight on a regular basis - may also include travelling considerable distances in order to access relevant courses  The concern is that under qualified teachers are teaching children above their level of training and this impacts on the overall development of the child and no one is regulating this; plus as the qualifications are no longer renewable and ongoing CPDs mean that the standard of older teachers is slipping. A one day training course in all areas would improve this and educate providers on how important correctly training staff is and as some are willing to pay £20 plus per hour for the instructor to ensure they are qualified for the job they are doing

Other General Comments  It is not the lack of qualified teachers but the lack of standard  Largely due to where courses are being held not always accessible to attend, plus extra cost of accommodation and transport  Until training is affordable and covers more of the skills needed to teach swimming this will not change. While Health and Safety is important, there is now less time spent on the skills needed to teach and this leads to teachers giving up due to a lack of confidence in their knowledge when challenged by parents of swimmers  I try to run courses to qualify teachers but there is just no interest in this at the moment

Any Questions? Thank You