Teaching In The Water Policy

Introduction

It is preferable for the swimming teacher to conduct swimming lessons from the poolside; there are a number of reasons for this, including:

Safety – the swimming teacher is able to maintain full visual cover of all their participants from the poolside and thus be in a position to react quickly to any incidents that may arise

Observation – the swimming teacher on the poolside is in a better position to analyse the participant’s skills

Teacher protection – due to their proximity to the participants and the difficulty of seeing exactly where teachers have their hands; swimming teachers can be more vulnerable to accusations of abuse if they are teaching in the water.

Nevertheless United Education recognise that teaching in the water can be very effective and beneficial to many participants.

A maximum ratio of 6 participants to 1 swimming teacher.

This must coincide with a risk assessment where the pool size, depth, shape and participant’s age, ability and needs are taken into consideration as the ratio may need to be reduced to ensure safety and effective teaching.

a maximum ratio of 12 adult and child pairs to 1 baby and pre-school teacher.

It is an United Education’s requirement that:

When swimming lessons are in progress, there must always be at least one person on duty on the poolside who is competent to respond. This can be the teacher provided they possess appropriate lifesaving competencies, which include rescue skills, CPR, and relevant aspects of the PSOP; this can be achieved by holding a current Lifesaving or Lifeguard qualification. A swimming teacher in the water has an extremely limited view of the water and the participants. They should only teach in the water where there is suitable and sufficient cover on the poolside to watch the class as determined by the individual pools risk assessment.
Swimming teachers must have an approved and in-date pool rescue award.

To help with the risk assessment the following points are taken into consideration:

What are the ages of the participants?
Will they be able to understand safety instructions given to them by the teacher?
Do any of the participants have special needs / requirements and / or medical conditions e.g. hearing difficulties, visual impairments, learning difficulties, hidden conditions, physical disabilities etc. Additional support and supervision may be required depending on the individual needs of the participant
Are there any site specific characteristics of the pool that may present special risks? E.g. sudden changes in depth, blind spots, specular reflection etc These may require more than one person qualified in pool rescue to be on duty on the poolside
How deep is the water?
Non-swimmers and younger participants will be safer in water of their own standing depth
What is the size and shape of the pool?
Small pools with fewer lessons are easier to supervise
How many lessons are taking place?
More lessons may require more than one pool rescuer on the poolside, due to higher risks with the increased numbers of participants to supervise, increased noise levels etc
How many poolside rescuers will there be?
Will one rescuer be overseeing one class or several? Supervising one class will give a greater degree of safety
What is the temperature of the water?
The warmer it is, the quicker the teacher will become de-hydrated
The colder it is, then the teacher may need to be provided with some form of thermal protection (Personal Protective Equipment) i.e. wet suit
Swimming teachers may need to wear sun protection when teaching in an outdoor environment
How long will the teacher remain in the water?
All aquatic teachers should not teach in the water for longer than three consecutive hours before having at least a thirty minute break before teaching again. This is to allow themselves time to recover from the water temperature and pool humidity, to hydrate and refresh themselves and to allow their vocal cords to rest. It is also recommended that a teacher does not teach more than two three-hour blocks per day in the water
Is there a regular change of pool rescue cover?
This is to prevent the poolside rescuer from becoming fatigued and allowing them to remain vigilant and alert.

The following guidelines are also observed:

The maximum depth of water where a teacher can operate safely is when the water is approximately at mid-chest level Note: The swimming teacher in the water must be able to stand, walk freely and not be forced by the depth of water, into a floating position
The teaching positions will be different when teaching in the water, the teacher must always position themselves so they have the whole class under observation Note: Particular attention must be paid when the swimming teacher is attending to an individual participant, the teacher must be aware of the safety of the rest of the class and this may necessitate the remainder of the class being on poolside
The parent/guardian should be informed that the swimming teacher will be in the water and advise them of the reasons and benefits to the participant
The parent/guardian should be informed of the methods of manual support, if any, that will be used and their consent obtained for methods employed
The swimming teacher should only use methods of manual support that are appropriate to the age and ability of the participant
Prior to using manual support the teacher should inform the participant, explain the procedure and seek the learner’s permission
Manual support should only be given when necessary and only for as long as it is required
The swimming teacher should keep his / her hands in view whenever possible
The swimming teacher should be easily recognisable as the instructor by, for example, wearing a ‘Teacher’ T-shirt
The swimming teacher should not infringe on the personal space of adult/child participants and should be aware of familiarity that may come from participants.