A couple of days ago I went out fishing – something I love doing. I have fished since I was a young girl, off the wharf at Raglan and then with my Dad, Uncle and cousins in my Uncle’s boat.
As we headed out of Whangamata harbour I saw New Zealanders at play – swimming, surfing, boogie boarding, walking, fishing off rocks, water skiing and kayaking. Our love of the beach is a shared and integral part of our culture and I know I am not the only one who heads to the beach with a great sense of joy.
We are a long narrow island country and no-one is far from the coast (certainly compared to many parts of the world). As a child I learnt to swim at a young age, a combination of my mother’s efforts and the local primary school. One of the things I have become increasingly aware of is that many New Zealanders no longer have that opportunity. In the Maungakiekie electorate for example a number of schools struggle to maintain a pool and teach swimming. Many new migrants come to New Zealand from countries that don’t have the same access to the beach as we do here and so don’t necessarily know how to swim or understand the need to respect the sea. Living in Auckland City means using Council pools costs money, unlike Manukau City that provides access to swimming pools free of charge.
The combined effect of these factors means we have unacceptable levels of drownings. After road accidents and falls, drownings are the highest accidental cause of death. While our levels of drownings have reduced our rates are still twice those of Australia.
Water Safety NZ General Manager Matt Claridge recently made the following comments:
“The 2008 toll supports recent analysis by WSNZ that indicates the drowning toll will rise back to the horrific levels of the 1980’s. Unless New Zealand children learn to swim whilst at school, generation after generation will continually be exposed to a higher risk of drowning. As we know, aquatic activity is diverse and evolving constantly. We also know that 25% of children are unable to get across 25m or manage to keep afloat and tread water. Not enough to suggest they have the skills to save themselves.”
Claridge concludes:
“Swim and survival skills are the first step to preventing drowning. Parents need to understand the importance of children learning to swim, but it shouldn’t be a cost based issue. All New Zealand children should learn to swim whilst at school. To achieve this, children must be able to access a pool, school teachers must be trained to teach swim and survival skills and the curriculum must recognise the ability to swim as an outcome.”
I too believe it is essential that all New Zealanders have the opportunity to learn to swim enabling them to enjoy our wonderful coastline more safely.
As I headed out of Whangamata and saw people enjoying the coast I also thought of the efforts of the Coastguard and Surf Life Savers who help us enjoy our coastline and provide amazing rescue services. And of course I would be remiss if I didn’t note the 24/7 no fault cover we all have from our world class ACC scheme as we enjoy our beach related activities.
Finally, who could not be moved by the tragedy and heroism of grandfather Jackie Wiki and father Felisiano Puleanga who saved the lives of their loved children at the cost of their own.
Yes, learning to swim is important – not that the Nats see learning to swim at school impt – the school they just closed in chch (the one the community wanted and supported!) had a heated swimming pool that the kids went swimming in terms 1 and 4 – and that the community used at very low cost over summer – no,its been drained and is lost to the community.
oh – and ps – the other schools the kids are being shipped off to don’t have their own school pools. Parents will have to pay heaps for only a small handful of lessons.
That sucks, Paul.
I’m in Wellington, and over the last 5-10 yrs, I have seen so many school pools close, and prices increase dramatically for both lessons, and pool entry.
I agree this needs to be addressed, fast.
Meanies upping the pool prices.
A very important post, Carol.
Greater time allocated for swimming in primary and secondary schools is urgently required. Absolutely essential! It’s a disappointment Labour didn’t tackle this while in office. I believe a directive from the top regarding school swimming would ensure consistency across the country.
The primary school-aged children I teach at a high decile school only received a handful of swimming lessons in Term 4. No where near enough. Many of those children (but certainly not all) are lucky enough to come from wealthier families who can afford private lessons. It was obvious to spot the children who had benefited from private lessons, but more sadly, those who hadn’t.
It just seems like another sad example of where the private sector has taken over from where the public school system has fallen short. Pity the kids from more working class areas whose families may not have the dosh for private swimming lessons.
The other tragedy is the Ministry of Education’s failure to maintain school swimming pools. Yet another failure of Tomorrow’s Schools and so called self-managing schools. I’m quite cynical about Lange’s Tomorrow’s Schools policy. It’s hardly brought about equality of opportunity across state schools.
Thanks for raising the issue of water safety, Carol. I totally agree with Kane – the devolution of school property management under Tommorrow’s Schools (and govt underfunding that went with it) has undermined swim lessons and school pools in general.
A big closure trigger was the more demanding pool water quality testing regime your Labour govt brought in – school pools dropped like flies, as schools couldn’t afford the staff to be running back to the pool to test water several times an hour.
I recently quit after 20 years teaching learn-to-swim in a small community group in Manukau. I can attest to the poor swim skills of those who have not had formal lessons. Lessons mostly come from private swim schools and (amateur) competitive swim clubs (who only take swimmers with basic swimming skills, but polish these skills dramatically).
Manukau City Council’s free pools (ie 100% rates funded) policy is fantastic, and makes a huge difference to access for kids. Push for it in the $upercity. But without the swim lessons, the kids don’t develop beyond doggy paddle, and a surprising number cannot put on a life jacket properly.
Private swim schools are not the answer – for equity reasons and because even parents who can afford it tend to balk at the cost of several blocks of 10 lessons. Many just do 1 block of 10 lessons, which leaves kids with a rough grasp of strokes, but no real stamina or ability to cope with ‘real’ water conditions (ie not in a pool).
Labour should push for Ministry of Education to partner with councils to provide council operated pools on school sites, instead of council and schools building/upgrading duplicated pools. This gets schools using the pools in school time when public use is low, and leaves the pools available for swim clubs and public use in mornings and evenings and weekends.
You will also need to tackle the high cost (financial and time) of schools in urban areas getting students to pools. Walking kids a 1-2km each way takes too long, and hiring buses (which most schools now do) dents the budget badly, and limits how many lessons the school can do.
Finally, don’t waste time & money training all teachers to be swim teachers. Hire & train specialist swim teachers for each area/urban city ward, base them at the council or school pool, and take all the students to them. Cheaper and more efficient overall.
Thanks for raising the issue – please continue to lobby on it.