Our View of Poor UK Teaching Standards

Mr Kennedy is a Fellow of the STA and an Advanced ASA Swimming Teacher. He was appauled at what he witnessed at this ASA Accredited Seminar in April 2002.

SWIMMING TIMES, the official journal of the British Amateur Swimming Association, REFUSED TO PUBLISH THIS REPORT

This was in many ways a defining day for me. As a professional ASA teacher and researcher I have spent more than 25 years chipping away at our governing body hoping to get them to take a more professional approach towards our children's swimming education. Seeing what I saw at this Accredited Seminar convinced me that there is little point in tendering professional advice to them anymore. We actually have the finest teaching method in the world right here in Britain but our children continue be taught by part-qualified amateurs, using outdated ad-hock methods, as below. This ASA seminar was supposed to be offering new ideas to help already qualified ASA teachers to improve how they teach.

SEMINAR "Ideas for Non Swimmers & Beginners" Kidderminster 14/04/02 Start. The front row of mainly middle aged teachers was requested to stand on their plastic chairs. They were then called "fat sausages" that all went "BANG" meaning presumably "jump off your chair" into the pretend pool. To my astonishment and great concern they did. This exercise was then repeated. It was either about looking up or not looking down, nobody was quite sure... including the tutor. Ankle knee and hip damage is unknown at the time of writing. I was tempted to up and leave right then... but sadly .....it got much much worse.......

The next hour was about promoting every conceivable type of floatation aid. Armbands, floats, rubber rings, woggles, floatation belts, foam rings, airbeds, neck collars, surf boards, plastic sea weed, grip floats, polly otter suits, floating turtles, rabbits, teddies, hedgehogs, and a plastic doll called Wally the water. Even the use of a bin bag full of floating plastic imitation fruit bought from the local charity shop because the tutor said she "doesn't get paid much"....now that bit I could believe! Various young lifeguards and assistant teachers got up to give demonstrations of how to "oh so cleverly" use and / or cut up this ever growing pile of plastic and foam, "half a woggles produces a quiddich stick to wave around" or "tie a woggle in a knot to make motor bike handles". Utter nonsense from ASA qualified teachers who are (teaching) British children every week. We were then instructed that if a child is very nervous just tell the boys "Bob the Builder says do it" and for girls, stick her favourite dolly up her knicker leg and ..."Hey Presto".....all their fears of water will be gone!

THIS WAS BRITAINS SWIMMING GOVERNING BODY RUNNING AN ACCREDITED SEMINAR FOR ITS ALREADY QUALIFIED TEACHERS. AN UTTER DISGRACE.

This first session ended with the main ASA tutor proudly telling her story about how she had finally got a nervous lady chin deep in the water suspended on a foam woggle around her chest and under her arms using typical ASA (Victorian) floatation aid methods (as above) This had taken her 10 x 45 minute of one to one lessons. Using modern techniques, the same lady would have floated face down totally independently in her very first lesson and been a competent swimmer after about five lessons. Every child in Britain could be swimming 1000 m before the age of 10 in half the time and for half the present cost if our governing body would listen.

At this point I left this ridiculous Seminar that brings great shame to the ASA.

The ASA are now thinking of changing their name as the first 'A' stands for Amateur. But their present name is exactly right for the standard of education that they are providing for our children. More than 100,000 primary school children leave school every year unable to swim at all and most of those who achieve the 25 metre target set by the school curriculum at the age of 11 are not swimming correctly, they are just struggling to get over the line. Teaching our children to swim earlier and correctly would play a significant part in reducing childhood obesity levels because most children would be able to swim much longer distances.

An 11 year old who can walk skip or swim 25 metres correctly, can surely walk skip or swim 1000m. So why accept this 25m school curriculum target as swimming? IT IS NOT SWIMMING!

Under the ASA, swimming tuition in Britain is a disgrace. Many teachers are untrained and have no lifesaving qualifications. But the ASA have become a vast organisation funded by the Government, Kellogg's, Speedo, DfES, and Sports UK, selling worthless badges and certificates to loving but gullible parents who's children are unable to do more than paddle about suspended on plastic and foam. It is little wonder that so many thinking headmasters have decided that it is pointless sending their pupils to these outdated swimming lessons.

We have been proving for the past 30 years that most primary children could learn to swim unlimited distances if the correct and full strokes are taught first time around by introducing them to the water correctly at the critical stage one. Implementation of such modern teaching technology could reduce both the teaching time and cost to the nation by half. In 1998 SWIM2000 featured on TV News showing 5 year olds who had learnt to swim 1600m of perfect front crawl in their very first year of tuition using modern techniques. All of these children are today fit and healthy regular swimmers and many are local champions.

It took 7 years for our governing body to respond, but the methodology was offered at cost in 2005 to the ASA. Their own government analyst advised them that it should be taken forward saying, "This could be offering an entirely new way of learning" But the ASA are not interested in changing anything while their funding keeps rolling in, so our children continue to struggle under their outdated teaching methods.

Today people are flying into Britain from around the world to enjoy the most progressive and professional swimming teaching techniques in with us, while our own amateur governing body hides its head in the sand. Their latest scam "Top Ups" will waste £5.5 million of public money provided by DfES to tick boxes and disguise the true failure rates. An "In-house" pilot was ran to justify this £5.5M wastage but the DfES refused to give out any results!

The government needs to take a closer look at the ASA and Sports UK and DfES. Stop them from wasting so much money chasing unatainable gold medals by buying in overseas coaches to work with the limited few who reach the top (British standards not World). The recent results at The World Championships in Melbourne prove yet again that this tunnel vision is futile as we continue to fall further and further behind the rest of the world. We must start building from the base and invest at grass roots level for at least a decade if we are ever to compete at world level again.

Britain will soon be left with a load of expensive-to-run-and-maintain empty 50 m pools if the ASA gets more funding for its latest wishlist. This in a nation where most children leave school unable to swim 25 m correctly if at all and most adults are not interested in using swimming pools because they failed to learn how to swim correctly at school. Teenagers don't use swimming pools because they also failed to learn how to swim well at school and "it's not cool to look a fool" Our own governing body is 100% responsible for Britain being today a nation of poor and non swimmers. 50m pools with imported outdated over rated, clinically obese coaches is not the answer Mr. Sparkes. Four of the five members of your staff manning Britains Swimming Stand at the 2008 Education Show were also clinically obese Mr Sparkes. Well Done!

The answers lie at grass root level teaching standards, but UK Swimming is governed by a bunch of amateurs with too much funding, too much "Spin" and very little else. It is very disappointing to see people like Duncan Goodhew jumping on board and backings their spin in return for their money. Your turncoat actions Duncan are only delaying the day when our children will get a decent swimming education. There are more important things in life than money. Like our children. What a disgrace!

Frank Kennedy Director SWIM2000 Cheltenham tel. 01242 620 950

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