I'm quite surprised by this. I grew up in Ireland. There is no swimming lessons in school. My kids who are growing up here had lessons for most of their lives, except where not permitted during covid. They also do nippers.

Most other kids I know do swimming lessons (privately) weekly ongoing, whereas I grew up learning to swim with weekly lessons in bursts of a few weeks. Nippers is less common unless you live near a surf club.

I'm sure it's dropped as the article suggests, but I'd say it dropped from a high starting point.

[–] CoolThingAboutMe@aussie.zone 4 points 3 weeks ago

I agree, I would have thought Australia would have very high levels of swimming proficiency compared to other countries. The article doesn't seem to mention other countries, just the drop in participation/interest within Australia.

1 in 4 schools dropping swimming carnivals is really suprising to me. I've got 2 kids, and my oldest has been to quite a few schools due to us moving around a bit, and every single one of them had swimming lessons and carnivals.

Though I'm not suprised that parents are less interested or supportive. My husband and I both work full time, often both do overtime, and schools and daycare can be a little overwhelming at times with all of the events and things that require some level of extra thinking or planning or shopping or crafting on our part.

[–] Nath@aussie.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Anecdotal, I realise - but this is the first time I've ever heard of any school in Australia school dropping swimming lessons. To hear that it is one-in-four is not just surprising, it's downright difficult to believe. From looking on the Royal Lifesaving website, I haven't found this report. I have found something that appears to refute the news article however.

I think I'm going to need a source on this one.

[–] wildwhitehorses@aussie.zone 3 points 3 weeks ago (1 children)

Is it swimming lessons or swimming carnivals? I am having issues with the article.

[–] null_dot@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 3 weeks ago

The article talks about both.

Teachers estimated 48 per cent of year 6 swimmers could not swim 50 metres or tread water for two minutes, and 39 per cent of year 10 students could not meet year 6 benchmarks either.