Learn to Swim and workforce audit to be carried out by Swim England

A comprehensive Learn to Swim and workforce audit is to be carried out by Swim England in a bid to identify successes in the industry and key areas where support is needed.

It is the first time in more than five years that a nationwide survey of pool operators, private swim schools and clubs has been carried out.

It aims to collect key Learn to Swim and workforce data to identify any challenges in the industry as well as helping to set benchmarks for operators.

Swim England has partnered with the Swimming Teachers’ Association (STA) for the first time to ensure the entire sector can access the questionnaire.

Jon Glenn, Swim England’s Learn to Swim and workforce director, encouraged everyone who works in aquatics to submit responses to the survey.

He said: “Many activities take place to achieve the ambition we have of ensuring everyone has the opportunity to learn how to swim.

“However, we know there are many challenges facing pool operators, swim schools and clubs since the coronavirus pandemic.

“We’re keen to identify these in a bid to understand how big the workforce is and how we can focus our support.

“That is why we need pool operators, swim schools and clubs to take a few minutes to fill in the questionnaire.

For the good of the sector

“We’re delighted to be working alongside the STA to make sure this survey is as comprehensive as it can possibly be for the good of the sector.

“We last collected this information back in 2017 so this audit will give us an insight into how operators want to grow their provision and highlight what workforce requirements are required.

“We are also collecting data for the key questions we get asked most often by operators and swim schools, such as the average wage and cost of a lesson.

“This will help us create industry benchmarks which will be published later this year.”

Dave Candler, STA’s CEO said: “The shortage of swimming teachers is a real ongoing concern, and we are delighted to be partnering with Swim England on this Learn to Swim audit so that we can gain an even wider understanding of this and all of the workforce challenges, as part of our joint aims of pinpointing where support is most needed.

“To aid this research process, we will send all STA members and swim school partners an identical copy of the survey to complete, and at the end, we will combine our results with Swim England’s data.

“By working together, we will gain a first true insight into the aquatics workforce, which will serve to benefit the whole industry.”

The survey runs until Friday 21 October and all operators, swim schools and clubs will be emailed with a link to the questionnaire.

Clubs which don’t run a Learn to Swim programme are still being encouraged to complete the workforce questions in the survey.

Everyone who completes it will have the chance to be entered into a prize draw.