INDUSTRY VIEWS
LEISURE DB
SUPPORTING LEARN-TO-SWIM PROVIDERS HOW STA QUALIFICATIONS ARE CREATING WORK-READY SWIMMING TEACHERS With swimming pools increasingly costly to run and maintain, maximising pool space and increasing occupancy is key – but how can this be done? As a national governing body for swimming, the STA is invested in helping operators achieve exactly this, with initiatives such as our Swim Academy programme proving hugely valuable, particularly as the demand for swimming lessons continues to boom. All of our academies have cited that they’ve been able to retain and significantly increase the number of learners in their swimming programmes as a result of the Swim Academy model; one council recently told us that over a two-year period, it has seen a 76% increase in the number of young learners enrolled onto its learn-to-swim programme. We also offer all learn-to-swim providers the opportunity to become an STA Approved Training Centre (ATC), which many harness to help retain and upskill existing staff, as well as to attract new aquatic professionals to the industry at this time of nationwide swimming teacher shortages. Once set up as an ATC, providers can deliver professionally accredited courses internally – including our lifeguarding and pool plant qualifications – and plan and cost-effectively manage the training process based on each leisure centre’s requirements. The most in-demand qualification is our STA Level 2 Award in Teaching Swimming. CIMSPA-endorsed, this qualification was created to meet the needs of leisure operators delivering non-swimmer, beginner and improver lessons – the largest market in grassroots swimming and the area in which we’re seeing the highest demand for qualified, professional swimming teachers. A unique swimming teaching qualification, it does not require an employer or learner to invest in an assistant teacher as well as a swimming teacher qualification: with a Level 2 Award, a swimming teacher is work-ready and can move straight in to independently teaching non-swimmer, beginner and improver lessons. Its popularity is borne out in the latest figures from Ofqual, which show that STA delivered 50% of all Level 2, CIMSPA-endorsed swimming teaching qualifications in England in 2022 – and that 100% of our teachers were able to directly teach on poolside. By working with the leisure industry to create modern-day solutions for grassroots swimming – alongside our charity campaigns like STAnd Up and STArlight – we can help leisure operators run efficient, cost-effective learn-to-swim and training programmes. In turn, this helps us meet our charitable objective of teaching swimming and saving lives: the more we can help learn-to-swim providers, the more people of all ages and abilities will have the opportunity to learn a key life skill.
The more we can help learn-to-swim providers, the more people will have the opportunity to learn a key life skill.
DAVE CANDLER CEO, STA
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STATE OF THE UK SWIMMING INDUSTRY REPORT 2023
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