To expect more from swimming lessons?

[sophielouise]

My DD (7) has weekly swimming lessons at the local pool. There are often up to 10 other children in her lesson. I've noticed that during the lesson every week they just do the same thing, and the teacher just gives them an instruction such as, "now swim one length with the float doing the right arm front crawl.." "now do the left" etc. but doesn't actually seem to 'coach' them. E.g he will never comment on their swimming, telling them what's good, or how to improve. Is this normal? How are they expected to get any better if the teacher doesn't actually tell them? I was going to complain but didn't want to come across as expecting too much. What's supposed to happen at a swimming lesson? I have memories of being followed along the side of the pool and being shouted at/ encouraged as I swam...

twinkydink I don't doubt your ethos, but there are a range of reasons to swim.
My focus is from a safety aspect as a bare minimum- so the ability so stay afloat and propel for a couple of hundred yards is essential.
Anything above that is a bonus- a luxury- and yes it makes money for instructors.
My DD does an activity for 15 hours a week, her teacher is passionate about the activity too.
It also does not prevent the teacher from enjoying many weeks of holiday a year at our expense. And it's not money I grudge, the teacher works hard and my DD loves her activity.
But it's not essential.
Neither is mastering perfect crawl technique.

We have the same scheme. Dd1 is just 9 and is suddenly one of the better looking swimmers in purple hats and has done bronze challenge and really is at a swimming level I'm happy with. I think green and light blue are the ones that are most tiresome because they seem to take ages and ages to move up. I feel your pain, dd2 (6) is in green and has been for a while. I disagree that dc don't need swimming lessons btw. It is true that some teachers are better than others also. If the teachers crap and she isn't making progress say something to the lead person, they sometimes move them round for one thing ime.

I actually think that's a really sad way of looking at things. You have a teacher who is passionate about an activity your child enjoys and makes it fun for your child.

Why shouldn't we be paid for the work that we do?

Speakouy
Good technique is important, specially breathing. You can swim farther , faster and with less effort, which is important gor safety.
My dc never took up competitive swimming but still did a lot of water sports, ds kayaking and dd high board diving and both lifeguards and good technique has been invaluable to them

My focus is from a safety aspect as a bare minimum- so the ability so stay afloat and propel for a couple of hundred yards is essential.

I think being able to swim a bit is dangerous as people often overestimate their ability. But I think it depends on perspective DH and I are both really strong swimmers so we see that as being normal.

I also think there is a danger in assuming that learning to swim is something that needs to be taught professionally.
It undermines our own confidence as parents.
If we are able to sim ourselves than that ability can be very easily passed on without the need for a formal approach.
For every child that is enrolled into expensive swimming lessons there will be other children who have parents that can't afford them or have children who are not keen to join a club.
Parents- even those who can swim- will doubt their own abilities to pass on their skills if swimming ability is seen as something "other" than simply family stuff- like riding a bike or learning how to eat with chopsticks.
In a way having the idea that swimming needs to be taught in a formal setting may actually be preventing some children from gaining this skill.

I don't think that is an ethos that is pushed. I don't advocate parent and baby lessons, I personally think taking your child swimming yourself at that age is just as important and helpful. But if someone wants to take their baby to swimming classes that is their choice and it isn't going to harm them!

In some leisure centres swimming lessons will work out cheaper than a whole family going swimming.

Again though you are making an assumption that all parents can swim and as I have previously mentioned that really isn't true!

I'm not sure I have ever hear swimming. compared to eating with chopsticks! How can you compare the two?

Most parents dont teach their dc to swim properly. You can always tell those who have been taught by their parent. They sre head up and splashy

My focus is from a safety aspect as a bare minimum- so the ability so stay afloat and propel for a couple of hundred yards is essential

This level of ability is not going to help a child who gets washed off their feet, or accidentally ends up out of their depth, in the sea on holiday.

Lowdoorinthewal1 no but strong swimmers too could be overwhelmed in such a situation.
Far more important is to teach a child a sense of risk assessment, to talk about dangers.
We have been fundraising for a girl who was in an incident at sea.
She was a strong swimmer and took part in swimming competitions. Her and her friend decided to sit on the steps at a harbour on a stormy day. They were hit by a large wave.
Her friend made it out without injury, the other girl was under water for 20 minutes and is now unable to see, walk, speak.
This was a result of bad choices- and I know they were kids- but the same applies to all choices made near water.

You need a good teaching method that focuses on technique. Leisure centre lessons can be good if you have a good teacher, unfortunately it seems to be quite rare.

You get what you pay for in my opinion. Cheap lessons are a false economy if your child makes no progress, i’ve got two sets of friends whose kids have been doing leisure centre classes for anything from 1-3 years and they have only moved up one level in that time. My DC started beginner level 1 group lessons last October aged 4 with a swimming school and is now in level 4. You need a teacher / swimming teaching programme that focuses on technique, face down swimming, side breathing, teaches correct alignment in the water (so basically no arm bands or flotation aids attached to the body or you get that “head up” way of swimming you see kids do that is hard to correct), a structured lesson plan and someone who can engage really well kids and make lessons fun.

you have rubbish teachers at leisure centres and you have rubbish ones at private swim schools. I teach at both and teach to the same requirements at both because they both follow the same scheme. Personally I don't think it's always a case of you get what you pay for. The leisure centre pay me less but I like the way the centre is run and it makes it very easy for me to just come in and do my lessons. The private school pays slightly better but it has other negatives which mean I do not enjoy teaching there as much. This doesn't change my approach to my lessons though

Going back to the OP no you are not unreasonable to expect more! If parents keep taking swimmers out of rubbish teachers lessons they will stop getting work and there will be less rubbish teachers. Then everyone will be happier! Please don't stay somewhere for 3 years when you aren't happy! But also don't think that moving quickly through the stages is always a good thing. To get from stage 4 to stage 5 you need to be swimming breaststroke with the correct technique (kick breathing timing) something that looks of children find very tricky. There is nothing worse than having a child moved up to you with a screw kick just because they have been in the previous class for 2 terms.

@speakout, you think swimming lessons are unnecessary yet your child has a teacher for a different sport? Bit of a contradiction there. It’s a bit insulting thinking people just need to be able to doggy paddle to the side and nothing more.

Swimming is very technical and knowing how to swim efficiently enhances the pleasure immensely. I can swim, but get tired after one length of front crawl because my breathing is so poor.

NewPapaGuinea my daughter's safety in not a factor in her being able to dance.

speakout
If parents can suppisidly teach their child to swim properly, then you can tea h your child to dance,why does she neex a teacher when she has you

but strong swimmers too could be overwhelmed in such a situation

But it's less likely in sensible situations. A friend and I when we were young ended up further out than we expected, but as strong swimmers were able to cope comfortably. Sitting on harbour steps on a stormy day is tbh, but it sounds like a horrible tragic case. Swimming somewhere where it is unsafe to do so is daft however good a swimmer you are.

Swimming is more than “safety”. If you only see it as that then that’s your prerogative, but to suggest that people are wasting their time/money is insulting their choices.

I know someone who was a very good swimming teacher but struggled with their own child when they got to the stage of swimming a width so sent them to lessons

My husband is a swimming teacher but sends the girls to a different teacher. In their experience they find your own children tend to play more than learn when its their parent thats the teacher.

I'm a decent swimmer but any attempts to "teach" my DCs have always fallen flat. If they go with me, mentally to them it is play and splash time. A swimming instructor, they take more seriously. I probably also have some dodgy habits that I'd rather not pass on. The driving analogy was good. Because of the way swimming lessons dominate pool timetables, it's better to have that weekly time slot than to cram in attempts to self teach at the weekends in an environment when most people are having a casual splash session.

We have group lessons at a council pool. I can't hear the instructor, but I can see her demonstrating at the poolside and they have a (usually teenage) volunteer in the water to support.

DS1's progress is slow, but I think it is him. It looks (for a variety of reasons) like he's dyslexic and he's not the most co-ordinated, and he tends to get stuck on a point of technique at the end of a level for a painfully long time. DS2 has the same teacher and progresses quicker. Despite the age gap, he's never quite caught up into the same class, but he's come close. They are both doing better than me; it took an adult lesson of 1:1 in the pool for the technique to click then my progress was rapid.

I'd like them to have good enough skill and stamina so that they are free to enjoy swimming as a sport if they wish, or other pool based sports, to enjoy recreational swimming such as water parks and to have a fair chance of getting themselves out of difficulties should a problem arise (and enough wisdom to avoid excessive risks).

I can see these from both angles. My parents taught me to swim and I’m a strong swimmer. But that basic ability was supplanted by technique lessons at primary school. My primary school had its own pool back in the day but that has now been ripped out and I suspect it is a rarity in a state school.

My children will be going to lessons and I started my baby at 12 weeks. I see swimming as a life skill and a facilitator for many other activities or sports.

Already at the toddler stage I can see our teacher pushing us to do things we wouldn’t do if we were just messing around in the pool. I can only imagine that gap is bigger at older ages.

If there's 10 in the class it's too big in my view. That was the reason I moved DS. Got him into a private swim school with only 2/3 kids per swim teacher. The progress he made after that was amazing.