Schoolchildren get too little swimming training

Schoolchildren get too little swimming training.Photo: Sara Johannessen / SCANPIX NB! Modellklarert

Only one in ten schools provide fourth graders 30-40 hours swimming lessons, despite new competence standards which were introduced last fall, this according to a report from the Directorate of Education.

Less than half of first graders get swimming lessons, according to the report, which is made by the Nordic Institute for Studies and Innovation, Research for Education, writes Dagsavisen. It has also emerged that among the 400 schools that were included in the report, 25 percent are providing a maximum of ten hours swimming in the whole fourth grade.

The competence goals for the introduction of swimming lessons in fourth grade of autumn 2015 include children falling into deep water, swim 100 meters, dive down and retrieve an object on the pool bottom, and stop and stay afloat for three minutes, then swim 100 meter on their back.

– This is not just about avoiding drowning. It concerns both public health and social inclusion, says Jan Kjensli, who is responsible for quality assurance and develop in Norway’s swim school.
This year 25 million kroner has been allocated for swimming lessons in kindergarten.

– It is virtually wasted when students have almost no swimming lessons from 1st to 4th grade, says Kjensli.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today