2015 Swimming Teachers Recruitment Survey
ResultsAugust 2015
Introduction
Industry Swimming Teachers Recruitment Survey – July 2015 Designed to understand how widespread of an issue swimming
teacher recruitment is in the UK; and to understand what the main challenges are and the impact on swim schools and swimming
229 respondents, representing private and public sector – who together teach* in excess of: 18,000 0-2 year olds every week 30,000 2-5 year olds every week 33,000 5-8 year olds every week 23,000 9 year olds + every week 6,500 adults every week 3,000 people with disabilities every week
*average number from slide 6 ‘how many learners do you teach each week’
Section 1About the Respondents
1. What Best Describes your Swim School?
62.01%
14.41%
9.17%
7.42% 6.99%
Privately Owned Swim SchoolPublic Leisure FacilityLeisure TrustFranchiseOther
2. In Which UK Regions Do you Teach Swimming?
Sout
h Ea
st
Sout
h W
est
Wes
t Midland
s
Scot
land
North
Wes
t
East
Midland
s
North
Eas
t
Lond
on
Sout
h
Wales
N.Irelan
d
North
East
Ang
lia
Other
0%
5%
10%
15%
20%
25% 24%
15%
13%
11% 11%
8%
7%7%
6% 6%
3%2%
1%
4%
3. How Many Learners Do you Teach Per Week?
Age Groups Numbers per week (%)
1-10 11-20 21-50 51-100 101+ 500+ 1000+ None
0-2 years
17.03% (39)
13.54% (31)
15.28% (35)
10.92% (25)
8.73% (20)
1.75% (9) 1.31% (3) 31.44%
2-5 years
14.85%(34)
13.1% (30)
18.78% (43)
15.72% (36)
23.14% (53)
3.49% (8)
1.75% (4)
9.17%
5-8 years
8.3% (19)
10.04% (24)
17.9% (41)
17.47% (40)
25.76% (26)
6.55% (15) 4.37% (10)
9.61%
9 years +
20.96% (48)
14.41% (33)
18.34% (42)
13.97% (32)
14.85% (34)
2.18% (5)
2.62% (6)
12.66%
Adults
45.85% (105)
14.41% (33)
10.48% (24)
1.75% (4)
0.44% (1) 0.44% (1)
1.31% (3)
25.33%
Disability
49.78% (114)
7.86% (18)
9.61% (22)
1.75% (4)
0.87% (2) 0% 0% 30.13%
4. Do you Currently Have a Waiting List?
72.05%
27.95%
YesNo
Do You Currently Have a Waiting List? (by region for Q4)
South
Eas
t
South
Wes
t
Wes
t M
idla
nds
Scotla
nd
East
Mid
land
s
North
Wes
t
North
Eas
t
Lond
on
South
Wal
es
North
N.Irel
and
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
72%69%
71% 73%68%
76%71%
88% 86%
73%
80%
50%
Section 2Recruitment
5. Are You Currently Looking to Recruit Qualified Swimming Teachers?
66.81%
33.19%
YesNo
6. Do You Find it Difficult to Recruit Qualified Swimming Teachers in your Area?
81.22%
18.78%
YesNo
Do You Find it Difficult to Recruit Qualified Swimming Teachers in your Area? (by region for Q6)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%89%
71%
93%
73%
90%
80%
100% 100%
86%
100% 100%
38%
100%
6a. Answers to why Respondents Find it Difficult to Recruit (those who answered yes to Q6)
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
17.20% 12.57% 12.15% 22.95% 23.63% 20.97%45.50%
41.94% 47.54% 38.46%33.33% 36.26% 43.01%
32.28%36.56% 36.07%
38.12% 37.16% 32.97% 31.72% 18.52%4.30% 3.83% 11.05% 6.56% 7.14% 4.30% 3.70%
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
6b. Successful Recruitment Strategies Used (those who answered no to Q6)
21%
21%
19%
16%
26%
11%
2% 13%Offer additional training to qualified
swimming teachers to meet own swim school requirements
Source candidates from current parent / customer database
Promote on social media
Offer free training
Advertise in local press
Apprenticeships
Word of Mouth
Other
7. Does finding it Difficult to Recruit Qualified Swimming Teachers Affect the Running of your Swim School?
71.80%
28.82%YesNo
7a. How Does this Affect your Swim School?
51%
49%35%
28%
16% 7%
Impacts on future growthDifficult to cope with current demandLoss of businessLonger waiting listsForced to cancel scheduled lessonsOther
8. Is there a Specific Type of Qualified Swimming Teacher that is Difficult to Recruit?
ASA L
evel
2
STA L
evel
2 C
ertifi
cate
Baby
& Pre
scho
ol
STA L
evel
2 A
war
d
Peop
le w
ith D
isabi
litie
s
None
ASA L
evel
1Adu
lt
All of
them
Other
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%51%
47%44%
34%
18% 17%14% 14%
2%4%
9. When Recruiting, do you Have a Preference on the Type of Qualification you want the Teacher to Hold?
No pref-erence
Yes, STA Yes, ASA Other0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70% 64.63%
20.96%
9.17%5.24%
10. Is your Swim School Prepared to Invest in Professional Swimming Teacher Training for Unqualified Candidates?
63.76%
36.24%
YesNo
Is your Swim School Prepared to Invest in Professional Swimming Teacher Training for Unqualified Candidates? (breakdown to Q10. by swim school type)
60.13%
64.70%
76.47%
66.60%
70.58%
Privately Owned Swim School Public Leisure Facility
Leisure Trust Franchise
Other
Section 3Market Viewpoints
11. Why do you think there is a shortage of qualified swimming teachers in the UK?
Inco
nsiste
nt h
ours
Anti-s
ocia
l hou
rs
Not e
noug
h fu
ll-tim
e, p
erm
anen
t pos
ts
Low P
ay
Trai
ning
- to
o ex
pens
ive
for i
ndiv
idua
ls
Trai
ning
- to
o ex
pens
ive
for s
wim sc
hool
s
Shor
tage
of l
ocal
cou
rses
Not e
noug
h yo
unge
r rec
ruits
bei
ng tr
aine
d
Growth
in th
e pr
ivat
e se
ctor
- su
pply
not
kep
t up
with d
eman
d
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
100%
120%
34.50% 26.64%42.79%
13.10%31.00% 26.20% 38.43%
18.78% 27.07%
46.72%41.05%
39.30%
20.52%
40.17% 41.48%34.50%
34.06%46.29%
16.16%26.64%
15.28%
36.68%
23.14% 26.20% 23.58%37.55%
25.33%2.62% 5.68% 2.62%
29.69%
5.68% 6.11% 3.49%9.61%
1.31%
Strongly Agree Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree
Why do you think there is a shortage of qualified swimming teachers in the UK? (by region who answered ‘shortage of courses’ in Q.11)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
66.60%
74.28%
100.00%
86.36%
78.94%
72.00%
82.35%87.50%
68.75%62.50%
100.00%
87.50%
100.00%
Strongly Agree / Agree - Shortage of courses in region
12. If you think there is a current shortage of swimming teachers, do you think this is impacting on the opportunity for learners to access regular swimming lessons, and ultimately learn how to swim in your area?
21.20%
47.93%
23.96%
6.91%
Strongly Agree AgreeDisagree Strongly Disagree
If you think there is a current shortage of swimming teachers do you think this is impacting on the opportunity for learners to access regular swimming lessons, and ultimately learn how to swim in your area? (by region by those that strongly agreed or agreed to Q12)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
67%
80%
71%68% 68%
84% 82% 81%86%
79% 80%
38%
100%
Other General Comments
There does seem to be a lot of courses run by ASA / STA but we are not seeing the teachers on poolside, why I don't know - it might be peer pressure from parents. I do talk to my parents but for young teachers it can be difficult with pushy parents
Not enough effort and money is dedicated to apprenticeships in swimming teaching or enough focus on this as a potential career that can have gradual progression to a highly qualified professional status. Schools and colleges do not offer it as a potential career path
Other General Comments
Additional costs - teaching courses are very expensive, + additional individual insurance preferable to having cover only provided by club / swim school + DBS disclosure + safeguarding costs. Teachers need to update knowledge & insight on a regular basis - may also include travelling considerable distances in order to access relevant courses
The concern is that under qualified teachers are teaching children above their level of training and this impacts on the overall development of the child and no one is regulating this; plus as the qualifications are no longer renewable and ongoing CPDs mean that the standard of older teachers is slipping. A one day training course in all areas would improve this and educate providers on how important correctly training staff is and as some are willing to pay £20 plus per hour for the instructor to ensure they are qualified for the job they are doing
Other General Comments
It is not the lack of qualified teachers but the lack of standard
Largely due to where courses are being held not always accessible to attend, plus extra cost of accommodation and transport
Until training is affordable and covers more of the skills needed to teach swimming this will not change. While Health and Safety is important, there is now less time spent on the skills needed to teach and this leads to teachers giving up due to a lack of confidence in their knowledge when challenged by parents of swimmers
I try to run courses to qualify teachers but there is just no interest in this at the moment
Any Questions? Thank You