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