Testing an industry hunch<\/strong><\/p>\nThe project began with a conversation between researcher Professor Jorgensen and Laurie Lawrence, an Olympic swim coach inducted into both the Australian and US Swimming Halls of Fame. Lawrence felt that children who learned to swim early were generally more \u2018school-ready\u2019.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere was no formal evidence to support this observation, but it was one that Laurie felt he and many others in the swim industry observed,\u201d Jorgensen explains.<\/p>\n
Jorgensen and colleagues decided to verify this \u2018industry hunch\u2019 through rigorous academic investigation using internationally recognised testing tools: the Peabody Developmental Motor Scales and Woodcock-Johnson III assessments, normed against national census data.<\/p>\n
The results surprised even Jorgensen, who said: \u201cMy early observations of the young learners piqued my interest while retaining some sense of scepticism about what could be achieved. I am not from a swimming background, so had no vested interest in the \u2018proving\u2019 or otherwise of Laurie\u2019s hunch. My only interest in swimming was as a grandparent and around water safety for my children and grandchildren, and as a recreational activity.\u201d<\/p>\n
On measures of literacy, numeracy and following instructions, the study found that young children before the age of 5 who participated in swimming, regardless of socio-economic background, could be 5-18 months ahead of milestones in literacy, numeracy, and being able to follow instruction \u2013 at a much better rate than general children population of the same age.<\/p>\n
Jorgensen is keen to impress this does not mean young children who have been learning to swim are innately \u2018smarter\u2019, instead, she argues swimming lessons build transferable skills and dispositions. For example, a child counting kicks from one to ten with an instructor, for instance, absorbs number sequencing and one-to-one correspondence \u2013 skills with direct value in a classroom.<\/p>\n
While many parents enrol children in swimming for safety reasons, Jorgensen\u2019s detailed study suggests participants gain measurable advantages in cognitive development, language skills and emotional regulation.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is reasonable to claim that swimming prepares children for the schooling years, particularly the early years and the transition into schooling,\u201d Jorgensen explains.<\/p>\n
The price of entry<\/strong><\/p>\nYet access to this advantage is sharply unequal. Most swim schools operate as commercial businesses, and cost is consistently identified as the single biggest barrier to participation.<\/p>\n
According to Jorgensen\u2019s analysis, the biggest equity barrier is faced in the U.S. and China, where only very affluent families can afford regular swimming lessons.<\/p>\n
After this, Singapore, Australia, Brazil and South Africa also face notable geographic and economic barriers to swimming.<\/p>\n
One respondent from Zimbabwe summed up the difficulty, saying: \u201cSo swimming is still seen in Africa in general as elite. But basically, if you are a working-level person well below average, swimming lessons will not be a priority; what will be a priority is feeding your family.\u201d<\/p>\n
Geography also compounds the problem. In Australia, families on remote farming properties can face journeys of hundreds of kilometres to reach the nearest pool. This creates what the study calls \u2018a double whammy\u2019 \u2013 children from low-income and rural communities are simultaneously the least likely to access lessons and the most at risk of drowning.<\/p>\n
With cost-of-living crises around the world, Jorgensen\u2019s call-to-action is for greater systemic support to allow equitable access.<\/p>\n
A call for subsidy<\/strong><\/p>\nJorgensen argues governments have both a moral and financial incentive to intervene.<\/p>\n
The study suggests that where governments worldwide already spend billions trying to close attainment gaps in schools.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat this study has shown is that even when socio-economic backgrounds are accounted for, children who participate in quality lessons achieve better than the general population. It would make sense for the government to consider investing in providing or subsidising early years swimming for families who would otherwise be excluded from participation in early years swimming lessons,\u201d Jorgensen explains.<\/p>\n
\u201cInvesting in quality swimming lessons would make a politically wise move. The cost of lessons can be quite high, but if policies were created to offer subsidies for parents or to create swim programs for disadvantaged families, there is considerable potential for adding capital to these cohorts of learners,\u201d she explains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
With family budgets stretched ever-tighter, swimming lessons can be one of the first expenses to be cut back \u2013 but with research showing swimming helps children not just physically but developmentally, researchers are calling for greater government support. A major four-year study spanning nearly 7,000 survey respondents and 177 individually tested children suggests that children… <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35092,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"no","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","neve_meta_sidebar":"","neve_meta_container":"","neve_meta_enable_content_width":"off","neve_meta_content_width":70,"neve_meta_title_alignment":"","neve_meta_author_avatar":"","neve_post_elements_order":"","neve_meta_disable_header":"","neve_meta_disable_footer":"","neve_meta_disable_title":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1037,891,337,319,1179,777,324,1117,1074],"tags":[1408,45,404,923,139,710,1142],"class_list":["post-35091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-children","category-education","category-exercise-2","category-learning-2","category-mental-health","category-play","category-senses","category-sports","category-water","tag-adapting","tag-children","tag-nature","tag-schooling","tag-skills","tag-swimming","tag-water"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35091"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":35093,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35091\/revisions\/35093"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/therapytoronto.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}