Chamber and committees

Petitioner submission of 21 September 2021

PE1891/B: Make swimming lessons a statutory requirement in the primary school curriculum

I am writing with regards your response to my petition; PE1891: Make Swimming Lessons a Statutory Requirement in the Primary School Curriculum.

Having read the response, I feel as though the main point of my petition has been missed. The response I have received is heavily relating to the saddening deaths of those who did unfortunately lose their lives to wild swimming. I agree that this can happen to anyone; those who can’t swim but also to those who can, that is down to lack of water safety knowledge which is poorer in Scotland than other EU nations. My petition’s aim was not to address this, it was to ensure that swimming lessons became mandatory in the primary school curriculum. Of course, the incidences which have occurred in wild swimming has been a factor in prompting me to start the petition. It was merely one factor on a wider issue.

When applying for the petition I was restricted with the words I could use and was unable to cover all aspects of why my petition had been created. The wild swimming point I raised was due to the issue being in the news quite recently and thought it may have been better to shine a light on why swimming lessons are important. I have looked at this topic at university as part of a sports policy module and some of the academic evidence I found showed that when children are exposed to swimming lessons at an early age (i.e. through school) the chance of drowning decreases significantly.

The current policy of allowing councils to choose whether to provide swimming lessons in my view, and in the views of many people who have contacted me about this petition, is in some ways unfair. This is because not every council will provide swimming lessons and those which do, do not always provide it to all schools within their local area. I know this to be a fact as I have been contacted by a few individuals who have experienced this. This leaves many kids left out and many will have to seek private lessons which can be expensive. This is unfair on low-income families who, do not receive lessons through schools, and are unable to afford private lessons. We also know that low-income families are more likely to have lower quality of health than more affluent families. Making swimming lessons a statutory requirement, like other parts of the UK, would address this inequality but also provide exercise to those lower income families who may not have the luxury to afford for their child to do sports. Some people have also contacted me about the lack of swimming lessons available in rural areas and the highlands, another reason why I made the petition to be mandatory across Scotland.

Swimming is a life skill and learning to swim is not just about saving yourself, but also in some cases helping others. If you see someone struggling in a body of water (or perhaps even an animal) then if you are able to swim, then you may have a chance of preventing them from drowning. If you are not able to swim then the only real option is to contact the emergency services, which may not get to you quick enough. It is physical activity, and we know that when kids are active it reduces their chance of developing obesity later on in life.

To summarise, ensuring swimming lessons is mandatory in the primary school curriculum provides benefits not just to the kids involved but wider society as well. The Physical activity aspect helps keeps kids active helping reduce childhood obesity (and improve their mental health), which in turn reduces the burden on the NHS. It is a more inclusive approach to the policy as it means low-income families (and those in rural areas) benefit as they are not having to seek expensive private lessons, if their councils cannot provide them.

I do hope this explanation has cleared up the reasons why I started the petition. I am also happy to help in any way I can with this in the future as I think it has been extremely well received in regards to the support and overall reception.