Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / AUSTSWIM CEO Brad Low hopes allowing 16 year olds to get a swim teacher licence will address a nationwide shortage of teachers

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AUSTSWIM CEO Brad Low hopes allowing 16 year olds to get a swim teacher licence will address a nationwide shortage of teachers · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: One thing that I think is a fantastic move. We
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: know that families are being turned away at the moment
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: with some swim schools around Australia due to a nationwide
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: swim teacher shortage, so swimming and water Safety teaching will
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: teacher training or swim they've decided to lower the age
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: of their swim teacher license down to sixteen years old.
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: And joining me on the line to tell us a
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: little bit more about this is all Swim CEO Brad Low.
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: Good morning to you.
• 0:27
  Speaker 2: Brad, Hi Katie, how are you here on.
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us this morning. Brad, talk
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: me through this swim teacher shortage that we've got around
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: the nation at the moment. Is it being experienced here
• 0:40
  Speaker 1: in the territory as well?
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's everywhere. And again it's one of those one
• 0:46
  Speaker 2: of those unintended consequences of COVID where we just had
• 0:50
  Speaker 2: a lot of licensed teachers leave the industry. They and
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: they haven't come back. So for us now we're facing
• 0:58
  Speaker 2: a nationwide skill shortage which is ultimately resulting in children
• 1:02
  Speaker 2: not being able to access swimming lessons and so what does.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: That mean for a lot of families? Because you know,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: so many of us want to make sure that our
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: children do learn to swim, and really the only way
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: to do that is to go to a swimming school
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: where they've got accredited teachers.
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, So they've estimated during COVID nationally ten million
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: swimming lessons were canceled. So that's ten million opportunities for
• 1:27
  Speaker 2: children to learn to swim weren't available. And on average
• 1:32
  Speaker 2: now sent schools have waiting lists of up to three
• 1:34
  Speaker 2: hundred children who yeh are waiting to access swimming lessons.
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: And you're teaching such an important skill, so it's important
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: that the person who're teaching those lessons is suitably trained
• 1:46
  Speaker 2: and suitably licensed.
• 1:48
  Speaker 1: And do you know if there's any particular situations in
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory whether we sort of you know, whether
• 1:54
  Speaker 1: we have many of our lessons canceled. I know that
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: for us we maybe didn't get hit with COVID quite
• 1:58
  Speaker 1: as hard as some of the other stuff.
• 2:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Unfortunately, every year we face a skill shortage, so
• 2:05
  Speaker 2: there's always particularly in the lead in for summer assume
• 2:09
  Speaker 2: schools are always recruiting for new staff. Our workforce is
• 2:12
  Speaker 2: highly casualized and it is a great part time job
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  Speaker 2: for people who are finishing high school, just about to
• 2:19
  Speaker 2: go into university or further studies and do this as
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: a fantastic part time job. So something that we see
• 2:25
  Speaker 2: year on year. Unfortunately, COVID just really exacerbated the issue.
• 2:30
  Speaker 1: And so taught me through the factors. Then I guess
• 2:34
  Speaker 1: that we're considered when it came to lowering that age.
• 2:37
  Speaker 1: I'm assuming it used to be eighteen and you've decided,
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: you know what, let's go to sixteen.
• 2:43
  Speaker 2: Yeah, it used to be seventeen. So for us, it
• 2:46
  Speaker 2: was about looking at really ensuring that the quality of
• 2:50
  Speaker 2: the training and the quality of the outcomes that's required
• 2:53
  Speaker 2: wasn't compromised. So we certainly haven't done down the course
• 2:57
  Speaker 2: or the license in any way. They still need to
• 2:59
  Speaker 2: meet the same criteria they've always met. But again we
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: really looked at, you know, sixteen year olds being able
• 3:05
  Speaker 2: to have that extra year in the workforce while they
• 3:08
  Speaker 2: are finishing school and university, and then looking at a
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  Speaker 2: lot of other industries as well, you know, across sporting
• 3:15
  Speaker 2: coaching roles, sixteen year olds can be coaches as well.
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: You can get your learners permit at sixteen. So we
• 3:22
  Speaker 2: really think that sixteen year olds certainly have the experience
• 3:27
  Speaker 2: to be able to teach children, and do you reckon that.
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: It will have a big impact on that shortage that
• 3:33
  Speaker 1: we're experiencing.
• 3:35
  Speaker 2: Absolutely. So we've actually got three hundred people in our
• 3:39
  Speaker 2: systems at the moment that have done all of the
• 3:42
  Speaker 2: coursework and all of the training, and we're just waiting
• 3:45
  Speaker 2: to turn seventeen to be licensed. So that's three hundred
• 3:47
  Speaker 2: people immediately going out into the industry. But also because
• 3:52
  Speaker 2: being a teachers in the water safety is such a
• 3:54
  Speaker 2: fantastic job, particularly while you are at school university, actually
• 4:00
  Speaker 2: hoping that it's going to be more palatable for people
• 4:04
  Speaker 2: who are sixteen to get it, to get that great job.
• 4:06
  Speaker 1: I reckon, it's a fantastic idea. I taught swimming when
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I was a high school student and also then when
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: I was at university, and you're so right, it's a
• 4:14
  Speaker 1: fantastic job to have while you're juggling juggling school or
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: juggling you know, your degree. So it will hopefully see
• 4:24
  Speaker 1: a real boost of the number of teachers and ultimately
• 4:27
  Speaker 1: see plenty more kids able to get into the water
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  Speaker 1: and learn to swim.
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that's what it's all about we want to
• 4:33
  Speaker 2: make sure that the children are learning of skill, but
• 4:35
  Speaker 2: that one day may save their life.
• 4:37
  Speaker 1: Yeah for sure. And are there any other measures in
• 4:40
  Speaker 1: the works to sort of prevent families from being turned
• 4:43
  Speaker 1: away from swimming lessons?
• 4:45
  Speaker 2: Yeah, I want for us author about retention to how
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: we can keep people in the industry for longer. So
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: there's lots of really exciting initiatives that who are working on.
• 4:54
  Speaker 2: It'll be released over the next few months to be
• 4:57
  Speaker 2: able to keep people in the industry's life each is
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: for even longer as well.
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I will CEO of our swim brad Low. We
• 5:05
  Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much for having
• 5:07
  Speaker 1: a chat with me.
• 5:09
  Speaker 2: Thank you for having me have a great day you too,