An aquatic journey.

When children are absorbed and enchanted  with the games and distractions in water parks, they often downplay or don't notice the normally unpleasant experiences of get-ting water in their faces or up their noses. This observation opened the door to developing the new National Safety Council/Ellis and Associates Learn-to-Swim program.

The new program is an unprecedented joint effort by three national agencies-the National Safety Council, the National Recreation and Park Association, and Jeff Ellis and Associates, Inc. The National Safety Council "owns" the program the National Recreation and Park Association endorses, markets and manages book sales for the program and Ellis and Associates provide the courses, instructor training and quality control.

The total Learn-to-Swim program will consist of three separate components, each geared to a specific age and ability group. The Exploration Series is for infants/pre-schoolers and their parents or caregivers. The foundation of this program will be providing parents and children experiences that will allow them to explore the water as a learning environment. Water skills and safety skills will be combined.

The Journey Series is for beginning swimmers ages four to eight. Swimmers in this age group are usually just beginning to learn to swim, and will be guided as they learn new aquatic skills.

The Challenge Series is performance-based, and for any age. This program will be designed to improve technical skill performance at any level, and will be appropriate for implementing into a physical education curriculum, camp session, novice swim team, adult class or fitness program. Participants will be challenged to improve swimming skills at a level appropriate for their individual goals. Currently, we are developing the Exploration Series and Challenge series; The Journey Series is up and running.

We designed the Journey Series to provide young children with a positive, fun-filled opportunity to learn to swim. We achieve this objective through an innovative approach to teaching basic levels of swimming. The series is an interactive, objective-based program involving the parent, child and instructor through the use of colorful, take-home booklets and teaching aids.

Swish the Safety Fish and a host of aquatic "teachers" are featured in the sticker books that are integral to the program.

There are three journeys in the series, each with its own book. Within each Journey book, Swish and his friends have adventures that revolve around specific swimming skills. At the end of each adventure, there is a page for the instructor to place stickers celebrating the student's success at performing the skill.

Children move at their own pace, and after successfully completing national standards for each Journey they receive a completion certificate. Journey One includes adjustment to water, floats, kicks, recovery and basic propulsion. Journey Two includes arm pulls, combined stroke with breathing and backstroke. Journey Three includes advanced stroke development.

The program adheres to specific, universal safety and technical standards, applicable to diverse populations and environments. Some of these components include:

Safety and Risk Management

Safety is integral to the program, and is built into the courses at several levels. First, the Journey books each contain three safety page worksheets, in addition to special safety rules that are the theme of the journey. These worksheet pages teach the students about a variety of water safety topics ranging from lifeguard identification to home pool safety. Because the books are designed to be taken home, parents are also involved in the learning process, and are learning about water safety when they read the stories and help their child with the worksheets.

The instructor resource handbook contains specific safety considerations for each journey. Instructors are trained to recognize the types of situations that may occur when they are teaching different skills, and plan their lessons with these safety considerations in mind. For example, there are very different safety concerns when teaching backstroke than when teaching a skill where swimmers are on their stomachs and able to look forward.

Finally, a certified lifeguard must be present during lessons. The class ratios of students per instructor are kept at a maximum of six-to-one, and a licensed program coordinator or their delegate must be on deck during all lessons.

Accelerated Learning/Objective Based

The Journey Series is designed to get children to the point where they are ready to learn aquatic skills very quickly. Many times, a beginning young swimmer will take several lessons to build enough trust, security and motivation to be truly ready to learn swimming and propulsion skills. Our Learn-to-Swim program breaks down many of the barriers that may slow progress, and replaces them with distractions, challenges and motivators. Young swimmers begin performing skills before they realize it.

Objectives accompany each adventure, so that the instructor, child and parent each know what the goal is for each class. The skills are designed to be learned at the child's own pace, and can be achieved in any order. The skills presented in each adventure are designed so that each child will be rewarded with a performance sticker at frequent intervals. Rarely should a child go for more than a lesson without achieving a new performance goal.

Integrates Parents into the Teaching Loop

The Journey story books not only serve as a teaching tool, safety education program and facilitator to accelerated learning, they also bring parents into the teaching loop. Most programs face the dilemma of parental involvement. Keeping parents out of the pool area has its benefits, but problems of keeping the parents educated about what is going on can be time consuming. On the other hand, having parents in the pool area has its benefits, but problems with distraction and interference can be difficult to deal with. Our program keeps the parents involved and part of the teaching team. Parental involvement is one of support, follow-up and motivation, but we structure it in such a way that it guides and controls parents.

Flexible/Community Based

Each of our programs is directed by a licensed program coordinator. To become a licensed program coordinator, an individual must be at least 20 years old, pass the screening requirements and successfully complete the requirements of a 16-hour training workshop. The program coordinator is responsible for the total operation of his or her Learn-to-Swim program, and has the flexibility to customize it to met his or her own needs. For example, a program coordinator may train instructors as needed, and in-house. The program coordinator can offer any or all of the components of the series programs, and adapt the program to fit his or her population and environment. The only restriction on the program is that it operate within the parameters of established safety and technical standards.

Easy to Administer 

The Learn-to-Swim program offers a program coordinator all the necessary tools to begin an innovative, quality learn-to-swim program immediately. The marketing tools are colorful and effective. The books and teaching methods provide immediate customer service and satisfaction that usually take months to develop.

Because the program is communitybased and the program director has the freedom to train instructors as needed, it's easy to manage staffing and motivation problems. In addition, each journey requires four hours of training for an instructor. Swim instructor candidates may select one, two or all three levels of training, allowing a program coordinator to get instructors in the water and teaching efficiently in a short period of time. The minimum age of 15 years for Journey Instructor training will also allow program coordinators a broader candidate base for staffing their program. Administrative tasks are also kept to a minimum, as there are no course records to submit, or fees to pay.

Accountability 

The program's accountability and quality control begins with selecting and training program coordinators and instructors. The National Safety Council/Ellis and Associates instructor training program is not offered to the general public. Any program coordinator or instructor must pass a screening interview in order to be accepted into the training program. This screening interview measures the candidate's maturity, responsibility, concern for safety, enthusiasm and swimming skills at the level for which they are seeking certification. As a result, the program coordinator is able to select for training only those individuals that he or she feels can represent the program and meet the standards expected.

Following the initial instructor training course, the program coordinator is responsible for training instructors on a regular basis. Because the program coordinator is on deck during lessons, he or she can continually reinforce, motivate and develop the instructors' teaching skills.

In addition, each instructor and program coordinator will be monitored by Ellis and Associates through unannounced performance audits. These audits will not only ensure quality control and adherence to safety standards, they will provide invaluable training tools for program coordinators to develop their staff into the best they can be. The program coordinator license must be renewed every two years, and requires successful performance audit evaluations and attendance at an eight hour renewal workshop.

Support

The Learn-to-Swim program has the availability and resources of three national organizations who are committed to helping program coordinators. Customer service to program coordinators on a regular and consistent basis is a top priority of all agencies involved in this program.

Cost Effective

There is no cost to administer or use the program, train instructors or for the performance audits. The only fee is for the licensed program coordinator training, which is $600. The license is valid for two years, with a renewal fee of $300. The cost of the book and materials for swim instructor training is $15. The cost of each journey book is $6 per student ($5 for Ellis and Associates clients). Most programs include this cost in their registration for swim lessons.

A toll-free line is set up for anyone who would like to register as a Learn-to-Swim agency, receive a list of upcoming program coordinator trainings, request a list of licensed program coordinators in your area, or purchase the Journey books. Call 1-800-NSC-SWIM (1-800-672-7946).