RES CPR 6 Implement K-12 Water Safety Curriculum, Including In-Water Skills
Develop and implement age-appropriate classroom-based K-12 drowning prevention curriculums and programs that focus on water competency, considering the local geography and aquatic environments. Where aquatic venues are available, include in-water survival and swimming skills, basic rescue skills, and lifeguarding education.
Spectrum level: Changing Organizational Practices Strengthening Individual Knowledge and Skills
Evidence level: Medium
Rationale:
Needs additional content. GF to add - All schools do not require students to learn or participate in aquatics skills even though a child's only opportunity to learn aquatic survivability skills might be through exposure during school.
Anticipated Impact:
Needs additional content. GF to add - All schools do not require students to learn or participate in aquatics skills even though a child's only opportunity to learn aquatic survivability skills might be through exposure during school.
Evidence:
Needs additional content. GF to add - E334: Starting at 1st grade teaching age appropriate community-wide peer rescue skills, taught at a young age, with consideration for coastal, inland and swimming pool environments will prevent drowning. E347: With a focus on educating in schools and continuous higher level skills and educations, the number of fatal drowning decrease.
Evidence Sources:
Characteristics of Aquatic Rescues Undertaken by Bystanders in Australia https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30763388/
Who rescues who? Understanding aquatic rescues in Australia using coronial data and a survey https://doi.org/10.1111/1753-6405.12900
Dying to help: Fatal bystander rescues in Australian coastal environments https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0238317
High Risk Populations Addressed:
Populations whose risk of drowning decreases the most with the implementation of this recommendation may have one or more of the following characteristics:
- Males
- Individual with limited financial resources
- Children and adolescents
Evaluation Metrics:
Indicators of long-term impact:
- Increase in water safety skills for students K-12
- Students meeting skill benchmarks more readily
- Increases in water safety knowlege among students K-12
- Water safety questions are included as a section on standardized test
Indicators of intermediate impact:
- Schools begin to offer more opportunities for students to learn water safety skills and gain water safety knowledge
- State departments of eduction begin to require water safety education
- Funding and resources are provided to support water safety programs in schools without an impact on other school curricula or programs
- Begin to see a decease in drownings among children and youth due to water safety curricula and programs in schools
Indicators of initial impact:
- Schools offer water safety eduction to students as part of physical education for one grade level.
- Increase in the number of schools providing land base water safety education to students and parents
- Increase in the number of Water Safety presentations and assemblies in schools
- Increase in the number of schools that list water safety education/competency as a goal
Implementation:
Consider the following to ensure successful implementation:
- Provide water safety education in a variety of languages, with visuals, etc. to effectively influence all students regardless of language, learning style, reading ability
- Integrate land-based and water-based education and skills training for students
- Discuss implementation with all relevant stakeholders
- Ensure that schools and teachers have access to facilities and trained water safety and life-saving professionals to help support water safety education efforts.
Challenges to Implementation:
When implementing this recommendation, you might encounter challenges related to the following factors.
- There may be a lack of funding, resources, or infrastructure to support.
- There may be a limited amount of of trained professionals to help.
- There may be push back from parents and administrators.
- Inconsistent messaging may be a barrier.
- There may be factors (Religion, culture, etc.) that are barriers to participation both during school programs and outside of school.
Potential Facilitators:
The following factors might facilitate the implementation of this recommendation.
- Community and local school board support for the initiative of water safety and water safety skills taught in schools.
- Value is placed on learning water safety and water safety skills by school administration.
- Organizational cultural change from aquatics being recreation to aquatics being an opportunity to build skills that are critical to life safety.
- Sustainable funding.
- Parks and Recreation directors become partners and support school programs.
GAP Recommendation:
All schools do not require students to learn or participate in aquatics skills even though a child's only opportunity to learn aquatic survivability skills might be through exposure during school.Evidence identifying the exact skills that work and what age is appropriate to teach the skills.