A QUEANBEYAN swim school is calling on locals to take the plunge into a new career, amid a “worrying” swim-teacher shortage.

Queanbeyan-Palerang Regional Council aquatics program officer 

Bec Warner, 50, says the Queanbeyan-based swim school cannot find enough trained staff to meet demand for lessons.

“We’ve gone from pre-covid having 36 teachers to now having 18,” Ms Warner said.

“We used to have seven teachers available to teach Saturday morning lessons and we now have three.”

Ms Warner – also a swim teacher of nine years – says the popular swim school, which is run by council, has a waitlist of more than 100 children.

“We cannot accept any more on the waitlist, it’s just getting too big,” Ms Warner said.

“We’ve had to reduce and combine classes by 20 per cent just so that we can offer some sort of program. 

“There’s nowhere near the amount of classes we had before.”

It’s an issue being felt nationwide.

Swim Australia estimates there’s a shortage of about 2000 swimming instructors across the country, with the shortfall the worst in NSW and Victoria.

Swim Australia chief executive Brendon Ward said the problem is mainly due to the pandemic.

“Our workforce traditionally targets university students or part-time casual employees, so when covid hit, casuals were not eligible for JobKeeper so they went and found jobs elsewhere and have not come back,” Mr Ward said.

Mr Ward, who has represented NZ in water polo, said the swimming-teacher shortage comes as drownings are up 20 per cent compared with last summer.

He argues that the nationwide shortage of swimming instructors means many children are missing out on learning crucial water-safety skills.

“We have a cohort now that may never learn to swim and they may have missed out for the rest of their lives,” Mr Ward said.

“Additionally those who were in lessons may have lost the motivation to keep swimming or may have gone on to do other things instead, so they are finishing with a lower level of confidence or skill than they need.

“We also know that parents who have not learnt to swim are less likely to put their kids into swimming, so we are concerned on multiple fronts.”

The 53-year-old knows the importance of being taught to swim having narrowly escaped drowning when he was two.

“My parents were at a party at the next-door neighbours’ and I found my way into the swimming pool,” Mr Ward said.

“Thankfully, the neighbours’ dog alerted the party goers that there was someone in the pool, they fished me out, I had my stomach pumped, and it was enough of a fright for my parents to say we need to do something about this.”

At Queanbeyan, priority is being given to beginner swim classes, Ms Warner said.

“We are mainly concentrating on the babies, beginners and level one and two classes because they are the most at risk of drowning because of their age group,” said Ms Warner.

Ms Warner is calling on locals to consider a job as a swim teacher to help fill the industry-wide shortage. 

“We really need instructors who are willing to teach most days,” Ms Warner said.

Jobs for casual swim instructors are available on weekdays and weekends at Queanbeyan, with the council willing to cover the cost of the AUSTSWIM teaching course for successful candidates.

“It’s around $400 to do the course alone and council is willing to pay for that for successful applicants on the proviso they will work for us and do two shifts a week,” Ms Warner said.

Ms Warner says it’s a good job – paying between $31 and $47 an hour – flexible, and very rewarding.

“I got into it when my last child was starting school and I was looking for a job that supplemented our income, because up until that point I was a stay-at-home mum,” Ms Warner said.

“It’s a great job because you can still be there for the kids’ school drop off and pick ups.

“Knowing that you are teaching a life-long skill to these kids is amazing, and you get paid for it.”