Oppose PAS520 regarding biased statutory qualifications for baby swimming

You may be aware that on the 13th October 2015 a new document was launched in Parliament relating to swimming and underwater photography for babies and children.

Co-authored by Waterbabies, the ASA and Splashabout the document: PAS 520 “Safeguarding 0 to 4 year old children within the teaching of swimming, including any associated professional photography – Code of practice” offers guidelines and recommendations to ensure babies and toddlers’ safety and wellbeing during swimming lessons and underwater photography sessions.

Whilst we support the development of British Standards on the regulation of swimming and professional underwater photography, we have serious concerns over some of the content in the PAS, specifically relating to qualifications. What is proposed in the PAS, is that all baby swimming teachers in the UK should have a Level 2 general swimming qualification on top of an Ofqual-regulated qualification specific to teaching pre-fundamentals swimming.

The PAS 520 affects you in the following ways:
1. You are requested to hold a Level 2 general swimming qualification, which includes specialist training of baby and pre-fundamental swimming teaching. Attention is drawn to the ASA level 2 Award in Coaching Aquatic Pre-fundamentals – QCF, described in the document as “the UK’s first specialist baby and pre-school Diploma Level Aquatic Qualification”(2014) see section14.4. Teaching Qualifications. While this is legally defensible, the STA Level 2 Award in Aquatic Teaching- Baby and Pre-School qualification remains a valid national qualification registered with Ofqual. (Since 2003).
2. You may need to be listed on a Register of Aquatic Professionals (RAP) in order to have a ‘license to practice’.

We are not able to circulate the PAS 520 but it can be purchased from BSI at the cost of £75 if you wish to verify the points above.

Your support in opposing this document is needed to ensure fairness and transparency in our industry. We do not feel that the adoption of the document as the British Standard for Baby Swimming, without wider consultation and debate from other major players is acceptable, and will result in one swim school enforcing their own code of conduct on the industry as a whole.

Moreover, the agreed standards for the industry should be debated by everyone, and not only by those parties seeking to gain a competitive advantage.

Thank you very much for your time and please feel free to comment in more detail.