- Title
- Learn-to-swim: assessing aquatic skills how can we better communicate 'can swim'?
- Creator
- Nyitrai, Nina J.
- Relation
- University of Newcastle Research Higher Degree Thesis
- Resource Type
- thesis
- Date
- 2021
- Description
- Research Doctorate - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
- Description
- According to the World Health Organization, drowning fatalities are a neglected public health issue ranked the third most frequent cause of unintentional death by injury. A multi-sectoral approach to drowning prevention has been identified, with learning to swim one of the important components. Within learn-to-swim programs in the aquatics industry the assessment of aquatic skills can be problematic due to the variety of disparate approaches and programs. The Australian Water Safety Council’s benchmarked aquatic skills is recommended as best practice for the range of aquatic skills that should be taught as part of learn-to-swim programs, however, it’s influence on program content is limited. Regardless of program content, aquatic skills incorporated in learn-to-swim programs require skill assessments that have established the validity and reliability of any tools used for gauging a learner’s skill acquisition. Limitations associated with the competent/not yet competent approach to assessment in learn-to-swim was identified and indicated a need for an assessment tool with the ability to accurately identify: personal developmental characteristics; the task demands; and environmental context used by learners. The Refuse, Assist, Effective, Efficient (RAEE) assessment tool was created and used the benchmarked aquatic skills to establish the validity and reliability of this assessment tool. The results of this thesis support the validity of the RAEE. However, a lack of clarity regarding terminology, standards, pedagogy, and assessment practices surrounding learn-to-swim was revealed by this study. This was evident through the low level of reliability found within and between raters when using aquatic skill assessment tools. The RAEE was also used to explore the effect of clothing on the performance of the benchmarked aquatic skills by competent adult swimmers. The results showed a limited ability of participants to compensate for the effects of clothing on aquatic skills performance. This supports growing evidence suggesting drowning prevention is aligned with recognising and reducing high drowning risk behaviours (i.e. gaining aquatic competency) rather than acquisition of specific aquatic skills.
- Subject
- drowning prevention; aquatic competence; water competence; aquatic skills
- Identifier
- http://hdl.handle.net/1959.13/1431806
- Identifier
- uon:38995
- Rights
- Copyright 2021 Nina J. Nyitrai
- Language
- eng
- Full Text
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| Thumbnail | File | Description | Size | Format | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT01 | Thesis | 2 MB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download | ||
| View Details Download | ATTACHMENT02 | Abstract | 455 KB | Adobe Acrobat PDF | View Details Download |