The Aquatic Literacy For All Children Project, Or How To Connect Pedagogues And Stakeholders To Develop Swimming Instruction?
The aquatic literacy for all children project, or how to connect Pedagogues and stakeholders to develop swimming instruction
Résumé
Introduction: Epidemiological studies show that the drowning phenomenon is a global health issue (World
Health Organization, 2014). Even if national educational policies attempt to reduce this safety issue (Potdevin
& al., 2019), studies show that they are unevenly distributed in Europe. On the other side, aquatic Physical
Activities (PA) provides many opportunities for physical activity (PA) to overcome the sedentary lifestyles of our
youth worldwide. In this way, Aquatic Literacy (AL) appears as an innovative concept, leading to a new way of
thinking and teaching swimming throughout Europe to challenge drowning prevention and PA promotion.
Objectives: The aim of the ALFAC project (Aquatic Literacy For All Children) is to promote high quality aquatic
education for 6-12 years old children with a dual challenge: protecting against drowning while engaging in
an aquatic environment throughout life. To perform this, we propose a methodology to build a gender and
age-specific AL assessment that gathers the different actors of the aquatic world through educational priorities.
Methodology: We gathered European actors in swimming education: educators (physical education teachers,
swimming instructors), researchers and stakeholders (curriculum developers, swimming policies). The Delphi
method (Green, 2014)was used to reach a consensus between actors on several test designs (motor, adaptive
and cognitive).
Results: We hypothesize that this collaboration could provide a comparison grid of swimming programs and a
European database to assess children’s AL levels according to their age and gender, while going beyond cultural
issues.
Conclusion: Thanks to this cooperation work between actors in swimming instruction, we aim to generate con-
structive debates to create common pedagogical tools, inspired by the practices of partner countries. Through a
large diffusion, we hope that these tools will become a reference for children, educators and actors, to develop
AL and to engage children in the aquatic environment safely throughout their lives.
Domaines
Sciences du Vivant [q-bio]Origine | Fichiers produits par l'(les) auteur(s) |
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