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Speaker 1: One thing that I think is a fantastic move. We

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Speaker 1: know that families are being turned away at the moment

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Speaker 1: with some swim schools around Australia due to a nationwide

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Speaker 1: swim teacher shortage, so swimming and water Safety teaching will

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Speaker 1: teacher training or swim they've decided to lower the age

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Speaker 1: of their swim teacher license down to sixteen years old.

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Speaker 1: And joining me on the line to tell us a

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Speaker 1: little bit more about this is all Swim CEO Brad Low.

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Speaker 1: Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Brad, Hi Katie, how are you here on.

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Speaker 1: Thanks so much for joining us this morning. Brad, talk

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Speaker 1: me through this swim teacher shortage that we've got around

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Speaker 1: the nation at the moment. Is it being experienced here

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Speaker 1: in the territory as well?

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, it's everywhere. And again it's one of those one

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Speaker 2: of those unintended consequences of COVID where we just had

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Speaker 2: a lot of licensed teachers leave the industry. They and

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Speaker 2: they haven't come back. So for us now we're facing

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Speaker 2: a nationwide skill shortage which is ultimately resulting in children

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Speaker 2: not being able to access swimming lessons and so what does.

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Speaker 1: That mean for a lot of families? Because you know,

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Speaker 1: so many of us want to make sure that our

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Speaker 1: children do learn to swim, and really the only way

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Speaker 1: to do that is to go to a swimming school

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Speaker 1: where they've got accredited teachers.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely absolutely, So they've estimated during COVID nationally ten million

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Speaker 2: swimming lessons were canceled. So that's ten million opportunities for

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Speaker 2: children to learn to swim weren't available. And on average

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Speaker 2: now sent schools have waiting lists of up to three

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Speaker 2: hundred children who yeh are waiting to access swimming lessons.

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Speaker 2: And you're teaching such an important skill, so it's important

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Speaker 2: that the person who're teaching those lessons is suitably trained

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Speaker 2: and suitably licensed.

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Speaker 1: And do you know if there's any particular situations in

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory whether we sort of you know, whether

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Speaker 1: we have many of our lessons canceled. I know that

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Speaker 1: for us we maybe didn't get hit with COVID quite

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Speaker 1: as hard as some of the other stuff.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Unfortunately, every year we face a skill shortage, so

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Speaker 2: there's always particularly in the lead in for summer assume

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Speaker 2: schools are always recruiting for new staff. Our workforce is

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Speaker 2: highly casualized and it is a great part time job

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Speaker 2: for people who are finishing high school, just about to

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Speaker 2: go into university or further studies and do this as

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Speaker 2: a fantastic part time job. So something that we see

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Speaker 2: year on year. Unfortunately, COVID just really exacerbated the issue.

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Speaker 1: And so taught me through the factors. Then I guess

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Speaker 1: that we're considered when it came to lowering that age.

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Speaker 1: I'm assuming it used to be eighteen and you've decided,

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Speaker 1: you know what, let's go to sixteen.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it used to be seventeen. So for us, it

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Speaker 2: was about looking at really ensuring that the quality of

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Speaker 2: the training and the quality of the outcomes that's required

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Speaker 2: wasn't compromised. So we certainly haven't done down the course

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Speaker 2: or the license in any way. They still need to

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Speaker 2: meet the same criteria they've always met. But again we

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Speaker 2: really looked at, you know, sixteen year olds being able

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Speaker 2: to have that extra year in the workforce while they

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Speaker 2: are finishing school and university, and then looking at a

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Speaker 2: lot of other industries as well, you know, across sporting

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Speaker 2: coaching roles, sixteen year olds can be coaches as well.

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Speaker 2: You can get your learners permit at sixteen. So we

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Speaker 2: really think that sixteen year olds certainly have the experience

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Speaker 2: to be able to teach children, and do you reckon that.

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Speaker 1: It will have a big impact on that shortage that

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Speaker 1: we're experiencing.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely. So we've actually got three hundred people in our

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Speaker 2: systems at the moment that have done all of the

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Speaker 2: coursework and all of the training, and we're just waiting

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Speaker 2: to turn seventeen to be licensed. So that's three hundred

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Speaker 2: people immediately going out into the industry. But also because

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Speaker 2: being a teachers in the water safety is such a

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Speaker 2: fantastic job, particularly while you are at school university, actually

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Speaker 2: hoping that it's going to be more palatable for people

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Speaker 2: who are sixteen to get it, to get that great job.

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Speaker 1: I reckon, it's a fantastic idea. I taught swimming when

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Speaker 1: I was a high school student and also then when

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Speaker 1: I was at university, and you're so right, it's a

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Speaker 1: fantastic job to have while you're juggling juggling school or

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Speaker 1: juggling you know, your degree. So it will hopefully see

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Speaker 1: a real boost of the number of teachers and ultimately

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Speaker 1: see plenty more kids able to get into the water

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Speaker 1: and learn to swim.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely, and that's what it's all about we want to

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Speaker 2: make sure that the children are learning of skill, but

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Speaker 2: that one day may save their life.

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Speaker 1: Yeah for sure. And are there any other measures in

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Speaker 1: the works to sort of prevent families from being turned

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Speaker 1: away from swimming lessons?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I want for us author about retention to how

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Speaker 2: we can keep people in the industry for longer. So

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Speaker 2: there's lots of really exciting initiatives that who are working on.

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Speaker 2: It'll be released over the next few months to be

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Speaker 2: able to keep people in the industry's life each is

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Speaker 2: for even longer as well.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I will CEO of our swim brad Low. We

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning. Thanks so much for having

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Speaker 1: a chat with me.

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Speaker 2: Thank you for having me have a great day you too,