Special education offers school swimming more often than mainstream primary education

The provision of school swimming differs among the various types of schools. Approximately 40 percent of schools for children with sensory impairments (clusters 1 and 2) and severe behavioral problems (cluster 4) offer school swimming. Of the schools for children with physical impairments (cluster 3), three quarters offer school swimming.

Other findings:

• 95 percent of special education schools that offer school swimming provide it for 30 weeks or more per year. This differs from primary education, where just over half of schools do so.
• For schools in special education, school swimming has a major impact on the timetable, because twice as much time must be scheduled as the actual lesson time due to transportation and changing.
• 28 percent of schools that combine special education and secondary special education offer school swimming for secondary education. 16 percent of schools that offer only secondary special education provide school swimming.

Click here for the fact sheet School Swimming in Special Education.

This study was conducted as part of the NL Zwemveilig project, coordinated by the National Council for Swimming Safety. Click here for more information about NL Zwemveilig.