Influence of the Primary Education Curriculum of the Autonomous Community of Madrid on the level of aquatic competence of its pupils

Abstract

Background: The literature and common sense indicate that knowing how to swim reduces the risk of drowning, but does not guarantee survival in the water. According to WHO reports, deaths from drowning are known to be more frequent in low- and middle-income countries. Although Spain is a country with a very high human development index, most of its educational curricula do not contemplate teaching swimming and avoiding drowning.

Goals: The first objective of this study is to know the effects of the application of the Physical Education Primary Education Curriculum of the Autonomous Community of Madrid on the level of aquatic competence of its students. The second objective of the study is to verify if the level of competence in water that the students enrolled in public schools have is different from that of the students enrolled in private or subsidized centers.

Method: The competence in the water of 1,274 students who are in the third cycle of Primary Education in the Autonomous Community of Madrid has been verified. Of these, 738 study in private or subsidized schools and 536 study in public centers.

Results: The results of this research show that 102 students (8% of the total) do not know how to swim at all and 24 more students (1.9% of the total) are not able to swim 25 meters in a row. Likewise, 100% of the students who do not know how to swim or who do it in an unsafe way are enrolled in public schools.

Conclusions: It could be noted that the Physical Education Primary Education Curriculum of the Autonomous Community of Madrid does not guarantee that 100% of its students will be minimally competent in water before the age of 12. It is also concluded that the Curriculum of this territory does not reduce the risk of drowning of those people who, for one reason or another, do not have the necessary opportunities to learn to swim outside the school environment. These results confirm the existence of a serious problem that the specialized bibliography has shown that it especially affects the most disadvantaged population.

Keywords: swimming, curriculum, aquatic competence, drowning, social justice.