New research from leisure operator Better, reveals that the UK population values swimming more than cooking, cleaning and DIY when it comes to essential life skills. This finding comes on the heels of a Sport England and Active Lives report indicating that over a third of primary school teachers provided fewer than 10 swimming lessons per pupil during the academic year 2022-23. Consequently, the proportion of children able to swim 25m by year 7 in 2022/23 has dropped by 6% compared to 2017/18.
To investigate the state of swimming in the UK, Better surveyed 2,000 respondents to gauge public perceptions and experiences. The research highlights the important role swimming had on Britons’ school experience, as 1 in 5 people found swimming more useful in their adult life than most other subjects like science (17%), computing (15%), and even sex education (8%).