Validating Water Safety Competence

In early summer of 2017 and 2018 almost 200 children participated in a program facilitated by Downs Little Lifeguards (http://www.tr.qld.gov.au/facilities-recreation/sport-recreation/swimming-pools-gyms/13096-downs-little-lifeguards-program), a regional community initiative developed specifically to ensure that children in regional and rural Australia are able to survive or save themselves in inland waterway settings in Australia. Downs Little Lifeguards (DLL) is an entity borne out of community concerns for the risk to children in rural areas recreating at inland waterways as was originally identified in 2014 through research by the Royal Life Saving Society Australia (RLSSA). This paper provides details on the assessment of the water competency of this cohort of swimmers from a pool environment through to open water aquatic environment with reference to the water competency framework developed by Stallman, Moran, Quan, & Langendorfer (2017). The work provides a primer for further investigation into what defines water competency in drowning prevention and water safety

Collaboration: an Australasian experience

The Republic of the Philippines is an archipelago of 7107 islands in Southeast Asia with an estimated population of 92,000,000 people. The World Health Organisation estimates child drowning in the region is 6,000 each year. Australia by contrast has a massive coastline of 37000 kilometres with 11011 beaches and 85% of the population (21M) living within an hours drive of the coastline. Add to this demographics the inland water ways, backyard swimming pools and the effort involved in protecting the relatively small population (compared with the Philippines) from drowning and we have two partners with different challenges, though the goal is the exactly the same – drowning prevention. The other significant difference is that Australia has a world renowned history in lifesaving, dating back to the 19th century with the establishment of the Royal Life Saving Society and the Philippines has a lifesaving organisation that is 4 years young. Politicians and community leaders are often heard to utter that the solution can be resolved through a collaborative approach, especially when it requires development of funding initiatives with government, private agencies and the wider community. In many applications it reflects the desire to encourage shared learning, knowledge and problem solving to achieve common goals between organisations. In this particular case there has been no specific grants or funding sponsors to support the work, it has come from the will of the people who represent both organisations and demonstrates what can be achieved through a shared objective. This presentation will provide an insight to a collaborative approach that has been effectively operating for the last four years at an international level between volunteers of the Royal life Saving Society - Australia and the Philippine Life Saving Society working as equal partners to develop a strategy to address the critical drowning statistics impacting on this nation

Becoming part of the Commonwealth

Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) is an iconic organisation that has been saving lives since 1907. SLSA is Australia's major water safety and rescue authority and is one of the largest volunteer based organisations. We have more than 165,820 members, with 28.5% of members being active patrolling surf lifesavers. The total estimated economic value of SLSA's coastal drowning and injury prevention is $3.6 billion. It is clear that SLSA‘s impact goes far beyond saving lives in the water. The work that volunteers do to promote a healthy, inclusive, clean, family lifestyle throughout Australian communities is far greater than just the hours spent volunteering. SLSA members are actively building community and creating social connections with other SLSA members and beachgoers that build our society. In fact, we exist 'To save lives, create great Australians and build better communities' but how do we do this? And importantly, how do we measure this important social contribution? Whilst many have measured the economic value of their services, the true value of a service can only be fully realised when the wider impacts and ‚spillover effects‘ that providing that service has on the community is fully understood. Usually an attempt to convey these are made by most through the identification of broader activities such community education, training provided to members/public, engagement of youth and general development of 'good' people. Surf Life Saving Australia (SLSA) has partnered with the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) to identify and value activities contributing towards SLSA's social contribution to the wider community. In doing so a potential method and model of social impact at the meso level for community based organisations in Australia has been developed. This research has defined SLSA's social capital and human capital contribution to the wider community through individuals (volunteers) and the organisational itself. It describes contributions through aspects of personal belonging; development of citizenship values; giving back to the community; connections with other local community organisations; meaningful networks; advancement of human capital through training, team and leadership skills. The presentation will further explore the results of the work with UTS clearly demonstrating the broader value and importance of lifesaving service organisations beyond saving lives. It will define the broader and invaluable impact of a lifesaving service has on the community and in building disaster resilient communities

Individualised learning approach (the three ‘p’s) for a small to medium enterprise through work based learning

An ongoing challenge for education and training providers is to ensure learners can achieve maximum learning and recognition for their vocational education pathways. The strategy and case to be presented could best be described as the 3 ‘p’s approach to the provision of vocational education and training, that is: I. How we support people in their education and training II. What processes we use to provide education and training? III. The place where the learning opportunities are provided. The aim of this paper is to share an educational and training strategy that has been successfully implemented in an Australian enterprise. The strategy provided education and training for the members of the enterprise in a multidisciplinary manner from a certificate through to a degree outcome, entirely through work-based learning (WBL) pedagogy. The research was conducted with six candidates (employees of the enterprise) through their educational journey applying a range of WBL activities including projects and initiatives to improve processes and performances in the workplace. Each candidate's program involved designing the learning component following an initial phase of review of their previous learning’s and qualifications with a learning advisor. This process was deemed as 'the learning review'. The other component of this phase was to develop a learning plan to encapsulate an area of study or disciplinary process that would be relevant to the individual candidate. This process was deemed as 'the learning journey plan'. The second phase was for each candidate to prepare and undertake a problem based/research led learning activity through one or more workplace project/s with the support of the employer. The final phase involved a structured review and development of a final project report to outline the outcomes and learning’s achieved through the work based projects. The research undertaken included post-program interviews with the six candidates and the General Manager and provided an example of a relatable model for all workplaces as well as education and training provider

The Challenge of Water Entries

The authors presented a poster at the International Life Saving Foundation\u27s World Conference on Drowning Prevention 2019 in Durban, South Africa titled, Finding an Aquatic Voice, that was the basis for this article. The conference theme was Growing Global Drowning Prevention Capacity,” and the aim of our poster’s contribution to the conference was to explore internal reasons for the variable capacity of water-wary persons to engage in water experiences which often manifest as a “water entry and exit conundrum. The paper provides critical decision points associated with these issues to encourage further reflective practice by aquatic professionals. The poster triggered interest from a wide range of aquatic professionals. The paper intends to generate support for vulnerable persons and their instructors as a silent manifesto on the pool deck. A need for tools to create support for autotelic approaches has not been explored before and this paper starts to lay out a scientific case for why it matters

Drowning prevention strategies in Asia

The International Lifesaving Federation (ILS) recognises that the Asia Pacific region presents substantial challenges in the global effort to reduce the alarming death by drowning statistics in the region. The main exception to this situation is that Australia has a world-renowned history in lifesaving, dating back to the 19th century with the establishment of the Royal Life Saving Society (RLSSA) in comparison to the majority of the other countries in the region. Over the last decade some initiatives have seen the establishment of SwimSafe Vietnam, the Thailand Life Saving Society, the Philippine Lifesaving Society and the International Centre for Drowning Research in Bangladesh being formed. The Royal Life Saving Society has responded to the situation through a number of initiatives designed to assist the region develop sustainable solutions to the crisis and this paper will outline how these partnerships have developed. The presentation will provide an overview of a number of strategies, their development, management and more importantly the sustainability for the people of the countries that have been actively engaged in the drowning prevention efforts. In many applications it reflects the desire to encourage shared learning, knowledge and problem solving to achieve common goals between organisations in the region

Saving lives from floods

There are 360000 drownings every year as listed by World Health Organisation (WHO) and this number is non-disaster related. Though all indicators suggest that the impact of increased and more intense weather events provides increased threat in the future. Another contributing development is that with over 600 million people living less than 10 metres above sea level the expectation is that this number will increase dramatically with extreme storms. As such, the likelihood of aquatic disasters impacting communities and individuals will increase as will the potential for increased drownings. There is no doubt that the capacity of multi-agency response is strong in Higher Income Countries (HIC) as evidenced by the collaborative arrangements with other agencies in the UK, USA and Europe. Locally we have the potential to call on and use the capability that exists with the thousands of Australians involved in lifesaving that is still yet to be developed fully. At the recent World Conference on Drowning Prevention 2019 in Durban South Africa the presenters facilitated a pre-conference workshop for participants from several countries to learn and explore the four phases of flooding of planning and preparation, flash flooding, flood expansion and flood recovery. The outcomes supported the need for working collaboratively with other agencies to enhance understanding and effective communication in an aquatic emergency. Lifesavers bring competencies in first aid and emergency care, aquatic rescue, use of rescue boats, radio communication and a genuine desire to prevent drowning, rescue and recovery. There is an opportunity to develop strategies from Durban that can help inform and educate the wider community through lifesaving organisations and to develop lifesaver awareness as well as prepare active lifesavers to be able to respond in a flood emergency. Irrespective of the amount of rescue services available, there will always be a requirement for more

Work-based learning: a learning strategy in support of the Australian Qualifications Framework

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to assess the extent to which work-based learning could potentially improve education and training pathways in Australia. Design/methodology/approach – The paper reviews education and training provision in Australia through a contextualisation of the Australian Qualification Framework (AQF) with work-based learning pedagogy to determine the extent to which it might contribute to improved outcomes for learners. Findings – People seeking to advance their career aspirations can consider the application of work-based learning to support lifelong learning pathways through the AQF. Research limitations/implications – There is a need for further longitudinal studies on the outcomes of work-based learning for organisations, individual learners and education and training institutions. Practical implications – The application of effective WBL approaches has the potential to create a much larger flow of learners from experiential and vocational backgrounds into undergraduate programmes and onto higher education programmes using a consistent and effective pedagogy. Social implications – By actively considering the opportunities for learning at work and through work learners, educators and business managers may recognise that there would be more demand for work-based learning. Originality/value – This paper represents an initial action research study which examines the role WBL can provide for life-long learning