🇸🇪 Summary in Swedish
Kristoffer Eriksson
Linnaeus University, Växjö, Sweden
This article is a critical review of one of the greatest didactic challenges in the Swedish school subject Physical Education and Health (PEH): school swimming. The review is based on a teacher professional perspective, an approach used to articulate the thoughts of practicing teachers in a research field that often excludes the reflective practitioner’s perspective. The critical approach aims to provide a deeper understanding of school swimming in Sweden.
The article begins with a discussion of the quantified grading criterion, which is a fragmented version of the definition of swimming proficiency, where all aspects except the measurable have been removed. The lack of clarity in the swimming criterion regarding qualitative aspects of swimming proficiency leads to diverse interpretations and assessments among Sweden’s PEH teachers. The article notes that the methodological challenges inherent in all swimming proficiency assessments negatively affect the reliability of the results. Despite this, current assessments indicate a downward trend in swimming proficiency in Sweden. To reverse this trend, an unreasonably large responsibility is placed on PEH teachers. However, due to the challenges surrounding school swimming, it is often impossible for PEH teachers to deliver effective, safe, and compensatory swimming lessons. The inadequate conditions negatively impact students’ opportunities to both learn to swim and meet the requirements for a passing grade in PEH. This situation fails to align with the school’s educational objectives and compensatory duties.
The article concludes by emphasizing the importance of improving the conditions for school swimming through comprehensive revisions of the educational policy statements related to school swimming. One proposal presented is to remove swimming proficiency as a grading requirement in the PEH subject. Additionally, the article suggests how the swimming criterion could be formulated to improve the reliability of swimming assessments conducted in schools. Finally, a pragmatic model for school swimming is proposed, where swimming proficiency is regarded as a responsibility shared by the entire school, not solely by PEH teachers.
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