Water Babies teacher training
Want to make a difference?
If you want to learn how to become a great swimming teacher, you’re in the right place. Water Babies teachers are among the best trained in the world and we’re proud of giving every parent, caregiver and child the best experience possible in and out of the water. If you’re ready to learn more, all you need is passion – we’ll provide the rest.
As a Water Babies teacher, you’re helping babies, toddlers, pre-school and school age and older children reach their full potential as part of our world-class swimming program. Good teachers can deliver compassion when you need support, companionship when you need a friend and just the right boost that our kids need to reach their next big milestone in life. But most importantly of all, the lifesaving skills we teach at Water Babies have helped to prevent tragic accidents time and time again. Interested? Read on…
What we’re looking for
A big heart and a passion for teaching young children is a great start. We’re looking for extraordinary people to inspire our next generation of swimmers, and you don’t need to have any previous experience either.
Many of our teachers are parents, who caught the bug for teaching when they experienced it for themselves in our classes. Or people who have a love of swimming and are ready to educate the next generation of swimmers.
Our in-depth training will ensure you have everything you need to thrive.
Step 1
Shadowing a Water Babies Teacher in live classes
A taste of what’s to come
Where possible, you’ll get to ‘shadow’ some classes to gain experience. Normally, shadowing involves being in the pool with a Water Babies Teacher during their own live lessons, handling babies and completing a set of skills.
However, the process can also be done remotely, analyzing recordings of real lessons. We ask for three to five hours of shadowing, and it’s a great opportunity to get a feel for our amazing lessons and work with our wonderful teachers
Step 2
Pre-course theory modules
It’s all in the preparation
When you register for the teacher training course, you’ll be given access to the resources and assessment tasks. This is where our modular training method comes to the fore and, over the course of about two weeks, you’ll attend six online theory sessions with one of our senior tutors and complete a further two in your own time as part of your self-study.
We’ll teach you about lesson planning and child development and you’ll learn the intricacies of the swimming strokes during our modular training sessions. Twinned with this will be e-learning activities on our Learning Management System (LMS), much of which you’ll complete during the online sessions with the tutor
Step 3
Water Babies practical course
Where the magic happens
This 7-day course will see you spend most of the day in the pool – wahoo! We’ll cover all the delivery elements of our Water Babies (ages 0-4) and Swimvincible (ages 4+) programs and you’ll get a full understanding of why we do what we do, and how we do it.
You’ll be using training dolls to learn the specialist skills, techniques and songs, and you’ll get the chance to deliver simulated lessons to the rest of the group as if they were a real class. So, get your singing voice ready and be prepared to have wrinkly skin at the end!
Step 4
Teaching live lessons & final theory work
Putting your learning into practice
On completion of the practical course you’ll come back to your local franchise area where you’ll teach live lessons and continue to learn on the job. During the first of these lessons, a trained Mentor or Tutor will be there with you and support you to become the best teacher you can be.
Running alongside this fun and exciting part of your journey, you’ll have two final theory modules to complete online to help you finish your written work. You’ll also send a series of recordings of your initial lessons to your Mentor/Tutor for assessment.
Then, the only thing left to do is teach!
You can be proud to be called a Water Babies Teacher when:
- You have attended the pre- and post-course modules and completed, submitted and passed the accompanying theory work.
- You have completed your mentored and assessed lessons to the required Water Babies brand standard.
- Your Criminal Records Check is successful.
- You have attended the Safeguarding workshop.
- You have gained a recognized lifesaving qualification.
Our Values
Why Water Babies is one of a kind
- We care
- Customer First
- Life’s too short for dull
- We win, together
- Get stuff done
- Be the best, then better it