Teaching methods used by children’s swimming teachers

Abstract

Introduction: The teaching of children's swimming has prioritized learning the four competitive swims. Although several teaching methods have emerged in recent years, the teaching practice of teachers is still focused on teaching sports technique through traditional methods. The low number of publications on this topic makes it difficult to advance the line of “swimming pedagogy”. Objective: To characterize the methods used by teachers in teaching children's swimming. Methodology: A qualitative and descriptive research was carried out, using the technique of non-participant observation. Observations were recorded with the aid of field diaries. The research context was an establishment in the city of Brusque, Santa Catarina. The selection of participants was intentionally non-probabilistic and three children's swimming teachers participated. In all, thirty classes of forty-five minutes in length were observed. Data were analyzed using the content analysis technique, with the categories determined a priori: activities, initial instruction and feedback. Results and discussion: The results revealed that teachers used instruction by explanation, low use of feedback during tasks and technical/analytical activities predominated. Final Considerations: It is concluded that the observed teachers prioritize the analytical/technical teaching method.