“Every hour in the pool counts”

A temporal-spatial perspective on physical education teachers’ experiences of swimming lessons in Swedish primary schools

Abstract

In Sweden, in order to obtain a grade in physical education, a primary school pupil must demonstrate swimming ability to their teacher - which is defined as being able to swim 200 meters (including 50 meters backstroke). According to the law, the school must also conduct swimming lessons. In a qualitative survey study with 111 teachers in primary schools across the country, a clear inequality emerges regarding their prerequisites for conducting swimming lessons. A time-geographical perspective illustrates how swimming lessons are a unique type of teaching project that tends to require more time, resources, and coordination than other school subjects. Pupils with a non-Euro-American background and a poorer socio-economic background seem to be overrepresented when it comes to the need for school swimming lessons. The uneven distribution of such students between schools, geographical distance to the nearest pool, or the pool’s capacity affects the conditions as well as the school’s (and the municipality’s) financial priorities and/or resources. These factors constitute different types of capacity, coupling and control restrictions in the allocation of teaching time.