Wellington swim teacher first to complete new SNZ course

Wellington swim teacher Vivian Christy-Jones has become the first person to complete the Swimming New Zealand Train the Trainer course.

The Train the Trainer course was introduced by Swimming New Zealand in late 2015 for senior swim teachers, pool deck supervisors, program coordinators and swim school managers to develop skills and understanding in effective training processes for staff.

Vivian, who works for the Wellington City Council swim school, attended the one day course in August 2015 and has since been working to complete the post course assignments and tasks and completed her final practical assessment last month.

Swimming New Zealand Education Advisor Sarah Gibbison assessed Vivian at a water baby session for 16 staff.

Sarah was impressed with the activities, games and songs that were covered all in line with the developmental stages of a young child and challenged her staff’s thinking when discussing options for class content.

Her trainee audience included beginner teachers as well as more experienced teachers and her session catered well for both groups. Vivian recognised the skills her senior staff had and used those to successfully support her training session through delegating tasks, asking for their experiences and pairing less confident staff with those who were more confident.

Vivian submitted well thought out assignments that included ample information about how she could amend her training style to suit the members in her team and what resources she would use to ensure the training was valuable to the staff and the Wellington City Council as a whole.

A swim teacher for many years Vivian has also completed her Swimming New Zealand Swim Teacher Award and is now working towards her School Age and Adult Award.

There are currently more than 50 people in the aquatic industry around the country working towards completing the Train the Trainer course with more courses coming up. Visit the Swimming New Zealand website here to find out more on the course and how you can take part.