The Swimming Teachers' Association (STA) and Leisure Opportunities have extended their strategic partnership.

The extension is part of an on-going effort to attract more swimming teachers into the leisure industry and bridge the skills gap.

Leisure Opportunities, the jobs and training magazine and website for industry professionals, will continue to support STA’s aims of addressing the shortage of swimming teachers in the UK. It will do this by promoting the career opportunities available in swimming to a wider leisure audience over the next 12 months.

The partnership follows the 2019 Industry Swimming Teachers Recruitment Survey published by STA in October 2019, which revealed that difficulties in recruiting trained swimming teachers continue to create widespread problems for many swim schools across the UK.

According to the research, 62 per cent of swim schools see the skills gap "majorly impacting on the opportunity for children and adults to learn how to swim".

With Leisure Opportunities – part of the Leisure Media group - continuing to work as a strategic media partner with STA, the two organisations can carry on raising awareness in 2020 and showcase all the career opportunities available in swimming teaching, particularly among people who might not have previously considered becoming a swimming teacher.

Zoe Cooper, sales and marketing director at STA, said: “As we’ve identified, swimming teacher recruitment continues to be a widespread problem across the UK and it is causing many operational issues for swim schools.

"With Leisure Opportunities, we can continue to proactively combine our communication channels over the next 12 months, and show how becoming a professional swimming teacher can open up exciting new career pathways in leisure, and how it can also be a flexible, rewarding job for students, parents or the active retired.

“For us too, as a national governing body in swimming, and a charity dedicated to the teaching of swimming and lifesaving, this message is so important. By training more swimming teachers and bridging the skills gap, we can create more opportunities for people to learn how to swim, a key life skill.

Liz Terry MBE, managing director of Leisure Media, added: ''As an industry, we have a big job to do in attracting new people to the sector and we are committed to supporting the STA in raising the profile of swimming teaching as a career choice – as well as championing the work of swimming teachers everywhere.

“Swimming teaching is such a rewarding job. The job satisfaction in knowing you are not just teaching children a vital life skill, but that you are also opening up the opportunity for them to experience a plethora of fun new aquatic activities, is incredible!”