As part of ReTrain, CIMSPA’s £1.5m initiative designed to retool the sport and physical activity workforce (funded by The National Lottery through Sport England), The Institute of Swimming have already supported over 100 people to start a new career as a swimming teacher.
The training initiative that launched in September has been extremely popular with over two-thirds of training requests being for aquatic roles, such as assistant swimming teachers and swimming teachers.
The Institute of Swimming has supplemented the funding with their recruitment expertise to help partners source trainees who are new to the sector.
Rebecca Cox, Swim England Business Engagement Director and Institute of Swimming Managing Director said:
“CIMSPA ReTrain has given our partners an incredible opportunity to rebuild their workforce following the most turbulent period our industry has ever faced. By adding our recruitment expertise to the package, we’ve opened up training and career opportunities to those outside the sector, looking for a new challenge.
So far our recruitment initiatives have covered Cheshire, Hertfordshire, Devon, County Durham, North Yorkshire, and Essex. Over the coming months, we’ll be supporting more of our partners across England to source trainees as well as upskill their current workforce.”
The Institute of Swimming’s unique e-learning allows all recruits to start their training journey straight away. This is supplemented with webinars that providing a collaborative learning environment in a virtual classroom. Following the course theory, trainees will spend some time poolside with their future employer to gain experience and complete their qualification assessments.
Leon Smith, ReTrain Course Co-ordinator at CIMSPA, said:
“We are delighted with the response to ReTrain from employers and training providers, especially in the aquatics sector. There is clearly a large appetite among employers to train existing and new staff, enabling them to continue providing vital services to the public and we are proud to be facilitating this, with the help of Sport England.”
Funding through ReTrain will continue over the coming months and into the new year, with employer partners of CIMSPA, CLUK and ukactive, based in England, invited to continue identifying their skills gaps and apply to CIMSPA.
Find out more: www.cimspa.co.uk/our-work/retrain