Confident in the water - or not?

First results of the Europe-wide study "Aquatic Literacy for all Children"

How safe are children in the water - and what influences their swimming skills? The ongoing Erasmus+ project " Aquatic Literacy for all Children (ALFAC)" is providing the first Europe-wide insights into the motor, cognitive and psychosocial aspects of swimming ability in children aged six to twelve. On June 24, 2025 , the first comparative data from Germany, Belgium, France, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Portugal was presented in a public online presentation.

In Germany, the surveys were conducted in Cologne, Kassel and Flensburg - under the direction of Dr. Ilka Staub and Prof. Dr. Tobias Vogt (German Sport University Cologne), with the support of Dr. Nele Schlapkohl and Sarah Schmidt (European University of Flensburg) and Dr. Sebastian Fischer (University of Kassel).

The study analyzes both basic swimming skills such as diving, breathing, floating and locomotion as well as more complex requirements, such as completing a swimming course. Psychosocial and cognitive aspects such as motivation, self-confidence and risk awareness in the water are also being investigated.

The initial results of the study, which is still ongoing, indicate that Germany performs well in an international comparison of swimming ability. In terms of age, older children have a higher level of basic and complex swimming ability. In terms of gender, there is no difference in basic and complex swimming ability between boys and girls in Germany.

Children who are not yet able to swim at a basic levelcannot dive, are less confident about jumping into the water with one foot and are less able to climb out. This confirms the importance of submersion in teaching swimming.

However, the underestimation of dangers is alarming. In Germany, 49% of children underestimate dangerous situations in swimming pools, compared to 44% in open water . The age of the childrendoes not play a role in this assessment, but gender does: boysare more likely tounderestimate dangers than girls.

In terms of motivation and self-confidence, children of all age groups are very motivated, with older children feeling more self-confident in the water than younger ones. The unrestricted motivation in particular shows that it is worthwhile integrating selective offers for water exercise into everyday (school) life.

With regard to background(parents' level of education, parents' swimming ability and socio-economic status), it can be seen that these social factors have a significant overall effect on the learning level ofswimming ability, especially in younger children. They influence the overall values determined by 33% . It is therefore the environment that determines swimming ability. The effect decreases for older children. This suggests that the trend of declining swimming ability in Germany can be counteracted with structured measures at school.

These results, even if they are not yet representative, provideimpetus for swimming training, educational plans and municipal support strategies. Accordingly, the team at the German Sport University Cologne is already working in parallel on simpler strategies to firmly establishswimming ability as a measurable indicator in swimming education in the future.

The full Europe-wide results will be published at the final presentation in Brussels in fall 2025.

Registration for the final event in Brussels:
https://www.vub.be/en/event/alfac

A WDR report on the swimming check at the German Sport University Cologne: https://www1.wdr.de/nachrichten/rheinland/kinder-schwimmen-studie-sporthochschule-100.html

Link to the presentation: https://dshs-koeln.sciebo.de/s/CDlpHwDgXg2JRId