Blog - Of course we've got some male baby-swimming teachers - part I

Ryan and Colin - our first two male baby swimming teachers

A week or so ago, I posted a video on Facebook by Judi Dench and Daniel Craig highlighting inequalities that still existed for women.  Interestingly, the first comment was by a man asking how many men were on our books?

Actually, there are not very many – but perhaps more than you would have thought.  And we think they are all great!  I asked Kerry Parr (Chester Franchisor), Ali Beckman (Technical Director) and Colin Farrow (photographer and teacher) what their thoughts were on male teachers in Puddle Ducks.

Over the next few days, I’ll post their responses.  Here are some comments from Ali, our technical director:

You trained Ryan and Colin on the same training course - your first with male How did this change the course dynamics?

This course was very different to ones we have run in the past and the group seem to bond much quicker.  I firmly believe it is because the men injected humour into the course very early on! 

This is no disrespect to any of our previous candidates, but there was a very noticeable difference in the way they dealt with the pressures of the course. 

Mothers are still the main primary carers and therefore tend to worry about the usual home routine and whether their husband/parent/carer is coping.  This often adds to the stress they feel during an intensive training week. The men didn't seem to worry about home.

Do you think men can be as good a teacher as women, or as empathetic?

 Teaching swimming at Puddle Ducks is different to any other baby swimming I have come across and often the teacher can become a sounding board.  My only concern with male teachers was how they would be able to empathise if, for example, a mum became tearful because she had been up all night struggling to breastfeed!!  

After spending a week with two male teachers I now realise that they can be just as supportive.  They were extremely understanding with parents whose children were struggling during a lesson and I was thrilled to hear them asking questions like “is he good for you?” and “does he sleep well?” – not swimming related questions but exactly the same questions our female teachers ask to start to build on the teacher-parent relationship!

 In what ways does having men in the team improve our Puddle Ducks network?

 I know that the relaxed and confident attitude demonstrated on the course has already been transferred to the pool and they deliver excellent lessons.  Many children respond better to male teachers and having the option in a franchise will only strengthen the business.

Posted: Friday, 25th March 2011 by Tracy
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