Education Policies & Procedures

Standard operating hours for Swim Ireland Education team are Monday – Friday 9am-5pm.

Queries can be sent by email to education@swimireland.ie or by phone 01-6251120.

If a team member does not answer their phone, please leave a voicemail so they can follow up with you directly.

Acceptable communication methods are phone calls or email, staff will not engage with individuals via text message, WhatsApp, or social media.

Any candidate booking a Swim Ireland Education course from the 1 October 2022 will have one calendar year to complete all steps of their qualification. When that calendar year has passed, candidates will need to rebook the course at the currently advertised rate.

All course candidates must have 100% attendance for all SI Education courses. If full attendance is not met the candidate must contact the Swim Ireland Education department prior to the end of the course to avail of the next steps. Exceptional circumstances will be reviewed, and evidence may be asked to be provided.

Swim Ireland courses consist of three steps – e-Learning module, virtual classroom and practical. Each step must be completed in order, prior to moving onto the next one.

Candidates are required to submit coursework and documentation through the Learning Hub within 7 days of course completion (virtual classroom or practical).

Late fees will apply for any candidates submitting their initial work after the seventh day.

Late fees are applicable as follows – €50 for first week plus €10 per week thereafter.

From day 7 to 14, Tutors will review and provide any necessary feedback to candidates as required.

Tutors are required to submit all course documentation to the Swim Ireland Education team within 21 days of course completion.

Candidates who submit coursework by the required deadline can expect their qualification/ credential to be added to their Swim Ireland JustGo profile 21 days after final day of course.

Qualifications/ credentials will not be awarded where late fees or course work are outstanding.

All course fees must be paid in advance of receiving course access.

Invoicing is only permitted to prior approved facilities. To generate an invoice, the payment fee is required to be a minimum of €325.00. If the invoice is not paid within 7 days, the respective candidate/s will not be permitted to attend the course.

For cancellations, candidates must reach out to SI Education 48 hours prior to the course start date and time. Those who provide the required notice can receive a full refund, minus a 2% surcharge fee.

Candidates who have fully paid for an SI Education Swimming Teacher or Coach course are eligible for a refund only for the course stages they have not yet completed.

The cost of events and courses are exclusive of a 2% credit/debit card payment surcharge, which is non-refundable.

In the case of exceptional circumstances, please contact Swim Ireland Education. Cases will be dealt with on an individual basis and evidence of circumstances may be required.

Candidates are allowed one complimentary transfer for each course booking, to the same event on a different date. To take advantage of this one-time transfer, candidates must contact SI Education at least 48 hours before the course start date and time. Subsequent transfers may only be granted in exceptional circumstances.

Under exceptional circumstances a candidate may attend a module of another course (applies only to Swimming Teacher/ Coach Virtual Classroom or Practical courses). The candidate must contact the Education team to make this request with a minimum of 48 hours’ notice (Monday-Friday) prior to missing the module.

When a candidate is assigned to the respective module of a new course, the candidate must contact the Education team 48 hours in advance of the new course (Monday-Friday) to receive access to the course. The responsibility of receiving the link sits with the candidate or parent/ guardian if the candidate is under the age of 18 and the Education team will not initiate contact with the candidate to provide access.

The candidate will be allowed a one-time free transfer for the module missed. If the module is not completed after this transfer the candidate will be required to pay and sit in on a full course.

Transfer requests 48 hours or less prior to course start time will not be accepted and will be treated as a cancellation.

You will be charged the full event fee for any subsequent transfers.

If you cannot attend a course module or a pre-practical Zoom session and have organised an additional 1 on 1 session with the course tutor, you will be required to pay €35.00 per hour which will be organised through SI Education. This will be paid directly to the tutor for their additional time.

Swim Ireland has a duty to ensure that any possible conflicts of interest are effectively managed. This policy provides guidance on how to manage actual or perceived conflicts of interest.

A conflict of interest can occur when an individual has competing interests or loyalties, for example, a Tutor has an immediate or extended family member or friend on their course.

In the first instance candidates should avoid situations that may create a conflict of interest. At times this may be unavoidable, candidates should then declare any conflict of interest with the Education team via education@swimireland.ie.

The Education team may then take steps to address this, such as appointing an alternative Tutor to assess candidate(s) or candidate(s) may be offered place on an alternative course.

Immediate family – Spouses or partners, parent and child, siblings.

Extended family – Grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, and candidates related through marriage or partnerships.

All candidates are required to be respectful of one other and the Tutor. Any behaviour deemed by the Tutor to be disrespectful towards any other individual, will result in removal from the course and the candidate will be required to pay for another course date, no refunds will be provided.

Candidates and Tutors are expected to:

Treat all candidates and Tutors with respect regardless of their background, opinion or identity. Behaviour that is considered aggressive, abusive or discriminatory will not be tolerated and will result in removal of the course without refund.

Use appropriate and respectful language with all course candidates and Tutors.

Use the Swim Ireland online platforms respectfully. Any content that is deemed inappropriate or offensive will be subject to investigation and possible penalties.

Respect other candidates and Tutor privacy by not sharing or recording their information without permission.

Any candidate who believes their course tutor has not complied with this policy is encouraged to promptly contact a member of the Swim Ireland Education team to discuss their concerns.

Unacceptable Behaviour:

Any form of harassment, discrimination, bullying, aggressive behaviour or abusive/ hateful speech based on gender, sexuality, identity, religion, race, nationality or disability.

Intentionally disrupting a course.

Using Swim Ireland Education online platforms for non-educational purposes, sending spam, offensive and inappropriate content or engaging in cyber-bullying.

Providing course links to external individuals for the intention of disrupting the course.

Consequences:

Removal from the course, without refund of course booking fee.

Any candidate who believes their course tutor has not complied with this policy is encouraged to promptly contact a member of the Swim Ireland Education team to discuss their concerns.

Clubs/ facilities and Swim Ireland Tutors must register courses through the Swim Ireland website.

A minimum of eight weeks’ notice is required. Given the demand for courses we recommend allowing 16 weeks lead time when organising a course.

Club/ facility candidates must have active Vetting NVB/ Access NI through Swim Ireland and Safeguarding Level 1 through a Sport Ireland accredited course, prior to course registration.

Courses are advertised fortnightly to Tutors. When a Tutor shows interest in a specific course in a specific location, then planning will be brought further.

All Virtual Classrooms will be hosted on a Swim Ireland Education Zoom platform and will be delivered by a Swim Ireland Tutor.

You will be provided a link to the Zoom session 24 hours prior to course commencement.

The requirements for awarding a certificate at the end of a Virtual Classroom course are:

1. It is mandatory to have your camera on for the full duration of all virtual classroom courses. If you do not have your camera on, you will be removed from the course.
2. Depending on the course, polls will be posted throughout the course – you must answer all the polls; this is used as a check of attendance.
3. 100% attendance is required.
4. Attentiveness is based on trust for any virtual classroom; however, if participants do not take part in the polls or the breakout rooms, the participant may be removed by the Tutor for non-attendance and the participant will not receive the certificate of attendance for the course.
5. Please note, recipients of the Zoom link are not permitted to share it with third parties except with the express permission of Swim Ireland. Certification will not be available to non-registrants.

Candidates are required to ensure they have all the necessary equipment in working order to attend a Virtual Classroom course and any pre-practical Zoom session. This includes but is not limited to, ensuring their laptop/tablet or phone, video camera, microphone, speakers and Wi-Fi are in good working order. This is the responsibility of the candidate and or parent/guardian. Failure to ensure the necessary equipment is not in working order, will result in removal from the course.

100% attendance for all modules are required. Candidates logging in late or leaving early will be required to re-sit the full module before awarding of virtual classroom and must communicate directly with the Education team.

Under exceptional circumstances a candidate may attend a module of another course. The candidate must contact the Education team to make this request with a minimum of 48 hours’ notice (Monday-Friday) prior to missing the module.

When a candidate is assigned to the respective module of a new course, the candidate must contact the Education team 48 hours in advance of the new course (Monday-Friday) to receive access to the course. The responsibility of receiving the link sits with the candidate or parent/ guardian if the candidate is under the age of 18 and the Education team will not initiate contact with the candidate to provide access.

The candidate will be allowed a one-time free transfer for the module missed. If the module is not completed after this transfer the candidate will be required to pay and sit in on a full course.

The candidate must contact the Education team about the missed module prior to the end date of the course.

If a candidate misses the first module of a course, they must transfer to another full course. They must contact the Education team directly upon missing the first module. If more than one module is missed the candidate must re-sit the full course.

The candidate must attend the first module of a course, if it is missed, they must transfer to a new course.

Course work should be submitted to the original course on the Learning Hub for the original Tutor to assess their work.

If the transferred module falls after the 7-day completion mark of the original course the candidate must inform the Education team that work has been submitted. The Education team will then contact the Tutor with this information and the Tutor will review the submitted work.

All courses operate as a classroom environment, candidates must be in a quiet, private room with no distractions when completing the course.

Attending a course while driving a vehicle is a serious health and safety risk to the candidate and other road users and will result in expulsion from the course.

Parents/ carers of candidates age under 18 are responsible for ensuring that their child is supervised.

All information shared within the course between fellow candidates and Tutor will be kept confidential unless there is a serious concern for the safety and welfare of a candidate.

If additional support is required, please contact the Education team in advance of the course and the necessary resources will be provided upon request.

All candidates over 16 years of age must have active Swim Ireland Vetting NVB/ Access NI and accepted Safeguarding Level 1 credentials in place on their Swim Ireland profile to attend a course practical. Candidates are responsible for ensuring they apply in good time to prevent any delay of attendance at preferred course practical.

Course candidates are provided with a Swim Ireland t-shirt for course practicals which should be worn on course practical. Bookings within 1 week of course date are not guaranteed to receive a t-shirt or a t-shirt in a size of their choosing.

It is the responsibility of the candidate to ensure they are in appropriate clothing and footwear, including wearing a Swim Ireland t-shirt, for poolside courses.

Attendance for the full practical course is mandatory. This includes the pre-practical Zoom time and all pool time hours.

If any pool time hours are missed the candidate must sit a new practical course. Only under exceptional circumstances and within our cancellation policy timeline will a candidate receive a transfer for this course.

All courses require a minimum of 8 candidates for the course to go ahead.

Note: courses that cater for Level 1 and Level 2 will be reviewed one week in advance of course commencing to ensure it is feasible.

Candidates will be required to travel to course practicals in different counties. Swim Ireland Education is unable to guarantee a practical course will be hosted in a facility nearby.

Course practical’s can be held midweek as well as at weekends, candidates must keep this in mind and consider the next available course if these dates do not suit.

We aim to advertise any courses six to eight weeks in advance and any courses with a shorter lead time are on request of clubs or facilities.

Courses are organised based on demand and dependent on the end of virtual classroom dates.

An appeal applies solely to assessment outcomes If a learner feels there is a justified reason for disagreeing with the assessment made by the delivering Tutor the following procedures should be adopted:

All appeals should be sent via email to the Qualifications Manager within 10 days of completion of the assessment, stating the grounds of the appeal.

Grounds for appeal:

• Did not achieve the outcomes.
• Not all assessment outcomes completed.

Appeals will be reviewed by the Appeals Panel. The Panel will respond to the appeal within 21 days of submission, with a copy of the response sent to Head of Education.

Swim Ireland Education Appeals Panel may:

1. Confirm the original assessment.
2. Recommend that reassessment take place.

Considering the above the learner may:

1. Accept the decision of the Appeals Panel
2. Request a reassessment.

A fee of €150 will be charged where a practical reassessment is requested by the candidate.

Swim Ireland expects Tutors to ensure that candidates are made fully aware of the criteria against which their progress and success will be judged.

All candidates should be made aware of:

1. The timing of assessment
2. The criteria against which they will be assessed.
3. The method/s by which they will be assessed.
4. The outcome of assessment and the reasons for that outcome.
5. The cost of any formal re-assessment opportunities.

This is underpinned by the following principles:

• All assessments will be carried out in a fair and equitable way, without prejudice or favour.
• It is the responsibility of the candidate to ensure understanding of the assessment criteria and standards before presenting for assessment. The candidate has the right of appeal against any outcome.
• Assessed work will conform to the required outcomes set by the Swim Ireland.
• An assessment plan will be agreed with the candidates showing when key assessments will be carried out and completion deadlines.
• Assessment dates and deadlines may be altered by the Tutor according to operational need or re-negotiated with candidates according to individual circumstance.
• By prior agreement candidates may present work for assessment outside the assessment plan.
• The assessment criteria and how these will be applied should be made known to candidates.
• Any changes to assessment deadlines will be agreed and recorded with the Education team by the Tutors prior to the end of the course.
• Extensions will not be granted beyond 12 months.

Process for Assessment

Assessment will take the following form:

• Continuous (formative) assessment of the practical teaching/coaching by the Tutor.
• Assessment of the Learner Assessment Portfolio by the Tutor.
• Oral questioning by the Course Tutor.
• Summative assessment is carried out at the end of the course.
• If the candidate is attending a blended course some assessment may be completed by examination online.

Reassessment

The candidate will be required to attend another practical course.

The candidate will be required to demonstrate competence at the requisite standard in all the aspects which the Tutor had indicated require further attention.

All arrangements for practical reassessment must be made by the candidate with the Swim Ireland Education Qualifications Manager, who will also be responsible for ensuring that all relevant Swim Ireland conditions are met.

Re-assessment of the Learner Assessment Portfolio will be through submission to a person designated by Swim Ireland.

The cost of re-assessment of practical teaching/coaching will be €150 for the allocated Tutor, organised through Swim Ireland Education. Full payment is required in advance of any re-assessment.

Swim Ireland Education is committed, in its service provision, to offer standards of the highest quality while aiming to comply with all regulatory requirements.

Whilst every care is taken to ensure high quality standards, we acknowledge that there may be occasions where we fall short of expectations and candidates are not completely satisfied. One of the ways in which we can continue to improve our service is by listening and responding to the views of our customers and stakeholders and responding positively and putting mistakes right.

For every course, Swim Ireland Education will:

Provide a clear and structured process which highlights how a candidate can make a complaint and, if it is not resolved satisfactorily, take the next steps to escalate the complaint further.

Swim Ireland will ensure that:

• Making a complaint is as easy as possible.
• Complaints are treated as a clear dissatisfaction with our service.
• An appropriate response is provided.
• Complaints are reviewed to improve service.

How to make a complaint

Informal process

Swim Ireland recognise that candidates who are dissatisfied will want a problem to be addressed as quickly as possible, especially when on an educational course where their main intent is to learn.

Firstly, an informal approach will be taken to try and resolve the concern quickly, enabling mediation between the complainant and the individual to whom the complaint has been directed. For this to happen, the complainant is encouraged to talk to the Tutor.

For review and evaluation, and to reduce the chances of another similar complaint happening, it is suggested that a note of the informal discussion is made by the Tutor including the time, date, and location of the discussion.

If a concern cannot be satisfactorily resolved informally, the formal complaints procedure should be followed.

Formal process

Stage 1

Formal complaints are to be submitted to education@swimireland.ie.

The Panel will acknowledge the complaint in writing within five working days of receipt, record details on the complaints register and begin investigations into the cause of dissatisfaction.

A response, inclusive of explanation and resolution, will be provided within 28 working days of initial complaint acknowledgement. To ensure a fair and thorough investigation, the duration will depend on the nature and severity of the complaint received.

If there is still not a satisfactory outcome received, then further investigation will be required.

Stage 2

The Swim Ireland Education Complaints Panel will identify an appropriate member of Swim Ireland Senior Management to review the complaint for further investigation.

Acknowledgement of further investigation will be provided to the complainant in writing within five working days of receipt of the stage 2 complaint. The complainant will also be notified of the individual responsible for the investigation.

The chosen member of Senior Management will conduct a further investigation into the cause of dissatisfaction. Upon cessation of investigations, the member of Senior Management will communicate directly with the complainant and provide an explanation or resolution. This will be communicated to the complainant within 30 working days of receipt of the stage 2 complaint.

The duration of further investigation will depend on the nature and severity of the complaint, and, at this stage, the complexity of the response required. In some cases, the investigation may take longer, and in such instances, the complainant will be notified of the revised timescale.

Review

Where the outcome of a complaint leads Swim Ireland to discover areas for change, Swim Ireland will endeavour to make the required amendments to ensure the complaint, or similar complaint, does not occur in the future.

If required, relevant communications will be sent to any other candidate who may have been affected to mitigate, as far as possible, the effect of the identified cause.

‘Equal opportunity is about celebrating difference and diversity and as such providing a swimming structure that can respond to this in a proactive and positive manner’.

The aim of this policy is to help all staff and volunteers and members in our Aquatic Community develop their full potential and ensure that the talents and resources of the workforce are fully utilised. It is important to note that Swim Ireland is opposed to all forms of unlawful and unfair discrimination, both direct and indirect.

Swim Ireland is committed to the promotion, principle, and practice of equal opportunities across all its aquatic disciplines, both as an employer, provider and as a facilitator of such practices by all its members. In our work with key partners, such as swimmers, clubs, teachers, coaches, officials, and administrators, we will advocate our policies.

Swim Ireland is committed to work towards ensuring that swimming is accessible to the many, rather than few.

Swim Ireland recognises the need to acknowledge the diversity of provision that is required to ensure people, regardless of their race, sex/gender, ability, age, sexual orientation, and social economic background, can access swimming and develop at a level that is appropriate to them.

Swim Ireland recognises the need to celebrate difference and diversity of provision as a means of creating entitlement and accessibility to our structure.

Swim Ireland recognises that equal opportunity is about recognising that people are different and therefore require different provision.

Reasonable Accommodations

Swim Ireland Education can provide additional support to candidates to ensure all candidates have equal access to our courses. Candidates who require additional support for reasons including mental, physical or learning disability, language challenges or other.

To provide the necessary support, it is the candidates responsibility to disclose what support they require to Swim Ireland Education, through the pre-course registration form and via email to education@swimireland.ie in good time.

This information will be kept confidential and only shared with the course Tutor.

Please engage with the Swim Ireland Education team, so that we can put in place the accommodations that will best support your learning.

Swim Ireland Teachers and Coaches

• Promote and apply the principles and practices of equal opportunities.
• Promote positive images of people with additional needs and diverse backgrounds.
• Encourage, and where required assist candidates with additional requirements to access training provisions.
• Encourage high expectations and standards of achievement from all they teach.
• Involve everyone in meaningful and appropriate activity to ensure a quality experience.
• Help everyone to achieve their full potential.

Definition

“Plagiarism is presenting someone else’s work or ideas as your own, with or without their consent, by incorporating it into your work without full acknowledgement. All published and unpublished material, whether in manuscript, printed or electronic form, is covered under this definition” (The Oxford Dictionary).

All candidates must complete the Authenticity Declaration for their course before submitting any work. By signing this declaration, candidates confirm that the submitted work is entirely their own. Any attempt to submit work that is not original constitutes academic malpractice and will be treated as a serious violation of our plagiarism policy, with significant disciplinary consequences.

Examples of Plagiarism

Plagiarism includes but is not limited to:

• Submitting other people’s work as your own
• Purchasing or commissioning work from internet sites or agencies
• Falsifying research results, data, interviews, or other material
• Copying word-for-word directly from a book, article, journal, website, or other source
• Copying figures, images, diagrams, pictures without acknowledging sources
• Copying from notes, essays or lectures of other students or Tutors

Academic Integrity

When authoring essays, articles, and other work it is important to show evidence that you have read what other people have written, then used their ideas and arguments to strengthen your own. You should then acknowledge or give credit to the work and ideas of others.

Cite your sources

• Citing and referencing your sources enables you to demonstrate your research skills and helps your Tutor follow up on any sources you have referred to.
• Within your essay/ assignment you should give credit with minimum detail which is called in-text citing. At the end of your essay/ assignment you will list the full details of all the sources of information (books, articles, websites etc.). This is called a reference list or bibliography.
• There are different styles of citing and referencing, Swim Ireland don’t have a preference of style, but it is essential to use the same style throughout.
• Direct quotations require the following information: author, year, and page number (or paragraph number) in brackets.
• Paraphrasing is summarising a specific section or idea of a previous body of work, in your own words. When citing in-text you should include author and the year in brackets.

Reference management tools

There are many free options to manage citing and referencing. They can allow to save references to an online account and then import them directly into your document, formatted in your preferred citation style. The following reference management tools may be helpful:

• EndNote
• Grammarly
• Mendeley
• Zotero

Plagiarism Policy on the use of Generative AI

As part of our commitment to academic integrity, this policy governs the use of generative AI tolls (such as AI-powered text and image generators) in the creation of academic work. These tools can provide valuable aid in learning and development; however, their use must adhere to the following guidelines to ensure the authenticity and originality of submitted work:

Any work generated entirely or predominantly using generative AI tools and submitted as the student’s own work is considered plagiarism and a violation of the Swim Ireland Education plagiarism policy. This includes but is not limited to AI generated assignments, learner assessments, video and image submissions and lesson/ session plans.

Candidates may use AI tools to assist in assignments for idea generation, drafting, proofreading, but only if the use is:

• Fully disclosed in the submission, specifying the nature and extent of the AI’s contribution. If an AI tool is used, all content created by that AI tool must be clearly cited, including the tool name and version.
• Complementary to the candidate’s original work, not replacing substantial portions of the submission, or replacing the candidates own problem solving and critical thinking ability.

If AI-generated work is submitted, the Tutor is required to contact the Swim Ireland Education Qualifications Manager, who will further investigate the generated work to ensure it abides by our policy.

The submission of AI-generated content without reference to the above will be treated as plagiarism and will be subject to penalties detailed further below.

By enforcing this policy, we aim to upload the academic integrity of our courses, ensuring that AI tools are used responsibly. This policy will be reviewed periodically and updated in response to advancements in AI technology and academic best practice.

Consequences of plagiarism

All alleged instances of plagiarism will be fully investigated. Upon review of the essay/ assignment the Tutor will meet with the candidates to discuss concerns.

If plagiarism can be substantiated the candidate will be notified via email and will be required to re-submit an essay/ assignment within 2 months. This will be treated as a re-assessment and a fee of €150 will apply. If the candidate does not resubmit their assignment within 2 months, they will need to reattempt the course at the full fee.

Swim Ireland Education conform to the strictest quality assurance procedures;

• All Tutor Assessors are required to register on the Register of Aquatic Professionals to practice (renewed annually)
• Swim Ireland Education Team internally verify all course paperwork submitted
• Sport Ireland Coaching externally verify all course paperwork submitted to Swim Ireland by Tutor Assessors