28 July 2025

Inclusion in action: supporting diverse communities in the pool

Supervisors and Swim Instructors from Royal Life Saving WA’s Multicultural Swim and Survive programs met earlier this month at our head office in Mt Claremont to reflect on the successes of the previous year, engage in learning, and explore ways to enhance the delivery of our inclusion programs; particularly our adult Men’s and Women’s Only sessions, as well as our children’s Swim and Survive lessons. Topics covered included strategies to support diverse classes, effective techniques for giving and receiving feedback, and streamlined assessment criteria.

As the face of our inclusion programs, our supervisors and instructors are on the pool deck every week, helping children and adults learn vital swimming and water safety skills. It is important to Royal Life Saving WA that they are equipped not only to manage their day-to-day tasks, but also with the knowledge and skills to promote cultural awareness and effectively engage with diverse communities.

Program supervisor Alise Wilton spoke on engaging and managing classes with culturally and linguistically diverse (CaLD) backgrounds, while supervisor Juanita Adie-Cooper led a training session on cultural awareness for instructors. We believe that our instructors and supervisors play a vital role in creating safe, welcoming aquatic environments, and their firsthand knowledge and experience are key to reflecting on program strengths and future focus areas.

Manager, Inclusion Programs and Capacity, Achol Madong, states that: “our supervisors and instructors, supported by the amazing Inclusion team, have done a fantastic job delivering lessons across our programs over the past 12 months. I’d like to acknowledge our regional supervisors and instructors, a dedicated group that consistently goes above and beyond to ensure those in the regions never miss out.”

“In the words of our Metro Coordinator, our participants wouldn’t be where they are, whether it’s building skills or confidence, without our heroes in red.”

“Thank you for your feedback. We look forward to achieving great outcomes in the year ahead.”

The get-together also provided an opportunity for our casual workforce to learn about a newly implemented enrolment system, and how it aims to streamline day-to-day tasks such as marking attendance and tracking participant skill achievements throughout the program.

Everyone walked away with something to think about, and new ideas to bring back to their own lessons.

Thank you to the Department of Creative Industries, Tourism and Sport for their support of our Inclusion programs.

To learn more about Royal Life Saving WA’s multicultural swimming programs and access and equity initiatives, visit the link below.