Royal Life Saving Society UK
Lifesaving Instructor Course
Course Summary
• The Royal Life Saving Society UK
• Learning and Teaching
• The Survive and Save Programme
• Life Support
• The role of the Lifesaving Instructor
• Assessing Skills
• Safety Management
• Teaching and Assessing Practical
The RLSS UK
Awards and Qualifications
Activity
How many RLSS UK awards and qualifications can you think of?
The RLSS UK
Structure
Management Board
Project Working Groups
•RLSS UK members
(volunteers), staff, and
industry representatives
supporting and developing
the work of the Society
RLSS UK Head Office
Regions
Management and Operations
Branches
•Corporate Services
•Communications and
Marketing
•Development Programmes
•Lifesaving Sport
Affiliated
Lifesaving/Lifeguarding
Clubs and ATCs
•Volunteer Engagement
RLSS UK Individual Members
The RLSS UK
Group
RLSS UK Group
IQL UK Ltd
Lifesavers Direct
The RLSS UK
Any questions about the RLSS UK?
The Survive and Save
Programme
The Survive and Save
Programme
Structure
The Survive and Save Programme
Administration
Register the course online at www.rlss.org.uk
Oder candidate packs and/or Assessment Report
Forms from Lifesavers Direct
www.lifesaversdirect.co.uk
Check candidate pre-requisites
Teach and assess the Core Element
Teach and assess the Award
Send Assessment Report Form to RLSS UK HQ
RLSS UK dispatches certificates and medals
Skip this stage if the
candidate already
holds the Core
Element
The Survive and Save Programme
Any questions about the
Survive & Save Programme?
The Role of the Lifesaving Instructor
Lifesaving Instructor
Roles and Responsibilities
The role of the Lifesaving Instructor is to teach and assess the lifesaving
skills in a manner that promotes the learning and development of lifesaving
candidates in a safe and friendly environment.
As representatives of the Royal Lifesaving Society UK, Lifesaving Instructors
should always strive to meet and exceed the standards of best practice
detailed in the Society’s publications and guidance.
Lifesaving Instructor
Attributes
Activity
What are the attributes of a great Instructor?
Lifesaving Instructor
Teaching Awards
Lifesaving Instructors can teach:
• Survive and Save Programme
• Life Support Programme
• Community Outreach Programme
Lifesaving Instructors aged 17 years must have an Instructor aged 18+ years in the
teaching venue when they are teaching.
Lifesaving Instructors can also complete an online application to become a Rookie
Lifeguard Instructor.
Lifesaving Instructor
Any questions about the role of the
Lifesaving Instructor?
Safety Management
Safety Management
Working with Swimming Pools
Supervision and Rescue Requirements
• Managing Health and Safety in Swimming Pools
• Safe Supervision for Teaching and Coaching Swimming
Risk Assessment
• NOP
• EAP
• PSOP
Impact on Lifesaving Classes
• Lifesaving Instructors must be aware of the PSOP of the pool that
they teach at, and should ensure that their teaching is always in
line with the venues safety requirements.
Safety Management
Working with Swimming Pools
Activity
Using the extract from ‘Managing Health and Safety in
Swimming Pools’ assess the supervision requirements for the
pool where you teach.
Safety Management
Class Management and Safety
Activity Risk Assessment
The Activity Risk Assessment is a visual appraisal by the Instructor before and during
activity.
Activity
Using the Activity Risk Assessment Summary Sheet and your Survive and Save
Programme Instructor’s Guide, perform an Activity Risk Assessment for a Bronze
Medallion class, with confident swimmers, either at the pool where you teach or at
the pool which is hosting this course.
Safety Management
Supervision
Supervision for Safety
• Take a register
• Count the candidates before, during, and after the session
• Test candidates in shallow water before entering deep water
• Ensure candidates inform you if they are leaving the pool and when they return
• Ensure candidates understand the safety requirements
• Ensure adequate rescue equipment is nearby (reaching poles, throw bags, etc)
• Ensure Lifeguards are on duty (if required by the NOP)
• Ensure there is a phone with an external line available for calling the emergency services
Safety Management
Supervision
Supervision for Effective Teaching
• Candidate to Lifesaving Instructor ratio
• Instructor position on the poolside
Small group
Large group
Safety Management
Safe Use of Water Space
Factors that affect the water space include:
• The activity
• Pool area
• Pool depth
• Candidate ability
• Equipment
How can pool space be maximised?
What teaching techniques can be used?
How can risks be managed?
Safety Management
Rules and Discipline
“Rules, and the enforcement of rules, are a requirement of safe practice”
Activity
What rules should apply:
• In the changing rooms
• On the poolside
• In the water
Safety Management
Rules and Discipline
What disciplinary methods can be used to enforce the rules?
How can Instructors, Clubs, and Centres ensure that discipline is fair and equitable?
Safety Management
Safeguarding
Safeguarding Responsibilities of the Lifesaving Instructor:
• An adult has a moral and statutory duty of care, custody and control of any child
under the age of 18 years under their supervision.
• The Lifesaving Instructor can be an important link in identifying cases where a young
person needs protection. Everyone within RLSS UK has a duty to respond to
complaints about poor practice or allegations of abuse.
• Facilitated by RLSS UK, volunteer Lifesaving Instructors are required to complete an
RLSS UK Criminal Records Disclosure form and an Enhanced Level Criminal Records
Bureau (CRB) Disclosure.
Safety Management
Safeguarding
Practice never to be sanctioned:
• Engaging in rough, physical or sexually provocative games, including horseplay
• Sharing a room with a young person
• Allow or engage in any form of inappropriate touching
• Inappropriate language by anyone
• Making sexually suggestive comments to a young person, even in fun
• Reducing a young person to tears as a form of control
• Allowing allegations made by a young person to go unchallenged, unrecorded, or not
acted upon
• Doing things of a personal nature for a young person that they can do for themselves
• Inviting young people to your home or to stay with you at home unsupervised
Safety Management
Safeguarding
What to do if an allegation is made
If you operate in an RLSS UK Club environment, contact the Club Welfare
Officer. If a Club Welfare Officer is not available:
• Seek advice from the RLSS UK Safeguarding Officer, if unavailable
• Contact the local Children’s Social Care (Social Services), if unavailable
• Contact the local Police
Safety Management
Safety and Safeguarding Information
and Support
Resources
 Lifesaving Manual for Instructors
 RLSS UK Safeguarding and Protecting Children and Vulnerable Adults Policy
 RLSS UK Code of Practice
Support
 Your local Club/Branch
 RLSS UK HQ
Safety Management
Any questions about Safety Management?
Learning and Teaching
Learning and Teaching
Learning Styles and Preferences
Visual
Auditory
Kinaesthetic
Learning and Teaching
Learning Styles and Preferences
Activity
What is your learning preference, Visual, Auditory
or Kinaesthetic?
Learning and Teaching
Learning Styles and Preferences
Visual Learners
Learn best by:
Having a clear view of the Instructor
Seeing demonstrations, diagrams, charts, handouts, etc
Creating notes, including diagrams and colour
Mind mapping processes
Use of multi-media, including computers and video
Working in a quiet place, away from distractions and noise
Learning and Teaching
Learning Styles and Preferences
Auditory Learners
Learn best by:
Listening to information, discussions, talking things through
Reading aloud to themselves
Verbally summarising, talking to oneself
Explaining the topic to someone else
Using mnemonics to aid memorisation
Using story telling
Learning and Teaching
Learning Styles and Preferences
Kinaesthetic Learners
Learn best by:
Copying demonstrations
Making or drawing models
Underlining key points
Making visual gestures whilst explaining
Being physically active during learning
Avoiding being still for too long (tend to fidget in a lecture situation)
Learning and Teaching
Teaching Methods
Activity
Which Teaching Methods suit each Learning Style?
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Demonstration
Lecture
Question and answer
Practical activities
Verbal activities
Rehearsal
Observational activities
Individual, pair, group or whole class
(teamwork) activities
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•
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•
•
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•
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Tests
Guided discovery
Diagrams, pictures
Video
Handouts and worksheets
Copying text
Experimenting
Reading
Rote learning (repetition)
Learning and Teaching
Presentation Skills
Personal Skills
 Dress – Appropriate for the task
 Manner – Body language and confidence
 Voice – Volume, pitch, clarity and speed
 Positioning – Suitable to the activity/environment/candidates
Learning and Teaching
Presentation Skills - Positioning
Classroom
Pool
Large group
Small group
Learning and Teaching
Teaching on the Poolside
It’s all about communication:
• Stand where you can be seen and heard
• Project your voice, but try not to shout
• Slow your speech down to increase the clarity
• Use your arms to demonstrate (and your legs)
• Use eye contact to engage your candidates
• Use props and equipment
• Use demonstrations from the poolside, or ask
more able candidates to demonstrate in the water
• Consider the VAK needs of your candidates
• Maintain the focus of your class, don’t let the
chatter-boxes get carried away
Learning and Teaching
The PIE Approach
Plan
Implement
Evaluate
Learning and Teaching
Teaching Programmes
Learning and Teaching
Planning
Activity
Choose one skill from chapter 4, 5, or 7 of the Lifesaving Manual for Instructor’s and
create a session plan using the template provided.
Your session must include:
• An Introductory activity or warm up
• A main theme (the skill)
• A game or activity to practice the skill
• A concluding activity or summary
Learning and Teaching
Planning
Planning and Teaching Initiative Rescue
• Must be ‘realistic’
• Must link to the skills being learnt
• Casualties must be recognisable
• Casualties must be well briefed
Learning and Teaching
Any questions about Learning and Teaching?
Life Support
Life Support
Life support is the provision of basic CPR or basic lifesaving first aid to a
casualty immediately after they become unconscious, ill or injured, until
more qualified help arrives.
The aims of life support are:
To preserve life
To obtain further qualified assistance without delay
Life Support
CPR - Chain of Survival
Every minute delay reduces the chance of survival by 10%
Life Support
CPR
Life Support Award and Life Support 3 Award
Why does RLSS UK have two awards?
What are the differences in the awards?
Life Support
Manikin Cleansing
Activity
Disassemble, clean, and reassemble a resuscitation manikin
Life Support
CPR
Life Support Class Demonstration
Life Support
CPR
Activity
Prepare a Life Support session plan.
Life Support
First Aid
Activity
Working in group’s, take it in turns to teach the following first
aid skills to each other:
 Bleeding/Wound Dressing
 Bandaging
 Arm Sling
 Pulse check
Life Support
First Aid
Any questions about Life Support and First Aid?
Assessing Skills
Assessing Skills
Purpose of Assessment
Assessments evaluate the candidate’s competence
against the established criteria
Assessing Skills
The Survive and Save Programme
Assessing Skills
The Survive and Save Programme
Assessing Skills
Organising an Assessment
Assessment
Before
 Order the Candidate Packs/Assessment Report Forms
 Arrange a time and place for the assessment with the candidates/venue
 Check candidate’s pre-requisites
 Make copies of the assessment matrix
 Prepare any equipment needed
 Ensure that you have all of the information required for the assessment form
During
 Brief candidates clearly, telling them what you expect them to do
 Remind candidates to verbalise their assessment of the situation
After
 Inform candidate of the result
 Arrange for re-assessment if required
 Complete the paperwork
 Arrange for the candidate to take their next award
Assessing Skills
Assessing During Teaching - Feedback
Observe
and/or
question
Compare to
established
criteria
Give
feedback
Assessing Skills
Types of Feedback
Positive Feedback
Informs the candidate about what they are doing well
Negative Feedback
Informs the candidate about what they are not doing well
Constructive Feedback
All feedback should be constructive, improving the candidates self knowledge and
helping them to set new goals for achievement
Bad Feedback
If feedback is communicated poorly, it can de-motivate, humiliate, or embarrass the
candidate. This can be avoided by getting to know the candidate, and giving feedback
in a manor that they will be comfortable with (possibly away from the class)
Assessing Skills
Any questions about Assessing Skills?
Practical Teaching
and Assessing
Practical Teaching and
Assessing
Activity
In groups deliver your Life Support session.
Give each other feedback on your presentation skills.
Practical Teaching and
Assessing
Activity
Spot the mistakes made by a Life Support candidate.
Practical Teaching and
Assessing
Activity
In groups, take it in turns to lead the teaching of the aquatic
lifesaving skills (chapters 4, 5, and 7).
Practical Teaching and
Assessing
Activity
In groups, take it in turns teach the class using your lesson plan.
Practical Teaching and
Assessing
Activity
Spot the mistakes made by a Lifesaving candidate
(aquatic skills).
Next Steps
1. Complete 10hrs Experience Building with a qualified Lifesaving Instructor
(who should complete your Assessment Report Form).
2. Make sure you have achieved the course pre-requisites – Life Support 3
and Individual Membership.
3. Send your completed Assessment Report Form to RLSS UK HQ – You will
be sent a Card of Authority detailing your qualifications
4. Consider becoming a Rookie Lifeguard Instructor visit www.rlss.org.uk