Water Safety Instructor

Updated on Jan 02, 2025

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The Water Safety Instructor (Commonly referred to as WSI) program is an aquatics program, specific to swim instructing, regulated and certified primarily through the Canadian Red Cross. It is also recognized by the American Red Cross.

Water Safety Instructor certification focuses on preparing candidates to teach the Red Cross Swim programs, it teaches candidates to introduce and develop fitness activities, skills and water safety and swimming skills in several Red Cross programs. The WSI course is recognized by the National Coaching Certification Program (NCCP), Swimming Canada and the Coaching Association of Canada. To become a lifeguard in Canada, some employers require you also hold certification as a Water Safety Instructor.

Programs

Water Safety Instructors are certified to teach the following programs:

Red Cross Swim Preschool

Red Cross Swim Kids

Red Cross Swim @ School

Red Cross Swim @ Camp

Red Cross Swim for Adults & Teens

Red Cross Swim Adapted

Prerequisites

The Red Cross requires WSI candidates meet the following requirements before attempting the course:

15 years of age or older.

Red Cross Swim Kids 10 strokes and skills, or equivalent.

One of the following certifications (in expired or current order):

Red Cross Assistant Lifeguard

Emergency First Aid

Bronze Cross or equivalent

Instructor Development Program

Before January 2016, the Red Cross required students to complete the Red Cross Assistant Water Safety Instructor (AWSI) course prior to attempting the Red Cross Water Safety Instructor course. Currently, the course structure is broken down into four course component.

WSI Skills Evaluation

WSI candidates must be able to demonstrate water safety skills, strokes and emergency response skills that meet or are equivalent to Red Cross Skim Kids 10 standards. Criteria for these skills, outlined by the Canadian Red Cross, includes:

Water Safety Skills

Treading water/Eggbeater kick for 3 min

Feet/Head-first surface dives with underwater swim 2m

Rescue assists (reaching, throwing, throwing with line)

Disorienting Entries

Stride Entry

Standing Shallow Dive

Strokes

Front crawl 100m

Back crawl 100m

Elementary Back Stroke 50m

Breast Stroke 50m

Side Stroke 25m

Instructor Emergency Response Skills

Recognizing a distressed, injured, tired/weak, and unconscious swimmer

Assistive Carry from Deep Water

Assistive removal of conscious swimmer

Rescue of submerged swimmer

Grip techniques for suspected head and spine injury

Basic First Aid

WSI Skills Evaluation can be completed before, during or after the WSI Online or WSI Teaching Experience. However, it must be completed before WSI Classroom and Pool. This component of the WSI course is three to six hours in length.

WSI Online

The WSI Online component allows candidates to learn at their own speed with a series of 15 online modules which contain an overall 14 to 20 hours of online learning. Each candidate is given a PIN and password which are used to access the modules on the http://redcrosselearning.ca/ website, along with a Red Cross Swim Deck Book and Water Safety Instructor Workbook that are used throughout the modules and Teaching Experience. The modules walk candidates through effective water safety instruction and give in-depth knowledge with the use of videos, activities, games, and a knowledge evaluation at the end of each module.

WSI Teaching Experience

After completion of the online component, candidates assist a minimum of two certified WSIs for a minimum of 8 hours in total: 4 hours in a Red Cross Swim Preschool class and 4 hours in a Red Cross Swim Kids class. Not only does the Teaching Experience allow for first-hand experience observing a certified instructor, but also allows the candidate to plan and teach part of the class as if it were their own with instruction from the Water Safety Instructor Workbook.

Throughout the Teaching Experience, candidates are evaluated based on the following criteria, outlined with further guidelines in the Water Safety Instructor Workbook:

1. Planning2. Teaching3. Safety Supervision4. Communication5. Leadership6. Evaluation

To successfully complete the Teaching Experience component, candidates are required to:

Complete a minimum of 8 hours (total) of teaching experience (with 100% attendance and participation, including assisting the supervising WSI in the water): 4 hours in a Red Cross Swim Preschool class and 4 hours in a Red Cross Swim Kids Class

Assist a certified WSI in either Red Cross Swim Preschool lesson with or without parents/caregivers

Assist a different certified WSI in Red Cross Swim Kids lessons

Observe and learn from the supervising WSI, who is ultimately responsible for the class

Complete a worksheet for both the Red Cross Swim Preschool and Red Cross Swim Kids session

Create a lesson plan, using the Lesson Plan Generator, for both Swim Preschool and Kids classes

Complete the Water Safety Instructor Teaching Experience Journal for one of the classes you are assisting with

WSI Classroom and Pool

The final and fourth component of the WSI course involves nine hours of classroom and twelve hours of pool experience under the supervision of a certified instructor trainer. As part of pool experience, candidates practice teaching exercises on fellow candidates or on actual swimmers completing swimming lessons, similar to the WSI Teaching Experience component.

Certification

Once certified, WSI instructors are certified for one year, allowing the instructor to teach Red Cross Swim programs without supervision. Completing an additional three WSI online modules within one year extends the expiry of their certification by one year. Once the certification has expired, instructors must attend a WSI rectification course which composes of two hours classroom and three hours pool experience.

References

Water Safety Instructor Wikipedia

(Text) CC BY-SA

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