Recognized swimming diploma or your swim school's own diploma: what to look for?

There comes a moment when your child walks out of the changing room holding a card: a swimming diploma with their name on it. What that represents differs per swim school. In the Netherlands anyone may offer swimming lessons and issue a diploma. No law requires an instructor to be trained, that an examiner watches, or that a diploma meets national standards.

There are three layers to know: the license the swim sector issues itself, the national Swim-ABC with its own rules, and a bill that aims to make one national diploma. What you can already check today is listed below.

Why the word recognized says little about swimming lessons

Anyone may give swimming lessons and issue a diploma

There is no statutory professional requirement for swim teachers. You do not need training, a diploma or a permit to rent a pool, teach children and hand out a homemade diploma at the end. The National Council for Swimming Safety (NRZ) has, in conversations with the sector, called that the biggest risk for years: a diploma on its own says nothing about who taught the lesson and how the assessment was carried out.

In Friesland, swim schools sounded the alarm in 2024 about what they call swimming lesson cowboys, providers who do not work according to national standards or who are not qualified. Omrop Fryslân quoted a coordinator who compared it to a driving license. You only have one driving license, she argued: why should a child in Groningen have to meet different requirements than a child in Zeeland?

Since 1984 quality has been with the sector itself

The government transferred that task in 1984 to the foundation Nationale Raad Zwemveiligheid. It issues the National Swimming Diplomas and manages the License National Swimming Diplomas. Only providers that have obtained that license may officially award the Swim-ABC.

The license comes with a set of concrete requirements. A provider is audited on location, works with trained and retrained swim instructors who have a certificate of conduct, follow the Swim Sector Code of Conduct, and document their teaching method. During diploma swimming an examiner is present, and that examiner retakes an exam every four years. There are also requirements for the pool: at least 1.80 meters deep and a water surface of at least 160 square meters, of which 40 square meters at 1.80 meters deep, so children do not panic in a spacious pool. According to the National Council for Swimming Safety, over 300,000 children complete their diploma each year at a license holder.

Parents overestimate how regulated this is

Research cited by the NRZ shows that 80 percent of parents do not know that these legal requirements do not exist. That is precisely where it goes wrong with what swim schools call apparent safety: parents drop the child off, a diploma comes out, and the matter is done. While the question of which provider issued that diploma determines what it is worth.

What a National Swimming Diploma does show

The Swim-ABC is built as a ladder with three steps, and each step corresponds to a different type of water.

Diploma A: swimming in a pool without attractions

At this level your child demonstrates basic skills in a calm pool: entering the water, floating, moving forward and getting out of the water safely. Diploma A is the stepping stone to B and C. More about the pace at which children progress through these levels is in the realistic timeline for the A diploma.

Diploma B: the pool with a slide, wave pool and current

B adds attractions: a (white water) slide, a wave pool, a current channel. Your child learns to deal with moving water and moments when there is no bottom under their feet.

Diploma C: the national standard for water safety

With the National Swimming Diploma C your child meets the National Water Safety Standard. That level covers pools with attractions and open water without current or large waves, such as a recreational lake or a wider ditch. The sea is not included. According to the National Council for Swimming Safety, this diploma is recognized by fire services, police and some sports training programs for certain professions. Why B and C really matter is in our article about A as an intermediate step.

Swimming certificates for children who need more time

There are also Swimming Certificates A, B and C, intended for children with a temporary or permanent disability for whom the full Swim-ABC is not (yet) achievable. Such a certificate always has a compulsory part that covers real water safety and a flexible part that fits what a child can do. This keeps a route to water safety open, without a child getting stuck forever at the same level.

What remains to achieve after the ABC

The NRZ also issues National Snorkel Diplomas 1, 2 and 3, National Survival Diplomas 1, 2 and 3 and the National Swimming Proficiency diplomas. These diplomas serve a practical purpose: a child keeps swimming, and continued swimming is what maintains a diploma's value.

A swim school's own diploma: what it does and does not mean

Why schools issue their own diplomas

Most swim schools work with interim goals alongside the official route. A child who has been attending for half a year wants something to be proud of, and parents want to see where their child stands. Such a school diploma shows what the school itself has tested: which exercises a child masters, at what level they are, and when they are ready for the next step.

That is useful information, as long as you read it for what it is. A school diploma is an interim status, not a national exam. Always ask a school how its internal system relates to the Swim-ABC: does a child at level 6 in practice move toward the B diploma, or is there another year in between?

How that is structured in the Swimmigo app

Swimmigo uses seven levels and 86 skills, where an instructor records a score from 0 to 6 per exercise. When a child completes all exercises of a level they receive a certificate for that level, and for the three highest levels a personalized diploma: Bronze, Silver or Gold, with name, level and date. Parents see the same levels and exercises as the instructor and receive a notification when something is updated.

That is different from a National Swimming Diploma. Swimmigo is not an examination institute and does not issue NRZ A, B or C diplomas. A school that uses both has the most benefit from a system that keeps progress per pupil visible and lets parents follow where their child stands. Read more at the pupil tracking system, on the levels page and in the overview of all features.

What to check when comparing two schools

Ask more than just about the final diploma: how does a school bring children to that point? Is progress tracked per exercise or is it just an oral judgment? Do you, as a parent, get to see anything when your child makes a step? And what happens if a child remains at the same level? A school that can make that visible usually also prepares more carefully for the exam.

How to recognize a genuine National Swimming Diploma

Hologram, unique number and the ABC block

The National Swimming Diploma is an official document, and copies and forgeries circulate. You recognize the original by a silvery hologram in the top left of the white clip, a unique number above that hologram and the distinctive ABC block. The NRZ has listed the authenticity features in a separate document.

The license sticker, the thumbs-up and the swim lesson locator

Providers allowed to issue the National Swimming Diplomas display a license sticker at the entrance or on the reception window and place the logo on their website. If in doubt, look up the school in the national swim lesson locator. If a provider is not listed there, they do not meet the quality criteria and may not issue the Swim-ABC.

What a license holder has checked annually

The license means the NRZ conducts spot checks, that a representative periodically attends diploma swimming and that the examiner remains tested. Those checks come from outside the school, not from the school itself. That makes a license different from a logo a swim school sticks on its website.

Five questions to ask at reception

Do you have the License National Swimming Diplomas? Which diplomas will my child receive exactly? Who assesses whether my child is ready for diploma swimming and what experience does that person have? What if my child takes longer than average? And: how can I, as a parent, see what my child does during the lesson? A school that answers those five questions straight away has its affairs in order.

The Swim Proficiency Act bill: one national diploma

What the bill regulates

The private member's bill by member Dobbe (36.473) is called the Swim Proficiency Act, and it regulates two national standards: one nationally established swimming diploma and one nationally established swim instructor diploma. The goal stated in the bill is clear, each child should be at least water safe, regardless of the town or swim school where the diploma was obtained.

Where it stands now

The bill was submitted on November 28, 2023, and is still in the preparatory phase in the House of Representatives. Debate and voting are still open. In May 2026, Dobbe took over defending the bill from earlier sponsors who had left Parliament. Entry into force is planned by royal decree, so at a date yet to be determined. Until then the situation remains as it is: no law, but a voluntary license that schools can obtain.

Why the sector has been pushing this for years

License-holding swim schools argue the current situation creates unfair competition. They invest in trained instructors and an examiner who is present during diploma swimming, while a provider without testing can charge the same price and put the same word diploma on a card. The NRZ is also working on a system in which providers are demonstrably certified, so parents can tell from the logo alone that someone independent is checking.

Apparent safety: why a diploma does not tell the whole story

Numbers about children without a diploma

Research Zwemvaardigheid 2024 by the Mulier Institute shows that 14 percent of children aged 6 to 12 have no swimming diploma at all. That is roughly four children in a class of thirty. Almost four in ten children in that age group have A, B and C, compared with a quarter in 2012, so on that point things are improving.

Differences between groups remain large. In the lowest income group 33 percent of children have no diploma, compared with 5 percent in the highest income group. Of children with a migration background 40 percent have no diploma, compared with 9 percent of children without a migration background. Children born in the Netherlands to parents from another country fall in between at 24 percent.

Why that matters becomes clear from the drowning figures published by Statistics Netherlands in July 2026. In 2025, 100 residents of the Netherlands drowned, and children under ten born outside Europe face about eight times the risk of children with Dutch origin. Swimming lessons are therefore not an extra alongside everything else, but the difference between being able to get back to the side and not.

What happens after the diploma

The NRZ is clear about what a diploma is: proof that a child met the standard at the time of testing. Water safety is maintained only with practice, and a child who does not swim for a year after the C diploma loses skill. Swim schools that offer follow-up activities after the exam, such as survival, snorkelling or just lap swimming, keep skills up. For parents this is simple: keep swimming, even when the paper is already on the mantel. For information on when a child is ready for open water, see our article about swimming in open water.

How other countries handle swimming diplomas

Germany: Seepferdchen and nearly six in ten children

In Germany children first obtain the Seepferdchen as a first swimming diploma, followed by badges in Bronze, Silver and Gold. The DLRG, the largest water rescue organization in the world, estimates that nearly six in ten children are not safe swimmers by the end of primary school. The organization points to too few pools, cancelled school swimming lessons and a shortage of instructors. The same bottlenecks exist in the Netherlands and in Great Britain, so this is not a uniquely Dutch issue.

United Kingdom: 25 meters as a legal standard

In England school swimming is legally required and every child should be able to leave school able to swim 25 meters unaided. Still, nearly one in three children do not reach that. For children from low-income families that is 39 percent, compared with 82 percent for children from high-income families. A legal duty alone is therefore not enough if provision is not equally available everywhere.

Worldwide: drowning and what demonstrably helps

The World Health Organization lists drowning as the fourth leading cause of death for children aged 1 to 4 and the third for children aged 5 to 14, with about 300,000 deaths per year. Almost a quarter of drowning deaths are children under five, and since 2000 the number of drownings has fallen by 38 percent. Teaching swimming and water safety skills is on the WHO list of measures that demonstrably work, along with safe places to swim and supervision by adults. In every country and in every body of water it comes down to the same two things: good learning to swim, and ongoing practice.

For swim instructors and small swim schools

What a license gives you

The license requires an audit, trained instructors and a documented method. What you get in return is a diploma recognized by employers, training programs and emergency services, and parents who can tell from the logo at reception that an independent party is checking. For a small school competing with a provider without testing, that is your strongest selling point, and the only one you can back up with documents.

What you record yourself, even without a license

Whether you hold a license or offer your own route: write down what a child must meet before they complete a level, track per pupil which exercises succeed or fail, and tell parents what happens in the lesson. With Swimmigo for instructors you record how the lesson went per pupil, see who is falling behind and give parents an immediate update. Parents can follow their child's progress via the parents page. If you work with a license you can line those records up with your exam documentation. If you are still working toward one, you at least have a file that makes that step much easier.

Conclusion

Whatever paper your child receives, its value depends on who issued it and how the assessment was done. Check whether a school has the License National Swimming Diplomas, whether it is a National Swimming Diploma A, B or C, and whether an examiner is present at diploma swimming. Expect the bill that aims to establish one national diploma, but do not wait for it: what you can check today is worthwhile. And keep the main thing in view, a diploma is a milestone, continued swimming is what keeps your child water safe.

Sources

• World Health Organization: drowning, facts and figures, consulted September 2026
• World Health Organization: drowning, facts and figures, consulted September 2026
• World Health Organization: drowning, facts and figures, 10 November 2025
• Omrop Fryslân: Frisian swim schools warn, diplomas do not guarantee water safety, 30 June 2024
• World Health Organization: drowning, facts and figures, July 2026
• WHO: Drowning fact sheet, consulted September 2026
• DLRG: Swimming ability in Germany, consulted September 2026
• Swim England: research into school swimming and water safety, school year 2022/2023