Throughout history, there has been a huge significance in the mastery of swimming movements in the development of swimming education. While first off, this was a method of obtaining food, now it has a recreational and safeguarding purpose alongside its tremendous health benefits. The multi-faceted nature of swimming is the reason why after many decades of trying swimming finally appears in public educational systems, bringing forth opportunities so every child can take part in this sport. Changes in time and environment influence the educational needs and implications of swimming movements to a great degree. To acquire a historical review, we will analyze the occurrence of swimming, its significance, functions and in the end, its presence in the public educational system. We analyzed the written documents that circumscribe the teaching processes of swimming, examined the first pioneers whose efforts contributed to the manifestation of swimming in public education. Following up on all this we studied the spatial changes of the process, its systems of equipment, location, and the role of swimming education in public schools. The execution of swimming movements and their functions show a historically diverse picture. Nowadays the top priority function is the protection of health, the nurturing of talented athletes, the recreational, preventive and rehabilitative mode of actions. Throughout periods of history, the change of environmental factors facilitated the educational process of swimming movements and it can be proven that the environmental factors influence the outcome of teaching processes to a large degree. Because of the change in spatial factors the methodologies, equipment and results are all improving. All these elements led to the conclusion that swimming education should take place as soon as possible in early childhood considering schools and physical education.
Keywords: swimming lessons, educational conditions, development, environmental impacts