A University of Otago study found that children whose swimming lessons include time in open water are more competent than those who solely use pools.
Forty children, aged seven to 11, were put through a five-day programme in both a pool and in open water.
Their floating, treading water and swimming skills all improved after the open water sessions.
Researchers say that schools could be implementing more programmes in the outdoors on top of pool lessons.
Report co-author Kane Cocker points to the high drowning rates in recent years.
Last year, 93 drowned in New Zealand — a 14-year high.
"I think everyone's noticing it's an issue and this might be one way to address it longer term."
"If I was a parent in New Zealand, I'd be taking my little boy or girl down to Surf Life Saving New Zealand actually and getting them involved in their beach nippers programme," fellow report co-author Chris Button said.
National lifesaving manager Andy Kent said it's difficult getting into schools consistently.
"The research shows it's at least five sessions and trying to put that in a curriculum is incredibly hard."
He also said that they have 8000 kids every week over summer come down to the clubs and learn about water safety.
"Teaching kids about how to be safe, and how to use their knowledge to look for rips, to look for other environmental dangers at the beach, it's what we do and it's proven in the research. That will help kids in the long run be better in the water and certainly open water environments."
Swim instructor Eva Houlding said that she thinks a mixture of the two is really important.
"I do encourage a lot of parents to actually start off just taking their kids to different bodies of water and just playing with them and having fun."
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