Understanding participation rights: Listening to children to advance ‘safe(r) sport'

Description

CPD training session webinar delivery on children's participation rights for Children1st (NSPCC Scotland) attended by around 50 coaches and sport safeguarding officers.

It is now beyond question that sport is a locus for violence, abuse, and exploitation of athletes of all ages. Embedding human rights into sport offers a potential solution to these concerns. Integrating children’s right to have a say and be heard – their participation rights, sometimes also known as the right to a ‘voice’ – is central to democratising sport and realising safe sporting environments.
When done well, children’s participation can enhance child safeguarding and protection from abuse by breaking down power imbalances, encouraging disclosures and a listening culture, and creating innovative, more (child) athlete-centred sporting spaces.
However, there remains much misunderstanding among sport stakeholders about what child participation looks like in practice or how it can be achieved. As such, incorporating children’s voices can be said to be the missing link in most current strategies to safeguard children and promote their rights in sport. This presentation will explain what it means to listen to children in sport, identify practical examples, and present a framework for implementing meaningful child participation to help sport stakeholders better safeguard children and realise their rights.

Period	16 Apr 2024
Held at	Children1st, United Kingdom
Degree of Recognition	National