A critical evaluation of training needs for child protection in UK sport

Abstract

Child protection is a relatively new topic in sport about which there was no professional education until the mid-1990s. This paper presents the findings from a study of delegates attending twelve, regional, one-day National Coaching Foundation courses for policy makers in sport during 1997 and 1998 (n= 235). The course was designed to give delegates a basic awareness of the different forms of child abuse and protection and was intended to help them develop appropriate policies and procedures for child protection. Results point to a serious training gap around child protection in sport: whereas sports personnel, at both junior and senior levels, are committed to improving child protection policy and practice they appear to lack the confidence, knowledge or organisational systems for doing this effectively.