Introduction

Welcome to Safeguarding Practice.

Throughout this course we refer to ‘athletes’. This is a broad term referring to anyone taking part in any sport (including, for example, those taking part in golf, netball, rugby, and tennis who are commonly called players).

You will also see the term ‘sports organisation’ used. This refers to any type of organisation delivering sporting activities, or responsible for governance in sport. The organisation may be local, national, or international, provide a range of different sporting activities, or focus on just one type of sport.

At times, you will see reference to a specific role within a sports organisation – the ‘Safeguarding Lead’. This is the person with named responsibility for leading safeguarding practice, irrespective of whether they have the term 'safeguarding' in their job title. Sometimes they are called the Designated Safeguarding Officer (DSO), Safeguarding Officer or Safeguarding Focal Point. Whatever they are called in your organisation, we will use Safeguarding Lead throughout to refer to people with this responsibility. We hope you find the course interesting.

Your welfare

During this course, you will be asked to think about different types of abuse that children and adults can experience. You may have your own lived experience of abuse and may find some of the content in this course difficult and upsetting.

Please make yourself aware of the support services that are available to you before starting the course, so that you know how to access this support if you need to.

Trigger warning

Whenever there is particularly sensitive content, you will see this symbol.

This acts as a trigger warning: a warning that the subject matter that follows contains content that is related to abuse in sport which some learners may find difficult or distressing.

In the box below, there are various download options. This is useful if you wish to study the course content offline for a period or you have issues with internet bandwidth or connection. There is a download box at the start of each session on this course.

The course is divided into eight sessions in which key safeguarding practice ideas are explained and developed with interesting examples.

You will use a variety of learning activities, such as working through interactive tasks, reading short text, listening to audio, reading a case study, or being asked to do a work-related task.

There are three main ways you will learn within and alongside this course. Select each tile to learn more.

The course follows a linear, page-by-page progression and by following this through you will complete all the course material. However, if you wish to go back to look at something again, the content of this course can be accessed from the course menu on the left-hand side of your screen.

Glossary

Throughout the course, some words (terms) are explained with a Glossary definition. These terms are highlighted in bold and underlined. The definition appears when you click on them – as in this example for safeguarding concerns.

The full Glossary can also be accessed from the course menu on the left-hand side of your screen.

Key learning points

Lightbulb boxes like this one are used throughout the course to highlight and emphasise key learning points.

Each session should take you about 60–100 minutes of study time. You have flexibility in how you organise and complete the course. For example, some learners may choose to complete one session each week, while others may prefer fewer, more intense blocks of study.

Here is what you must do to complete the course:

• Read and work through each session of the course and complete each activity (including the applying your learning tasks and the film/audio clips).
• Attempt the two quizzes in Session 4 and Session 8. To fully complete the course, a pass mark of 70% and above is required to be awarded the digital badge and course certificate.

When you are ready, move on to Session 1 Safeguarding and culture.