Australian community sport volunteer survey on safe sport
Victoria University researchers would like to hear from adults who volunteer with youth (<18 years) in community sport clubs to understand their capabilities, opportunities, and motivations to recognise and respond to abuse (emotional, physical, and sexual) of children in sport.
This survey is being undertaken by researchers at Victoria University’s Institute for Health and Sport.
About the National Survey of Community Sport Volunteers
Sport presents unique challenges in preventing and responding to child abuse occurring in this context. The Australian community sport sector is predominantly comprised of a volunteer workforce, with an estimated 2.9 million volunteers assisting in delivering various sport programs, events and competition.
An under-funded community sport sector combined with time-poor volunteers makes getting players, coaches and officials on the field a significant task, let alone ensuring the workforce is appropriately trained and has all the relevant background checks.
Most safeguarding initiatives are online education courses, often focusing on individuals in safeguarding-specific roles (member protection officers, safeguarding officers) or sport delivery roles (coaches), leaving many members of the workforce undererved.
The lack of knowledge on safeguarding in the Australian community sport context leaves many of these initiatives relying on assumptions from other countries or institutional contexts.
Through the online dissemination of a national survey, we will assess the capabilities opportunities and motivations of the community sport sector to effectively respond to abuse of children in sport. The results of the survey will provide insights into critical strengths and weaknesses of the sport sector to address the issue of abuse of children in sport and will enable the development of targeted interventions (policies and practice) to upskill the sport sector.
Eligibility
To take part, you must be a volunteer (aged 18 years or older) in a community sport club in Australia.
Volunteer roles can include (but are not limited to):
- board members
- coaches
- officials
- canteen workers
- managers
- safeguarding officers.
Volunteers receiving small reimbursements, but not proper wages (which may be the case for some officials, medical staff etc) are also eligible.
Have your say
Participate in the survey to help us address the issue of child abuse in sport in Australia.
The survey is anonymous and will take about 15–30 minutes to complete.
The questions will ask about your abilities to recognise and respond to disclosures of abuse of children in community sport and will also ask you about your perception of current practices within the sport environment.
This project is approved by the Victoria University Human Research Ethics Committee (#24-291).
