Sports Faculty colleagues share examples of initiatives that enhance diversity and inclusion in sporting activities
University colleagues Eleni Theodoraki and Maura Sheehan recently completed an Erasmus + Sport project that aimed to promote equality and social inclusion through various sports and games initiatives for children in disadvantaged communities.
Their research focused on how to encourage sustained participation in sport among children from disadvantaged communities in three EU member states – the UK, Romania and Sweden.
Locally, the researchers partnered with Tom Buik, founder and chair of the St Angela’s Participation Centre, which provides free sport, aims to embrace diversity and improve the lives of young people and their families in and around Darnley, Greater Pollok and the surrounding areas of Glasgow South.
During a study visit to ENU this spring (pictured above), a number of colleagues from the Sports Faculty shared examples of initiatives that enhance diversity and inclusion in sporting activities by children from disadvantage communities and children with disabilities and mental health challenges.
While children from within disadvantages communities in all of the study countries communities were enthusiastic about participating in sport, they often faced quite significant barriers to participation, including travelling safely to sporting venues, chaotic home lives, insufficient resources to purchase necessary sporting attire and insufficient sporting equipment in leisure facilities.
The research found that a combination of committed parents, dedicated and trained volunteers from within the communities and critically, teachers who champion and embrace the importance of participating in sport for the development and mental health of these children were found to be pivotal to the sustainability of participation. Due to forced ‘volunteering’ during the Communist period in Romania, it proved very difficult to encourage sustained volunteering among these key stakeholders. In contrast, such volunteering is deeply embedded in Swedish culture and supported by significant resources from the government.
The research also examined how and if private sector companies viewed supporting sport for children in disadvantaged areas as part of their Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes. The importance of culture and historical factors for CSR initiatives were found to fundamentally impact organisation’s views about such support had merit.
In the UK, the majority of companies surveyed acknowledged that supporting such initiatives was indeed an integral part of their CRS initiatives, while in Sweden the majority of organisations generally felt supporting such activities was the role of the state and parents. In contrast, very few companies in Romania viewed such activities as part of CSR – rather, support for survivors of the brutal orphanages as well as improving the welfare of Romania’s significant homeless pet population – were viewed to be much more appropriate recipients for CSR activities.
This project has contributed to Maura’s current research on the links between companies’ CSR commitments, employees’ psychological contracts and the subsequent links to companies’ financial performance across several EU countries. She commented, “The Erasmus+ Sport project adds to growing evidence that CSR should not be viewed as universally ‘good’, but rather the potential benefits of CSR for both employers and employees are very much contingent on the complex and critical roles of culture, history and government”.