Fighting Discrimination through Sport? Evaluating Sport-Based Workshops in Irish Schools

Abstract

Discrimination based on ethnicity, gender, or sexual orientation remains a pressing challenge throughout Europe, including within Ireland. Despite this, anti-discrimination education is lacking and uneven within school settings. Responding to this gap and seeking to capitalise on the perceived social potential of sport, one Irish NGO has begun delivering sport-based anti-discrimination workshops to students in primary and secondary schools nationwide. This paper presents an evaluation of these workshops, putting a specific focus on the learning outcomes generated. Data were obtained from standardised, open-ended student feedback forms and qualitatively analysed using a Framework Analysis. The results illustrate fairly consistent learning outcomes, but these outcomes generally focus on individual behaviours and attitudes. This contrasts strongly with literature on anti-discrimination education, which recognises a need to reflect on privilege and social structures while also developing clear strategies to address discrimination. To conclude, we propose recommendations and ways forward to help address both individual and structural realities within such sport-based workshops.

Discrimination in Youth Sport: Exploring the Experiences of European Coaches

“…Despite this, education initiatives often face challenges in meaningfully raising awareness or changing attitudes [17,20]. At their worst, anti-discrimination education may simply reproduce generalisations or stereotypes, leaving coaches poorly prepared to deal with the nuance and complexity of real-life situations [20].…”

“…Despite this, education initiatives often face challenges in meaningfully raising awareness or changing attitudes [17,20]. At their worst, anti-discrimination education may simply reproduce generalisations or stereotypes, leaving coaches poorly prepared to deal with the nuance and complexity of real-life situations [20]. And, even when education is effective and coaches can properly identify discriminatory behaviour, coaches may struggle to adequately handle or report incidents.…”