01-01-2021
31-12-2028
In Europe, Portugal included, sports contexts involve a significant number of individuals across the lifespan, and are probably the civil society organization where citizens mostly participate. Despite being associated with an international social phenomenon that assumes a fundamental dimension in citizens' lives and in the socio-financial realities of each country, sports have been neglected in research and public policies as an educational space, socialization community and societal subsystem capable of contributing to the building of inclusive societies.
The central issue of this study is to understand how participation in sports contexts is associated with the development of young athletes as citizens, both in the here and now and also contribute to their empowerment for the future, committed to a more inclusive and non-discriminatory society.
In particular, the study seeks to:
a) understand the role of sports contexts as educational environments;
b) explore the socio-educational outcomes in terms of civic/political competences and attitudes related to democratic citizenship;
c) instigate the participation of young athletes in the development of actions in the community to raise awareness of non-discrimination (race, sexual identity, gender, religion, and nationality) through sport;
d) set the quality of the sports environments as promoters of citizen experiences at the initial levels of training; and e) bring into public discussion the relevance of sport contexts as systems compromised in social change.
Assuming a mixed-method approach and multiple sources of data, this proposal presents a nested design where each phase informs the next but generates significant outputs in itself. This program is divided into 4 phases over a period of 72 months, each of them with impacts and outputs:
1) CHARACTERIZATION OF THE SPORT CONTEXT BY THE DIFFERENT ACTORS – including an Ethnographic Study;
2) CONSTRUCTION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PROGRAM “YOUNG ATHLETES AS SPORT ACTIVISTS” – designed, implemented and evaluated by/with athletes in the age of training (from 8 YO to 18 YO) being Photo Voice a privileged tool to monitoring;
3) CONSTRUCTION OF AN OBSERVATION INSTRUMENT TO ANALYSE AND ASSESS THE QUALITY OF THE ENVIRONMENT IN SPORT CONTEXTS – based on the ethnographic study carried out and organized in an ecological perspective;
4) ) ORGANIZATION OF THE OBSERVATORY "SPORT IN/TO SOCIETY" AND THE "SPORT & CITIZENSHIP THINK TANK” SPACE.We expect the results will highlight the socio-educational significance of sport contexts as environments for the promotion of young athletes’ citizenship and derive implications for the provision of these experiences – in terms of educational processes and of child and youth policies – to reduce social asymmetries but also foster inclusive and non-discriminatory societies.
PCEP - Participation, Communities and Political Education
FCT - Fundação para a Ciência e para Tecnologia
CIIE/Faculdade de Psicologia e Ciências da Educação da Universidade do Porto - FPCEUP