00:00:09:21 - 00:00:28:24 Speaker 1 Hello and welcome to this podcast from the Child Protection Sport Unit. We're part of the NSPCC and funded by UK sports councils. Our work supports organizations to safeguard all children taking part in sport.

00:00:29:01 - 00:00:54:03 Liza Hi, my name is Lisa where I want to see any consultants at the CPSU. You may have been aware that we've been champion safeguarding online in sports for many years and like most aspects in life, social media is an integral part of sport and physical activity. From elite athletes posting on Instagram or on Twitter, to grassroots clubs having Facebook accounts and keeping their clubs up to date.

00:00:54:09 - 00:01:16:05 Liza You can't get away from social media in a sport and setting, but we should never forget our safeguards and responsibilities. I mean, must take time to think through carefully the different types of risks that children may be exposed to in a virtual sport setting. The CPSU are so pleased to have our NSPCC colleagues who are leading the way in online safety.

00:01:16:07 - 00:01:37:19 Liza I would like to introduce Laura Randell from NSPCC strategy Team, who leads on online safety, and Helen Westerman, who's from our campaigns team. Thank you to the both of you guys for joining us today for the Online Safety Podcast. And we've got a series of questions that have been put forward from our national governing bodies and active partnership lead officers around this subject matter.

00:01:37:21 - 00:01:56:16 Helen Thanks, Lisa, and I'll be facilitating the discussions today. And as Lisa said, we're hopefully going to be addressing some of the issues that you've raised with the CPSU. Laura, I know that we can't recommend certain apps or sites. Why is that? And then the second part of that question is, what should a coach be looking out for in a platform?

00:01:56:16 - 00:02:00:15 Helen If they're wanting to facilitate live or recorded sessions with young people?

00:02:00:21 - 00:02:18:21 Laura So apps and sites change constantly, and it'd be hard for anyone to keep up. They change security features, they change settings. They can change on a daily, weekly basis. So we don't recommend platforms as such because we can't control what their site features. So we'd always recommend that parents professionals check the sites out themselves and be happy and confident with what they're using.

00:02:18:24 - 00:02:38:09 Laura Clubs and coaches are turning more to online training. Support them in their work to support young children, and it's important that if a coach wants to use these platforms, facilitate these live training sessions, or to give lessons, you know, music lessons, or to keep in touch with their clubs, and they need to understand the platform, know what it is that they want to achieve on that site.

00:02:38:09 - 00:02:56:22 Laura So their responsibility when they're face to face with that child applies when it's also online. There isn't a difference. How are they communicating? What are they using? Have they got consent? Have they got the parents consent? Where are they sharing this information from? Is it a personal account? Is it a work account? It should always be through a work account, through a professional setting.

00:02:56:22 - 00:03:13:13 Laura It should never be from someone's personal account. If they want to conduct these sessions. And you need to ensure that only invite the children in the parents that you want, the session that you password protect that session. You don't publicize the details and it's contained within the group that you want to speak to. And this just makes sure that the security of the children and the parents is prevalent.

00:03:13:13 - 00:03:35:12 Laura And again, you treat the session like you would do in a physical environment. You establish the ground rules, the code of conduct. We talk about online safety, but actually the offline safeguarding and safety settings that you put in place apply to the online sphere. So it's just breaking down that barrier. Why things are different because they aren't. And so it's thinking in that same safeguarding approach when you think of an online tool and again learning how to use it, so you are using it safely and effectively.

00:03:35:15 - 00:03:57:09 Liza Sorry Helen, I was just going to pick up on a point that Laura was making there about the it isn't different from the physical world, and we should be treating all safeguards the same. And I would echo that and particularly around safer recruitment aspect as well. So I think that that's really important that people understand the same policies at procedures and processes should be in place.

00:03:57:09 - 00:04:23:11 Liza When we're looking at the virtual world, is what we would do in a physical setting. So making sure that people, you know, have completed DBS checks, self disclosure forms, having interviews, applying for an actual role, making sure that people are taken up references and checking out that those references are true, and asking whether there's any safeguarding concerns around an individual.

00:04:23:11 - 00:04:33:16 Liza So I think that's important that people don't think because we're not face to face with children, that we still don't have to do those necessary safe, safer recruitment checks.

00:04:33:18 - 00:04:40:20 Helen That's a really good point. Thanks, Lisa. So where can we signpost clubs to, for example, a social media policy template?

00:04:41:01 - 00:05:00:10 Liza The CPSU website is is filled with lots of different templates and so on. There we have a sport specific social media policy that people can download. We've got codes of conduct and there's also links to the NSPCC landing website as well where people will be able to get that information.

00:05:00:12 - 00:05:07:05 Helen That's the super thank you. And Laura, why is it important that clubs have a social media policy? For example.

00:05:07:07 - 00:05:29:01 Laura We've just said when you think about online world, it's about same as offline. So you have all these are safeguarding policies when the children are physically in your care. The same needs to apply to the online sphere, to the safety of the child, but also the club. If you think about social media is 24/7, so it's not restricted to the time when that young person is in that club's care, and the communication can quickly change online and become very, very informal.

00:05:29:01 - 00:05:47:08 Laura So these policies are really important to protect the staff, the child and the club. As you said, we need to treat it as if you would in the physical world and try and ensure that the always on approach that we think about when it comes to online and social media, etc., and that you have policies that protect you, but also it's thinking about your own digital footprint.

00:05:47:09 - 00:06:00:24 Laura See the thing that's looked at as well as if you are a member of a sports organization and you're talking to a child through a professional setting, fantastic. But I'm some children and some parents may actually try and follow you in your personal setting. So you need to be aware of your own digital footprint footprint and have policies that cover that as well.

00:06:01:01 - 00:06:14:18 Laura They say, look at your personal accounts. Are they private? What could they see? If not, is it appropriate? What if they try and contact you? We need to make sure that both children and the staff that work in this environment abide by policies and codes of conduct to ensure the safety of all involved.

00:06:14:20 - 00:06:36:09 Helen That's helpful. I think that always on mentality is a really useful one to have and be reminded of, and we know that some sports are putting videos on YouTube to provide training and fitness tips for for their members. Is it possible to allow people who are in the team to access this, and why is that important? So we want basically only the young people and the parents of that organization accessing those channels.

00:06:36:11 - 00:06:59:12 Laura I think we just have to highlight initially here that how fantastic it is at the moment that we have all this technology that will allow children, young people and professionals and, you know, athletes to communicate and to do fitness classes. But it's just making sure that we are secure in how we do this. So yes, some sites can have close access groups, and it's important that the host knows which ones they're using, how to use them safely, both for themselves and the young people.

00:06:59:12 - 00:07:17:20 Laura And again, make sure the settings are set up, that the invites are the children and young people themselves, and who is actually in the invite list. If they don't know the person on the invite list, we make them. Again, it's it's making sure that you're familiar with the sites that you use, the platforms that you're using, the security features, and any concerns that you might have.

00:07:17:20 - 00:07:28:02 Laura You check on the websites to make sure you know how to act on that feature. So really important things to remember is how do I use this platform safely for myself and for the children that I'm speaking to?

00:07:28:04 - 00:07:46:02 Helen Wow. Thank you very much. A huge thank you to to Lisa and Laura for their contributions today. Hopefully we've answered some of the questions that you've, you've posed to CPSU and a huge thank you to you for listening and for further support and information. We would encourage you to look at the CPSC website. Thank you very much.

00:07:46:04 - 00:07:55:18 Helen And.

00:07:55:20 - 00:08:10:10 Speaker 1 Thank you for listening to this Child Protection and Support Unit podcast. If you're looking for more information and resources on safeguarding children in sport, please visit our website at the cpsu.org. Dot UK you.