Written evidence submitted by Sported Foundation
The social impact of participation in culture and sport inquiry
Sported Foundation (Registered charity numbers: 1123313 / SCO43161)
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
1.1. Sported is a UK-charity and membership organisation for community sport and youth groups which use sport as a tool for improving the lives of disadvantaged young people [Sport for Development]. The charity has a membership base of over 3,000 community groups, 44% of which operate in the 30% most deprived areas of the UK (as measured by Index of Multiple Deprivation).
1.2. Its members collectively engage over 500,000 young people, using over 90 different sports and physical activities to make a positive impact on the following five social areas:
1.3. Community groups are responsible for delivering the vast majority of Sport for Development programmes within the UK. They provide a channel to reach some of the most marginalised young people in the most deprived areas, and are responsible for transforming hundreds of thousands of lives, delivering millions of pounds in cost saving to the government. Yet their importance is still not universally recognised in government.
1.4. In providing evidence to the inquiry on the effectiveness of one of our Sport for Development programmes [Sporteducate], we hope to raise awareness of the role and importance of the Sport for Development sector (and the community groups within it) across governmental departments and attract much needed resources and funding for our members.
2.1. Sporteducate was a three-and-a-half year intensive education programme, run by Sported in partnership with Deutsche Bank.
2.2. The programme was developed to provide 10-18 year olds, who were at a high risk of exclusion and/or becoming NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training), with the extra-curricular support, skills and focus to stay in school and go on to further education, training and employment.
2.3. The programme combined playing sport with education as a way of reaching and engaging young people outside of traditional education routes. As part of the programme, 33 Sported members (i.e. community sport groups) in London benefitted from funding, training and management support to run education and employability activities alongside their core sports offering.
2.4. By building on the positive and supportive environment found in community sport clubs, we aimed to improve the following areas of young people’s lives:
2.5. In total, 2,013 young people were engaged in the programme and 130,673 hours of sport, education and employability sessions were delivered.
2.6. One of the key success factors of Sporteducate was that all educational activities were designed and delivered by local community sports groups. Drawing on the intimate local knowledge, personal networks and trusted relationships of their staff and volunteers to break down barriers to learning and re-engage young people in their education, both inside and outside of school.
2.7. EdComs Research was commissioned to undertake an independent monitoring and evaluation programme over the lifecycle of the project (June 2013 - April 2017) and to assess the impact of Sporteducate on the outcomes above, through the eyes of club leaders and young people. Young people completed a questionnaire upon starting the programme (pre) and then completed another questionnaire a year after (post). Club leaders completed an assessment of each young person involved in the evaluation.
3.1. The number of young people performing at a ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ level at school increased significantly, from 70% pre-programme to 87% after three years on the programme.
3.2. The number of young people performing at a ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ level in Maths increased from 63% pre-programme to 75% after three years on the programme.
3.3. The number of young people performing at a ‘Good’ or ‘Excellent’ level in English increased from 65% pre-programme to 75% after three years on the programme.
3.4. The programme’s model of combining sport and education made a huge difference to young people’s enjoyment of learning, increasing from 61% to 81% after three years.
3.5. The number of young people who ‘always attend school’ increased from 90% (pre-programme) to 95% (after three years).
3.6. The ‘likelihood to do homework on time’ increased from 28% (pre-programme) to 50% (after three years).
3.7. After three years on the programme 84% of young people agreed the programme has helped them perform better at school and 89% agreed it has helped them stay out of trouble.
3.8. The programme had a positive impact on young people’s self-esteem with those agreeing ‘I am happy with who I am’ increasing from 83% (pre-programme) to 94% (after three years).
3.9. The full Sporteducate Programme Evaluation report, containing all the results, is available to download here:
http://sported.org.uk/file/2017/11/Sporteducate-Report-2017-FINAL-Low-res.pdf
February 2018