British Esports launches new Parent & Carers Guide in collaboration with NSPCC

Adam McGowan

3 min read | 12 Aug 2021

The British Esports Association has developed a new Parent & Carers Guide in collaboration with the NSPCC, which aims to educate parents and carers about esports and online safety.

This guide has been created to provide information to help parents understand more about the esports industry.

Parents and carers can utilise this guide to expand their knowledge of the industry, the benefits of their children being involved and how some of the skills learnt through esports can be used in alternative industries.

A variety of subjects are covered in the guide to ensure that parents are provided with relevant facts about what esports is, and the prospects that come alongside it.

The contents of the guide include:

• Information about the British Esports Student Champs
• Benefits of esports
• Esports in education
• Academic pathways
• Inclusivity and diversity in esports
• How you can get involved with your child
• Parents testimonials
• Online safety

The most important areas highlighted in this guide are around safeguarding and keeping young people safe while partaking in esports. The resource also raises awareness of digital well being and online safety.

British Esports aims to use this guide to promote best safeguarding practices – and hopes that other organisations will adopt these to further promote online safety.

This information regarding online safety has been backed by the NSPCC, and provides guidance specific to online gaming.

Tom Dore, Head of Education at British Esports Association, said:

“At British Esports we’re helping to establish industry standards for safeguarding and keeping young people safe online. Developing the Parent & Carers guide in collaboration with NSPCC has allowed us to celebrate many of the positives around esports, and also highlight important issues around safeguarding and online safety.

It is crucial as an industry that we’re doing everything we can to keep young people safe while participating in esports. We should look to traditional sport, and other established industries, to learn from their ongoing work. British Esports strongly encourages all stakeholders in the esports industry to scrutinise their own practise around their work with young people and prioritise safeguarding and online safety throughout their organisations.’

Christian McMullen, Head of Professional Engagement at NSPCC added:

“The NSPCC is delighted to have worked with British Esports on developing a supporting guide for parents and carers to help them understand the industry and the steps they are taking to keep their children safe.

We want to empower parents with the confidence, knowledge and tools they need to identify and report concerns in their children’s sports, and the online world is no different.”

British Esports has also worked in greater detail with the NSPCC to develop our own internal policies and procedures that place safeguarding at the heart of all our work including the British Esports Student Champs and our other projects and events involving young people.

As in traditional sport, all our staff and volunteers are DBS checked and complete appropriate safeguarding training. We also have clear reporting systems in place to address any issues or concerns that may arise.

The full Parent & Carers Guide can be found on our resources page here.

Any questions regarding the guide can be directed to info@britishesports.org.