Protecting the Next Generation: A Closer Look at Child Protection in PE and School Sports in the Philippine Context

This qualitative exploratory study examined how child protection is understood and implemented in physical education (PE) and school sports across selected public and private schools in urban and rural Southern Luzon, Philippines. It investigated policy awareness, school-level implementation, personnel preparation, reporting and referral procedures, case management, and safeguarding risks specific to PE and sports. Data were collected in April 2026 through semi-structured interviews with teachers, coaches, administrators, and child-protection personnel; focus group discussions with students and parents; and reviews of policies, incident records, and training materials. Purposive sampling included 198 elementary students. Braun and Clarke’s six-phase reflexive thematic analysis guided iterative inductive coding, reflexive memoing, and cross-data-source comparison. Four interconnected themes emerged: uneven policy awareness and understanding; gaps between policy and practice; inconsistent, predominantly policy-oriented personnel preparation; and barriers to reporting, referral, and case management. Although schools recognized formal safeguarding responsibilities, implementation depended on leadership, committee functionality, staff competence, resources, and external services. Participants reported uncertainty about adult-student boundaries, disclosure responses, documentation, confidentiality, referral, and follow-up. Effective safeguarding therefore requires functional Child Protection Committees, continuous role-specific and scenario-based training, trusted child-friendly reporting channels, secure documentation, coordinated referral networks, sustained case monitoring, and PE- and sport-specific safeguarding standards for schools.