Education the key to ensuring integrity in sport
On this International Day of Education learn more about the important work of our Education team in protecting sport against current and emerging threats.
At Sport Integrity Australia (SIA) we’re committed to protecting athletes, preventing doping and to maintaining the integrity of sport in our country.
Education plays a crucial role in teaching the sporting community and the broader public, the benefits of keeping sport clean.
Our SIA Education team works hard every day with our integrity experts to develop resources and engage in outreach in our community to deliver information and advice on how we can all protect sport together.
Education content delivered to athletes and support staff from the grassroots to the high performance space includes: anti-doping, safeguarding, match-fixing, illicit drugs and ethical decision making.
We use a number of different tools and methods to deliver this content, including: eLearning courses, targeted face-to-face sessions, outreach booths at sporting events, videos, webinars and the Sport Integrity App.
SIA Director of Education, Alexis Cooper, said education was critical to the agency’s mission to keep sport safe, clean and fair.
“Although people might often hear about SIA when we're investigating things that have gone wrong in sport, our prevention and engagement program is a huge part of what we do daily.
“We use education to help more people enjoy the wonderful experience of sport. Our education guides how we in Australian sport want to play and behave, while supporting people to speak up if things go wrong.”
“For that reason, we aim to educate everyone involved in sport – the people who play sport, their coaches, the officials, the volunteers – everyone has a role in keeping sport safe.”
This year’s theme for International Day of Education is ‘AI and Education: Preserving Human Agency in a World of Automation’, and it’s an important discussion. While technology plays an important role in education delivery for SIA, human connection is vital to message delivery.
“Face-to-face education and outreach gives us the opportunity to listen to the audience and respond to their questions and concerns in real time, which means it is highly engaging and effective,” Ms Cooper said.
“In addition, our educators all have extensive experience in sport – whether that's as elite athletes, coaches, medical practitioners and/or administrators.
“These staff enrich the education they're delivering through their own stories, experiences, failings and successes.
“Integrity can often live in the 'grey zone' where human decision making is complex and there may not be a clear answer, so human interaction and nuance through education is critical,” Ms Cooper said.
And our Educators themselves are passionate about their outreach and the impact they can have on up-and-coming athletes.
Lauren Szigeti is an AFLW athlete with the Sydney Swans. She’s benefited from SIA education sessions as an athlete and when she saw positions were open as an Educator, she jumped at the chance to become involved.
“I want to spread awareness about the fact that fair, clean and safe sport is up to all of us as individuals – whether we are on or off the field,” she said.
“It’s not just information we need to know to tick a box, it’s information we can implement to make sporting environments better for everyone involved.”
Cruz Hogan is an elite Javelin Thrower. He joined SIA as an Educator in 2019 and has continued to be a clean sport advocate and educator ever since. He wants to empower young and experienced senior athletes to make informed decisions, ensure they feel confident in the process and understand the importance of keeping sport clean and fair.
“Having competed against athletes who have tested positive to banned, performance enhancing substances, I’m passionate about keeping sport clean and fair and I'm not willing to risk my health in the pursuit of high performance,” he said.
“Clean, fair sport is crucial. Without it, sport loses its integrity, its power to inspire, its ability to unite and define character. So, it's up to us as athletes to become role models in our community to take a strong stance against doping.”
Data in the education space speaks volumes about the importance and success of SIA’s Education program. In 2024:
- There were 157,000 completions of SIA’s educational activities – an increase of 20% from the corresponding period in 2023 and an indication of significant buy in from the Australian sporting community.
- Following engagement with SIA’s Anti-Doping education, 98% of people felt confident being able to check a supplement, which aligns with 67,000 supplement checks on the SIA app.
- Additionally, 96% of people taking part in SIA’s Safeguarding education felt confident they knew how to respond to a breach of the Safeguarding Children and Young Policy.
These results have been achieved through a concerted effort to ensure education is a priority within the agency. The investment made in education, for SIA staff, public delivery and resource development, is evident.
“When I first joined the Education team in 2018, there was only the equivalent of 3.5 people,” Ms Cooper said.
“We now have over 15 people, we've been able to experiment with new technologies like VR and AR, we've built apps, we've tried new things wherever we can and have been able to invest in research to inform our program.
“We've also been fortunate to be able to learn from other experts within Australia and abroad.”
With planning for Brisbane 2032 well underway, it’s vital that integrity is at the forefront of all we do in sport. SIA will continue to elevate its work to create safer sporting environments for all participants at all levels and ensure a fair and equal playing field so people can maintain trust and belief in sport.
Happy International Day of Education!
