Cymru Footballers Join Welsh Government to Launch ‘Calling Out’ Video Series

The Football Association of Wales and the Welsh Government have published two new films from the “Calling Out” video series which features several Cymru players.

The latest video releases “Calling Out: Challenging the Attitude” and “Calling Out: Online Misogyny” reveals conversations between Cymru international footballers Joe Allen, Lily Woodham, Esther Morgan and Joe Morrell, detailing the importance of both boys and men calling out inappropriate behaviour aimed at women and girls, including the online misogyny aimed at women’s footballers.

The videos are a series of three where the conversations also cover the topics of safely reporting inappropriate behaviour, as well as encouraging young people to speak up about online sexual harassment. 

The “Calling Out” video series all signpost to relevant resources and advice for families, children and educators all available on Hwb, the digital teaching and learning platform for schools in Wales.

FAW Safeguarding & Player Welfare Manager, Sian Jones, said: “The FAW is committed to ensuring that young people are safe on and off the pitch. We are proud to work with Welsh Government and utilise the platform of our Cymru players to make the discussed topics more accessible to parents, teachers and guardians. 

“We really want schools to benefit from the resources available on Hwb across the academic year and for young people to feel comfortable to talk about matters such as online sexual harassment and how to seek further support if needed.”

Launched in July 2022, the first video of the series, ‘Calling Out: Online Sexual Harassment’, promotes a culture of equality and respect.

Corresponding with the initial launch, Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles, visited Porth Community School, where he joined pupils for a lesson on tackling the problem of online sexual harassment and where the video was first viewed by pupils and school staff.

The Minister for Education and Welsh Language, Jeremy Miles said: “Online sexual harassment has become an increasingly common and challenging issue and one that can have a huge impact on people subjected to it. 

“The video will equip our education practitioners with the tools to support important conversations with young people about the seriousness of the issue – what it looks like, how to report inappropriate behaviour and how to get further advice, via our Hwb platform for schools.  

“Our Welsh international footballers, with their unprecedented success on the field, are such strong role models for children and young people, so it’s fantastic to have them leading by example in speaking up about this issue.” 

The Welsh Government has worked with Childnet International to publish age-appropriate learning materials to address online sexual harassment, ‘Just a joke?’, for 9-12 year olds, and ‘Step up, speak up’, for the 13-17 year age group. A training package is being developed to help teachers increase their confidence in addressing the issue.

Children and young people can also get advice about online sexual harassment, including what it looks like, how to report this behaviour and how to get help in the ‘Online issues and worries’ area of Hwb. The advice published in March was co-designed with children and young people and has been shaped by Welsh Government research into their online experiences and worries and some of the barriers to getting help.

Practitioners are encouraged to share the series of films with their learners to support important conversations about online sexual harassment and other inappropriate behaviours, In addition to accessing the teaching toolkits and advice available on Hwb:

Online sexual harassment – Hwb (gov.wales)

Just a joke? (9-12 year olds)

Step up, speak up (13-17 year olds)

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