The new ‘Safe to Play’ campaign – set to run across 10 Football Club communities – will use esports to help 400 young people build digital skills, confidence and stay safe online.

It will empower trained facilitators to deliver guidance informed by the British Esports Federation’s ‘Duty to Care in Esports’ framework in order to create opportunities for disadvantaged youth.

The Safe to Play project will adapt esports as a vehicle for digital inclusion in their existing Football Club charities youth programmes. Each club will deliver a 6–8 week programme of weekly workshops and esports play sessions, combining practical digital learning for young people, within a fun, safe and trusted environment.

The programme has been approved for funding by the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT) under the Digital Inclusion Innovation Fund.

EFL in the Community will oversee national coordination, governance, and monitoring of the campaign, while Sheffield United’s Community Foundation is acting as the accountable body. Sheffield Hallam University will also provide external advisory input.

British Esports is a national partner for the project, with funds going towards delivering specialist training, content development and accreditation as part of the Play it Safe model. British Esports will deliver e-learning and one-day in-person training for 60 facilitators from 10 Football Club charities. Training will cover safeguarding, wellbeing, digital confidence, online safety and positive esports delivery.

The hope is for a successful pilot to lead to a national rollout across the 72-club EFL network.

Debbie Cook, Director of Community at the English Football League (EFL), said: “The Safe to Play campaign is an exciting and innovative way to support young people in our EFL Club communities. Using esports as a vehicle for digital inclusion, online safety, and wellbeing, we’re equipping disadvantaged young people with essential skills for the modern world.”

Chester King, British Esports President, added: “We’re incredibly grateful to receive the Government’s support for this new Safe to Play campaign with the EFL. This backing will allow us to work alongside Sheffield United’s Community Foundation and other partners to deliver vital digital skills and online safety training to young people through esports.”

The news comes as the UK Government unveils plans to tackle youth isolation by investing £500m as part of a new National Youth Strategy designed to rebuild youth services.

‘Youth Matters’ has been co-produced with more than 14,000 young people across England through a ‘State of the Nation’ survey in a bid to tackle isolation and build real life connections.

Beyond Xbox: Field Trips are available on Spotify and have been developed by a team of teachers, game narrative designers, ed-tech specialists, and child psychologists.

Xbox has partnered with Ukie’s Digital Schoolhouse to bring the audio learning journeys to its network which collectively reaches 200,000 young people in 2,000 schools across the UK. It uses play-based learning to support over 15,000 teachers to inspire the next generation of pupils with the computing curriculum.

Ollie Bray, co-author of the European Games in Schools Handbook who was involved in the development of the programme said, “There is increasing evidence to suggest that play is one of the most powerful ways to learn. These interactive “Field Trips” allow young people to immerse themselves in both popular and culturally relevant video games while developing important skills and exploring a variety of learning outcomes. The project provides a unique take on experimental learning.”

Shahneila Saeed, Director of Digital Schoolhouse and Head of Education at Ukie said: “We’re very excited to be supporting such an original and unique program, using games to develop the skills of young people. I can’t wait to see how these audio learning journeys are implemented in our Digital Schoolhouse network over the coming months, and the impact that they will have.”

Each audio learning journey is available on Spotify and prompts players to undertake a series of challenges to help develop important soft skills. They can also be accessed as visual guides on Xbox.com to cater to different learning styles and make them more accessible. There are seven featured games which are all available on Xbox Game Pass:

• Grounded – Problem Solving & Analytical Thinking
• Sea of Thieves – Teamwork and Delegation
• Minecraft – Creativity and Innovation
• Microsoft Flight Simulator – Focus and Diligence
• PowerWash Simulator – Motivation and Prioritisation
• Age of Empires IV – Strategy and Decision making
• Cities: Skylines – Planning and Adaptability

Beyond Xbox: Field Trips is the third in the series of “Beyond” campaigns, demonstrating the positive impact video games have on people’s lives. The inaugural campaign, Beyond Generations, focused on combatting loneliness by helping older people strengthen their relationships with their younger family members through gaming, in partnership with Age UK. The second iteration, Beyond Xbox: A Player Like Me, demonstrated the power of video games in therapeutic settings by helping connect those with extremely rare diseases with one another. This included a partnership with Gamers Outreach which brought gaming to children in hospitals.

The Beyond Xbox: Field Trips campaign video showcases three families from across the UK using the learning experiences while playing some of Xbox’s most popular titles, here.