This symposium provides an overview of the Right to be Active (R2BA) project - a methodologically innovative study of care experienced young people (CEYP) in England (those under the care of the local government) which explored their perspectives on/experiences of sport and physical activity (PA). It was conceived in response to research suggesting that, despite such activities being of potential benefit to CEYP, this vulnerable/marginalised group may not have access that is comparable to their non-CEYP peers (Quarmby et al., 2018). The project was undertaken over a period of 36 months and comprised four phases. During phase one, a review of relevant policy documents (i.e. those related to the health and education of CEYP) was undertaken to identify how access to sport/PA was situated within them. In phase two, national online surveys were distributed to both CEYP (n = 48) and adult stakeholders (n = 13) to provide contextual information about CEYP’s perspectives on, experiences of and access to sport/PA.  In phase three, semi-structured interviews were conducted with adult stakeholders (n = 4) and activity-based focus groups were conducted with CEYP (n = 63 in 6 different regional contexts) to further explore/elaborate on the survey data. In addition, narrative interviews were conducted with care leavers (n=4) to explore their reflective perspectives/experiences. Finally, in phase four, repeat focus groups were conducted with CEYP (n = 40 in 4 contexts) to refine the interpretations of the focus group/narrative data.

The symposium will comprise three related presentations on the R2BA project. These will: (i) share CEYP’s perspectives on, experiences of and access to sport/PA; (ii) highlight how innovative participatory methods might be utilised in research with CEYP (and marginalised youth broadly); and (iii) examine how narratives constructed from young people’s voices might be used to facilitate more inclusive practice within sport/PA contexts.

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