The Constitutional Defense of the Right of Children and Adolescents to Comprehensive Development in Terms of Physical Activities: An Educational, Preventive, and Legal Approach

Abstract

One of the Ecuadorian State's core mandates is the constitutional preservation of children's and teenagers' right to holistic development. This right necessitates educational and preventive measures that guaranty inclusive and safe conditions when it comes to physical activities. The goal was to examine, from a legal, preventive, and pedagogical standpoint, the constitutional protection of children's and teenagers' right to integrated development in physical activities in the province of Pichincha. A mixed-method approach was used, with a descriptive-correlational scope at the explanatory level and a non-experimental design. Ninety-six participants, including administrators, coaches, and physical education teachers, were purposefully selected from the population of Pichincha's educational institutions and sports organizations. To ensure content validity and statistical reliability, semi-structured interviews, Likert-scale questionnaires, and an institutional checklist were used. The findings showed that the right to holistic development was widely recognized normatively, however there were variations in how protective procedures and training initiatives were carried out. The presence of preventive procedures and the perception of the right's effective guaranty were found to be positively and statistically significantly correlated. In order to effectively guaranty the constitutional protection of integral development in physical activities at the provincial level, legislative criteria, preventive, and education must be articulated.