Engagement Patterns and Named Organisations

Every gap has a reason

Some groups take part in sport far more than others, and the pattern is not random. The gaps show up again and again along the same lines: age, gender, ethnicity, religion or culture, family, education, how much time work leaves, how much spare money there is, disability, how easy the sport is to reach, discrimination, the local environment and climate, how much the sport is covered by the media, and whether there are role models to look up to. Behind that long list is one simple idea: every factor on it is really a BARRIER or an enabler. A factor lowers the participation of a group when it puts something in the way, and raises it when it clears the way. And that is why the three strategies to raise participation make sense. Each one removes a different kind of barrier. Promotion removes the barrier of not knowing about a sport, or not being inspired to try it. It works through media coverage, campaigns and role models. Provision removes the barrier of there being nowhere to play and nothing to play with. It means facilities, clubs, equipment and coaching. Access removes the barrier of not being able to get to a sport, not being able to afford it, or being kept out of it. It means affordable sessions, transport, disability provision and tackling discrimination. Who measures all this? Three named bodies you meet later: Sport England, the national governing bodies, and the government department for sport. Carry one question through everything that follows: what barrier is this, and which of promotion, provision or access removes it?

Words for who plays and why

Five terms, each defined by what it is. They are the frame for the whole topic.

Tap the two barriers being removed

Tap the TWO changes that remove a barrier to taking part, rather than just describing a sport.

• A leisure centre makes its swimming sessions free for under sixteens, so cost no longer stops young people coming
• A club fits step-free access and buys sports wheelchairs, so disability no longer keeps players out
• A netball match is won by the team that scores the most goals
• A rugby pitch measures the same length whichever ground you visit

Which strategy fits the fix

A town has keen young players but no pitches or clubs within reach, so most never start. A council builds two pitches and funds a new junior club. Which strategy is that?

• Provision, because the barrier was that there was nowhere to play and nothing to play with, and building pitches and a club supplies exactly that
• Promotion, because it makes people aware of the sport
• Access, because it lowers the cost of taking part
• None, because you cannot change how many people take part

Three bodies, three jobs

Three named organisations appear in this topic, and each has a different job. Do not mix them up.

Match each body or strategy to its job

Two that follow from the barriers

Select the TWO statements that follow from treating every participation factor as a barrier.

• A strategy raises participation only when it removes the barrier that is actually stopping a group
• Naming the barrier tells you which of promotion, provision and access to reach for
• Any strategy will work as long as you spend enough money on it
• A group that takes part less must simply care about sport less

Answering an engagement question

A method for any question about raising participation in a group. Name the group and the barrier. Say which factor is lowering their participation: is it cost, distance, disability, not knowing the sport, discrimination, or a lack of time. Be specific about what is in the way. Match the barrier to a strategy. Not knowing or not being inspired points to promotion. Nowhere and nothing to play with points to provision. Cannot get to it, cannot afford it, or being kept out points to access. Say who could act. Sport England can fund it, a national governing body can run it for its sport, and the government department sets the policy behind it. Say how you would know it worked. Point back to the data: taking part should rise for that group, which is why the participation figures are collected in the first place. Two habits cost marks. The first is naming a strategy without naming the barrier it removes, so the fix does not match the problem. The second is confusing the three bodies, most often treating Sport England and the government department as the same thing.

Order how to read a participation figure

Put the steps of reading a set of participation data into a sensible order.

• Check who and what the figure counts, and over what time
• Compare the groups or the years to find where they differ
• Describe the trend or the gap in plain words
• Suggest which participation factor most likely explains it
• Say which strategy would remove that barrier

Build the participation rule

This is the rule the whole topic rests on. Assemble it.

The engagement quick-fire

Five questions on who takes part and how to raise it. Three lives.

Reading the numbers for one club

Here is a worked reading of participation data. The numbers are invented and illustrative, made up only so the method is clear; they are not real figures and are not from any real body. Picture a made up table for one community running club. It counts members in two years. In the first year it has one hundred members, of whom twenty are women. In the second year it has one hundred and twenty members, of whom fifty are women. First, check what the figure counts and over what time: it is club members, counted in two separate years, split by gender. Then compare the groups and the years: the total went up, and the number of women went up by more than the number of men. Then describe the trend in plain words: overall membership rose, and it rose fastest among women. Now suggest the factor. A jump among women points to a barrier that was hitting women in particular having been lowered, such as women only sessions being offered or a local role model drawing more women in. Finally, name the strategy: offering those sessions is provision, and putting a role model in front of people is promotion. Notice what the reading did not do. It did not invent a reason with no support in the numbers, and it did not treat the rise as proof on its own. It described what the figure showed, then offered the most likely factor behind it. That is exactly the move the data questions reward.

Complete the strategy facts

The strategy that raises awareness of a sport and inspires people to try it, through media and role models, is _____. The strategy that supplies the facilities, clubs and coaching to take part with is _____. The strategy that makes sure people can get to a sport, afford it, and are not kept out of it is _____. Anything that stops or reduces a group taking part is a _____.

Three groups to bring in

Three groups take part less than they could. In each case name the barrier, then pick the strategy that removes it.

• A neighbourhood has plenty of keen would-be players, but the nearest pitch and club are too far to reach and there is nothing local. What removes the barrier?
• A group would like to join a nearby club, but the fees and kit cost more than they can afford, so they stay away. What removes the barrier?
• A group has clubs nearby and could afford them, but they have never seen their sport covered anywhere and know nobody who plays, so it never occurs to them to start. What removes the barrier?

Explain how to raise participation

A local sports club wants to bring in a group that currently takes part very little. Explain how it should decide what to do so that participation actually rises.

• Explain that the first step is to name the barrier that is keeping the group out
• Explain how promotion removes the barrier of not knowing about or not being inspired by a sport
• Explain how provision removes the barrier of having nowhere and nothing to take part with
• Explain how access removes the barrier of not being able to reach or afford a sport, or being kept out
• Name one body that could help, such as Sport England or a national governing body, and say how
• Finish with how the club would use participation data to check that it worked