Lesson video

Hi there.

Welcome to your lesson.

Today's lesson is on engagement patterns of different social groups.

My name's Miss Hacking and I'm going to be your teacher today.

I'm really looking forward to our lesson.

So by the end of today's lesson, I'm hoping that we can all identify engagement patterns of different social groups and describe ways to increase participation for priority groups.

Now that leads us nicely onto our keywords because a priority group is a group of people who may face barriers to access physical activity and therefore, have lower participation in sport or physical activity.

Now you may already be able to name some people that may not be as physically active as other people.

Socio-economic status is a way of grouping humans based on the amount of money they have.

For example, someone that has higher socio-economic status has higher disposable income.

Now, disposable income means money left after bills.

Equally, someone with low socio-economic status has less money left after bills, so less disposable income.

Ethnicity is described as a classification of people into distinct groups based on shared physical or social traits such as skin colour, facial features and ancestry.

And gender can be described as the social, cultural and psychological traits linked to one's sex, covering identities beyond the binary and involving both self-perception and societal perception.

In today's lesson, we will be splitting it into two learning cycles.

In the first part of this lesson, we're going to be identifying engagement patterns of social groups, and in the second part of today's session, we're gonna be describing ways to increase participation particularly amongst priority groups.

Right? Let's get started.

Participation trends look at how many people and what types of people are taking part in sports and physical activity.

Can you have a go at answering the following questions to get yourself thinking about the types of physical activity that you and your family take part in? So first of all, what physical activity do you take part in? Why do you take part in that physical activity? How often do you participate in sport or exercise each week? Does this change maybe in the summer, in the winter? How often does your family participate in sport? Why is that? Do they participate more than you or less than you? And is there a reason why they maybe do that? Do all your family participate in the same sport? Why do you think that is? You may wish to pause this video to answer those questions.

The sports or physical activity a person participates in can be affected by different factors.

These factors can include their gender, their age, their socio-economic status, their ethnicity, religion and culture, and their disability or non-disability.

Like Jacob says, he remembers these as GASED, G-A-S-E-D.

That might help you if you have to write an exam question surrounding the factors affecting participation.

Here is a summary of the Active Lives Adult Survey from 2022 to 2023.

Over 175,000 adults were surveyed to come up with this data.

The Active Lives Survey by Sport England is a national survey that measures the physical activity levels and participation in sports and exercise among people in England.

We're going to look at the different categories in a little bit more detail.

Firstly, gender.

Who do you think are less active according to national average databases in 2024? Research suggests that women are less active than men.

As we can see from the Active Lives Survey, females are 5% less likely to be physically active compared to males.

I wonder if you can think of any reasons why that might be true.

Often outdated and stereotypical views have impacted women's participation rates in sport, limiting their opportunities and reinforcing barriers.

A barrier is something that stops someone doing something they want and women have often had barriers put in place, stopping them accessing sports and physical activity.

Some of the negative and stereotypical views include: women shouldn't play contact sports as they might get hurt, a women's role is to stay at home, take care of the home family and children, and women who are competitive and play sports are masculine.

These are all outdated and stereotypical views that are not factually accurate.

Some reasons why gender can affect participation may include the fact that women's sports and women's physical activity has less media coverage.

Often we see in the newspapers and the television a lot of information about sport, but it can often only include males dominated sports and the chance of seeing a female athlete or a female team is very unlikely.

Also for the women that make it into elite or professional sport, there's less earnings.

They earn less money, therefore, often have to go to work, as well as being a professional athlete in order to be able to live.

With less media coverage, there is less role models on show, that women often only see male role models, and therefore, may not think that sport is for them or particular types of sport are for them as well.

Like I've mentioned before, stereotypical views can really create a barrier for women in sport.

These stereotypical views can come from all sorts of places, whether it's from elite sport, from the media, from family members, from friends, or from actual sport activities themselves.

Women may also have restricted time to take part in physical activity.

Often they have family responsibilities and traditional family homes may have women looking after the home as well.

Biological experiences and lack of education around these biological experiences that women face, such as when they're on their period or when they're pregnant or breastfeeding, these can be barriers into taking part in physical activity as some women don't know or don't understand the best way to take part in physical activity when their body is going through these biological experiences.

Let's have a go at a question.

True or false? Research suggests that women are more physically active than men.

It's false.

Research suggests that women are less physically active than men.

I wonder if you can remember any of the reasons why we think that that happens.

Maybe things to do with lack of media coverage of female or women's sports, a lack of role models, less earnings, maybe some of the biological experiences that women face that mean that they are less likely to take part in physical activity or maybe the fact that they might have restricted time in order to do these activities.

Well done if you got that correct.

Okay.

Let's talk about age.

Research suggests that people become less active as they get older.

As you can see from the graph from the Sport England Survey is that physical activity levels gradually decrease as people get older, starting at 70% for the 16 to 34 year olds, which were the youngest category surveyed, to only 43%.

So that's nearly 30% less for the over 75 year olds.

Research has also suggested that some sports are more popular than others with different age groups.

Can you think of any activities that older people may be more likely to do? Examples of how age can affect participation may include that there's less choice of activity as people get older.

Also there's less money available for sports and activities.

Older people tend to be on a pension and they may not be able to afford some activities or have transport to get out there.

There are less role models in the media of the older generation taking part in physical activity in sport.

If you think about the types of sports you watch, you'll probably be seeing people in that first category, from 16 to 34.

You might see slightly older people, but it's very rare that we see anyone over the age of 75 really participating in sport in the media.

There's often stereotypical views associated with age as well.

Things like all people can't play sport as they will get hurt, and this is just not true.

They can still take part in physical activity and it actually does help them keep healthy and fit.

As I've already mentioned, they may have lack of money for transport, but they may not drive anymore, so therefore, getting to the actual physical activity location, whether it's a leisure centre, whether it's a swimming pool, it might be tricky.

So that could also provide a barrier for anyone over the age of 75 in getting to a physical activity destination.

They also may have less free time.

As people get older, they generally have more time commitments.

This can be to do with family or to do with work, so as people get older they have less free time to take part in physical activity.

Let's have a go to check.

Which age group does research suggest is the least active? A, 16 to 34 year olds, B, 35 to 54 year olds, C, 55 to 74 year olds, or D, 75 and over? Yes, that's right.

Research suggests that the older someone becomes less likely they are to be active.

Well done if you got that correct.

Research suggests that people with lower socio-economic status are less likely to regularly take part in physical activity.

So people that have less disposable income, they have less money left after bills, are less likely to take part in physical activity.

I wonder if you can think of some reasons why that might happen.

It's also important to mention that the type of physical activities that people participate in can be affected by their socio-economic status.

Now that makes sense because if an activity is really expensive to take part in, something like skiing or horse riding, then if you don't have much money to spend, you are probably not going to take part in those activities.

Here are some reasons why socio-economic status can affect participation.

Firstly, memberships, match fees and facility access all cost money, and therefore, if someone doesn't have very much disposable income, they're not gonna be able to afford to do these things, therefore, will not be able to afford to be physically active.

Also, some sports require specialist equipment, so even if they can do or get to the sport, they may not be able to take part because they can't afford the specialist equipment.

For example, skiing.

You need to hire all the equipment, the helmet, the skis, the ski pole, in order to join in the skiing.

Travelling to and from physical activities can also cost a lot of money and for someone with low socio-economic status, they may not be able to afford this.

Also people with lower socio-economic status tend to have irregular working hours and work commitments, which may mean they might not be able to regularly commit to weekly classes or regular training for that sport or physical activity.

Let's have a go to check.

Identify one reason why people with low socio-economic status may be less active.

You can write this as a bullet point.

You might have said that it's too expensive for memberships, match fees or facility access, and therefore, they won't be able to afford to go.

You may have also said that specialist equipment may be too expensive.

You also could have mentioned about the fact that travelling to participate in their physical activity might cost money, which they don't have, and also people in jobs that have lower socio-economic status may have work commitments, shift patterns, or irregular working hours making it harder for them to regularly participate in sport.

Well done if you've got any one of those points.

Ethnicity, religion and culture.

Research suggests that there are differences between participation rates of different ethnic groups.

Here you can see the ethnic group with the highest participation rate in physical activity is a mix at 71%.

This is 16% higher than the lowest ethnic group, which is the Asian, excluding Chinese, where they only have 55% participation rate.

Some reasons why ethnicity, religion, or culture can affect participation may include racism, stereotyping and discrimination.

Discrimination is treating people differently from others and racism and stereotyping can mean that certain cultures or certain ethnicities may be excluded from certain sports, which isn't allowed and shouldn't happen.

Also some ethnicities and cultures only like to participate in single sex groups.

Therefore, for example, if someone wanted to join a badminton club and it was a mixture of males and females, this may not be suited to their ethnic and cultural beliefs.

Specific clothing perhaps needs to be worn for certain cultures and ethnicity and this can provide a barrier if that clothing is not readily available or again, comes at a high cost.

And also, at times when some ethnicities and cultures are observing religious festivals, they are less likely to take part in physical activity or sport.

Let's have a go at a question.

True or false? Discrimination will allow more people to participate in sport.

That's false.

Discrimination in sport happens when someone is treated unfairly or excluded based on factors like their race, gender, disability, or religion.

This can lead to unequal opportunities such as being denied the chance to play, compete or receive support.

Discrimination should not happen in sport and we should all work together to ensure that it does not happen moving forward.

Research suggests that people with a disability are less likely to participate in physical activity compared to people without a disability.

We can see this from the data from the Active Lives Survey.

69% of people without a disability are physically active, whereas less than half, 48% of people with a disability are physically active.

Disability covers a diverse range of conditions and sometimes we can just assume that disability means something to do with our mobility.

However, there are different types.

These can include a mobility impairment, a sensory impairment such as being blind or deaf, and a mental impairment such as someone who's neurodiverse.

Examples of how disability can affect participation include that there can be less choice of activities.

Some physical activities do not offer support or include performers with a disability.

Therefore, it makes it really hard for them to access that physical activity if it's not inclusive for their needs.

For example, we have Lucas who wants to do trampolining, but there's no harness at his trampolining club, so therefore, he won't be able to access the trampoline.

Another barrier is transport.

If a athlete with a disability is not able to get to the facility where the sport or physical activity is, they're unable to access that physical activity.

Therefore, transport should be inclusive and allow all people to access it.

Stereotypical views can also provide a barrier for people with a disability in accessing physical activity.

For example, a person with a sight impairment can't play sport.

That's an example of a stereotypical view, even though there are plenty of physical activities that they will be able to access, but these view can make the person with a disability feel like they shouldn't do sport.

Also, like we've discussed with other social groups, there are lack of role models in the media showing people with a disability accessing physical activity.

The media needs to show more athletes with a disability to provide these role models.

Research suggests that less disabled people are physically active compared to non-disabled people.

Suggest one reason for this.

Let's have a go together first.

An example answer could be there are less disabled role models in sport, therefore, less opportunity for disabled people to be inspired to participate.

Now let's see if you can have a go.

Fill in the missing words of this sentence, blank or blank to sporting facilities may not be suitable for disabled people, creating a barrier to participate in sport.

Well done if you put the words access or transport.

Access or transport to sporting facilities may not be suitable for disabled people, creating a barrier to participate in sport.

Now, it's your turn.

Name one reason disabled people may be less physically active.

You may wish to pause a video now to give you time to write your answer.

Okay.

You may have said that it provides stereotypical, or discriminatory views, or there's less choice of activity.

Well done if you wrote about either of those things.

Okay, now it's your turn to have a practise.

For the first part of the task, I'd like you to list the five factors that affect participation in physical activity.

I wonder if you can remember them all.

Then for the second part of the task, I'd like you to use practical examples to describe why this statement might be true.

Research suggests that people with lower socio-economic status are less likely to participate in physical activity.

So use practical examples to describe why this might be true.

Good luck.

Okay.

So the question asked you to list the factors that affect participation in physical activity.

Now I hope you remembered GASED to help you write these down: gender, age, socio-economic status, ethnicity, religion and culture, and disability.

Well done if you remembered all five of those.

For the second part of the task, you had to use example to describe why this statement might be true.

Research suggests that people with a lower socio-economic status are less likely to participate in physical activity.

Hopefully you wrote something along these lines.

Research shows that people with lower socio-economic status are less likely to engage in physical activity due to a variety of barriers.

For example, golf can be expensive because of the high cost for equipment, club memberships and green fees.

Similarly, tennis often requires access to private clubs which charge court fees, while skiing involves not only costly equipment but also travel expenses.

For those with limited disposable income, these costs can make it difficult to participate.

Additionally, individuals from lower income backgrounds may work longer hours on multiple jobs, leaving them with less free time for exercise.

This is a really good example of an answer because this person has used practical examples to highlight what they've seen.

They've used golf to say that it has expensive equipment and club memberships.

They've also mentioned tennis and skiing and said that skiing involves costly equipment but also travel expenses.

So where possible, don't forget to look out for when you have to include practical examples in your answers.

Okay, time to move on to the second part of today's lesson.

We're going to describe ways to increase participation for priority groups.

I wonder if you can think back and remember what priority groups were because we're going to need them in this part of the lesson.

To increase participation in physical activity, we need to focus on priority groups.

These are groups of people who may face additional barriers to access.

Using the information found by Sport England, write down which groups of people may be a priority group.

So a priority group are groups of people that may face barriers.

So think back to our five categories and think about which people within those categories may have barriers to access.

Priority groups could include: girls or women, because they are less physically active than men, elderly people, because we found out that the older someone gets, the less likely they are to be physically active.

People with lower socio-economic status are less physically active, therefore, making them a priority group.

People from ethnic minorities are also a priority group and people with a disability are also a priority group as they are less physically active than people without a disability.

So despite less women being physically active compared to men, women's activity levels are increasing, and this could be due to a number of things.

There is now a lot more campaigns and funding surrounding promoting sport for women and girls.

One example is that "This Girl Can" campaign, which is providing funding, media coverage, and role models for girls and women in sport, they provide opportunities for girls to be active and they use funding to address barriers and make change to promote sport and make more girls physically active.

There is also more media attention for some female sports.

Again, this is increasing.

It's not the same as male spots at the moment, but there is a lot more media attention since the success of the Lionesses.

There is also more education surrounding women and girls health such as training when you're on your period and also how to exercise when you're pregnant or breastfeeding.

Paris 2024 was the first Olympics in the history where the same number of women could participate in men.

This is a really important note because prior to this, there had always been more male athletes than females.

Also at the Paris 2024 Olympics, 25% of the coaches were women, an increase from 13% from the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Again, this is great for girls and women that more females are training and having that pathway as coaches, however, it's still only 25% of the coaches are female.

Therefore, more needs to be done to promote these opportunities and these pathways for more women coaches so that it's equitable with males.

Now despite older people being less active, Sport England, national governing bodies, and charities have been working together to raise participation levels amongst the older generation.

Campaigns and funding such as "Fit as a Fiddle" are used to ensure that older people have access to physical activity and opportunities to be active.

Sports are now becoming adapted to make them more suitable for older people.

Things like walking football and walking netball are now regularly participated in, in the UK.

This allows older people the opportunity to take part in less physically demanding activities.

Particularly for elderly people and people that have retired, there's more opportunity for them to exercise during the day as this is when they have their free time.

So gyms and other leisure centres are putting on suitable classes during the day that they are able to access.

Also for these classes there is reduced costs so that people on a pension are able to pay less, which means that money doesn't become such a barrier for them.

Okay, let's have a go to check.

Which of the following is a priority group? A, people with lots of money, B, elderly people, C, men, D, people without a disability.

That's right.

It's B, elderly people.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay.

Even though research suggests that people from lower socio-economic status are less physically active, more is being done to close the gap.

Often people from lower socio-economic status can receive reduced cost or discount if they're earning under a certain amount of money.

This helps them to access more physical activities.

There's funding for community projects, so in areas of low socio-economic status, more community projects are running in order to make sports and physical activity more accessible to more families and more people.

Lots of facilities are now opening for longer hours.

This may mean opening earlier in the morning or staying open later at night, which allows people that are working in regular shifts or working long hours to actually fit round their working hours some physical activity.

Often new sports can provide free taster sessions so that people don't have to commit to paying for the sport that they don't know if they like, but it gives them an opportunity to try sports without having to pay them money up front.

Also some expensive sports are being adapted to make them more accessible.

For example, polo, which is normally paid on a horse and is very expensive, has been adapted to be called bike polo, where people can play on a bike and they can play on tarmac or at a park.

So even though research suggests that some ethnic minority groups are less physically active, more is being done to raise participation levels across ethnic minority groups.

Campaigns and funding such as "Kick It Out," which is kicking it out to racism and addressing stereotypes and racism that does occur in sport.

There's a wider range of sports clothing.

More sports clothing companies are now addressing the need to provide more varied sports clothing that suits the needs of all ethnicities and cultures.

There are more opportunities for some single sex activities, which allows all cultures to be included.

There's more diverse role models being shown in the media, which helps to promote and tackles stereotypes within sports.

Okay.

Participation levels amongst people with a disability are increasing and reasons for this may include that facilities are becoming more accessible, meaning more people can access that physical activity.

Sports are now becoming more adapted, meaning that sports can become more inclusive for all people to access.

There are more role models in the media and more media coverage being shown of disability sport, including things like the Paralympics.

There's also more campaigns and funding, which is raising the awareness of sport for athletes with a disability and allowing more media coverage and role models to be produced as a result.

Okay.

Let's have a go at a question.

List one way to help increase participation in physical activity for ethnic minority groups.

You don't have to write in full sentences.

Okay, you might have written any of the following: campaigns and funding, for example, "Kick It Out," a wider range of sports clothing, more opportunity to participate in single sex activities and a wider range of role models in sport media.

Okay, now it's your turn to have a go at a practise task.

First part of the practise task, I'd like you to identify five priority groups.

For the second part of the task, for a priority group associated with gender, describe ways to increase participation.

You may wish to pause the video to give you time to complete these tasks.

Good luck.

Okay.

So five priority groups could have included: girls and women, elderly people, people with lower socio-economic status, people from ethnic minorities, and people with a disability.

Well done if you've got all five of those correct.

For the second part of the task, you are asked, for a priority group associated with gender, describe ways to increase participation.

Now I hope that you thought a priority group associated with gender was girls and women, so I'm hoping that you've written about that.

Here are some prompts to help you write your answer.

You might have said that women and girls are considered a priority group because research shows they're generally less active than men.

To encourage more participation, campaigns like "This Girl Can" help motivate women to be active and sometimes offer funding for sports programmes.

Increasing media coverage of women's sport can also inspire more women by providing positive female role models.

Additionally, addressing women's health challenges, such as periods, pregnancy, and breastfeeding can make it easier for women to feel comfortable taking part in physical activity.

Well done if you managed to write something along those lines.

That just leaves us enough time to summarise today's lesson.

So research suggests there are factors that affect participation trends.

These include gender, age, socio-economic status, ethnicity, religion and culture, and disability.

Positive work has been done to challenge stereotypes and increase participation rates amongst priority groups to allow everyone the opportunity to participate in sport or physical activity.

Well done today.

You've worked really hard and thought about all the different types of factors that will affect participation and how we can address barriers for priority groups to ensure that their engagement in physical activity continues to improve.

I really enjoyed today's lesson.

See you next.