Strategies to Increase Participation

For Edexcel GCSE PE, you must understand not only why participation varies but also what can be done about it. This lesson covers the strategies used by governments, national governing bodies (NGBs), charities and other organisations to increase participation in sport and physical activity across all social groups.

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Why Do We Need Strategies?

Despite the proven benefits of physical activity, participation levels in the UK remain uneven. Certain groups — women, older adults, people with disabilities, ethnic minorities and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds — consistently participate at lower rates. Strategies aim to:

• Remove barriers to participation
• Encourage under-represented groups to take part
• Maintain existing participation levels
• Create lifelong habits of physical activity

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The Role of Role Models

Role models are people whom others admire and wish to imitate. In sport, effective role models can dramatically influence participation.

How Role Models Increase Participation	Example
Inspire young people to try a sport	Mo Farah inspiring young runners from diverse backgrounds
Show that barriers can be overcome	Ellie Simmonds demonstrating what disabled athletes can achieve
Challenge stereotypes	The Lionesses proving women's football is exciting and competitive
Represent under-represented groups	Moeen Ali as a visible British Asian cricketer

For a role model to be effective, the target audience needs to be able to relate to them. A role model who shares characteristics with the individual (gender, ethnicity, disability, background) has a stronger influence.

Exam Tip: Always use named, specific role models in your answers. "A role model can inspire people" is vague. "Mo Farah, as a Somali-British athlete, has inspired young people from diverse ethnic backgrounds to take up running" is precise and scores higher.

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Campaigns and Initiatives

Various campaigns have been designed to target specific groups:

Campaign / Initiative	Target Group	How It Works
This Girl Can	Women and girls	Uses real women (not elite athletes) in advertising to challenge the fear of judgement
Change4Life	Families with young children	Promotes physical activity and healthy eating through fun, accessible messaging
Sporting Equals	Ethnic minorities	Works with NGBs to increase diversity in sport at all levels
Activity Alliance	People with disabilities	Provides resources, training and support to make sport more inclusive
Couch to 5K	Inactive adults	Structured 9-week running programme designed for complete beginners
Parkrun	All groups (free, inclusive)	Free weekly 5K events in local parks; no equipment needed, all abilities welcome

graph TD
    A["Target: Under-Represented Groups"] --> B["Campaigns"]
    A --> C["Initiatives"]
    A --> D["Funding"]
    B --> B1["This Girl Can"]
    B --> B2["Change4Life"]
    C --> C1["Parkrun"]
    C --> C2["Couch to 5K"]
    D --> D1["Government Grants"]
    D --> D2["NGB Investment"]
    style A fill:#1565c0,color:#fff

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The Role of Media Coverage

Increased media coverage of sport directly affects participation:

• The inspiration effect — major events like the Olympics, Paralympics and FIFA Women's World Cup lead to spikes in participation in the sports featured.
• Visibility — sports that are regularly on television attract more participants because people become aware of them and see them as accessible.
• Normalisation — seeing women's sport, disability sport or minority ethnic athletes on TV normalises participation for those groups.

However, media coverage can also have negative effects:

• Over-coverage of a small number of sports (mainly men's football) means other sports are overlooked.
• Sensationalised coverage of negative behaviour (e.g. doping scandals, violence) can damage a sport's image.
• Unequal coverage reinforces the perception that women's sport is less important.

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The Role of National Governing Bodies (NGBs)

Each sport has an NGB — the organisation responsible for governing, promoting and developing that sport in the UK.

NGB Responsibility	How It Increases Participation
Grassroots programmes	Running beginner sessions, school partnerships, taster days
Coach education	Training more coaches, including those from under-represented groups
Facility development	Building and improving facilities in areas of low provision
Competition pathways	Creating leagues, tournaments and events for all levels
Inclusion policies	Adapting rules, kit requirements and facilities to be more accessible

Examples of NGBs: the Football Association (FA), England Netball, the Lawn Tennis Association (LTA), British Cycling.

Sport England is the government-funded body that invests in grassroots sport across England. It distributes National Lottery funding to NGBs and community organisations to increase participation.

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Access and Provision

Improving access is one of the most direct ways to increase participation:

Access Strategy	Detail
Building facilities in deprived areas	Ensures low-income communities have local options
Subsidised memberships	Reduced-cost access for young people, older adults, unemployed people
Transport links	Providing minibuses or locating facilities near public transport
Adapted facilities	Ramps, lifts, hearing loops, adapted changing rooms
Extended opening hours	Early morning, late evening and weekend sessions for those with work/family commitments
Free provision	Parkrun, outdoor gyms, park football sessions

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Education and Schools

Schools play a vital role in building lifelong participation habits:

• A broad PE curriculum exposes pupils to many sports, increasing the chance they find one they enjoy.
• Extra-curricular clubs provide additional opportunities beyond timetabled PE.
• Qualified, enthusiastic PE teachers can inspire pupils and challenge negative attitudes.
• School-club links connect pupils with community clubs so they can continue playing after school.

The government's School Games programme provides competitive opportunities across multiple sports for young people of all abilities.

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Government Policies

Governments influence participation through:

• Funding — investing in Sport England, UK Sport, and NGB programmes
• Policy — setting targets for physical activity levels (e.g. the Chief Medical Officer recommends 150 minutes of moderate activity per week for adults)
• Infrastructure — building leisure centres, swimming pools and multi-use games areas (MUGAs)
• Legislation — the Equality Act 2010 requires facilities to be accessible to people with disabilities

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Evaluating the Effectiveness of Strategies

For a 9-mark question, you may be asked to evaluate strategies. Consider:

Strength	Limitation
Campaigns raise awareness and change attitudes	Campaigns alone do not remove practical barriers (cost, time, access)
Role models inspire, especially among young people	Not everyone relates to elite athletes; local role models may be more effective
NGB programmes create structured pathways	Funding is limited and often concentrated in popular sports
Free provision (e.g. Parkrun) removes cost barriers	People still need time, transport and confidence to attend
Media coverage creates the inspiration effect	The effect is often short-lived and drops off after major events

Exam Tip: When evaluating strategies, always discuss why a strategy works AND why it might not be enough on its own. For example: "This Girl Can has been effective in raising awareness and challenging the fear of judgement among women. However, it does not address practical barriers such as cost, childcare and a lack of local facilities, meaning some women remain unable to participate even if their attitude has changed."

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Common Exam Mistakes