Factors affecting access
Access is whether a person can reach and use an activity -- not whether they then keep participating. Four factors affect it. Age -- young children depend on a carer for transport. Gender -- some sports are linked to one gender, so single-sex provision affects who joins. Disability -- restricts access where facilities or coaching are not adapted. Social and cultural influences -- upbringing, religion or tradition can open or close off activities.
Factors affecting participation
Once access exists, a wider set decides whether a person keeps up an activity: discrimination, education (skills for later life), environment and climate (geography, weather), family (active, supportive, can transport), financial considerations (fees, kit, travel), media coverage (interest, role models), role models, and time and work commitments. Access is itself one of these factors, not a separate category.
Strategies: the 3 Ps
0413 groups participation strategies into three types, the "3 Ps". Promotion -- campaigns that raise awareness and improve an activity's image. Provision -- supplying facilities, equipment, coaching and sessions (e.g. adapted equipment, subsidised fees). Access -- removing practical barriers to attending (e.g. transport, ramps, convenient timing). They are complementary: a facility nobody knows about, or cannot reach, will not raise participation alone.
Drawn from real examiner reports.
Group's characteristic, not the barrier
Asked for the barriers stopping a group -- e.g. people with disabilities -- candidates name the disability itself and how it limits movement ("a wheelchair user cannot run"), not the actual barrier: discrimination, a lack of adapted facilities, or negative attitudes. The characteristic is not the marked answer -- the barrier is the external, removable thing in the way.
s23 P11 Q12a; w22 P12 Q15
Factors left too generic
Examiner reports flag answers here as too vague. "No money" or "too busy" names no syllabus factor, whereas "financial considerations, because fees and kit cost more than the family can afford" or "time and work commitments, because long shifts leave little free time" name the factor AND the mechanism. Tighten everyday phrases into the exact syllabus wording.
s23 P11 Q12a; w22 P12 Q15
Access vs participation confused
Access is just ONE factor -- whether a person can reach and use the activity. Participation is the WIDER outcome, affected by access plus eight further factors. A frequent slip is giving "access" as an answer when a question asks for a factor other than access, or treating the two words as the same thing.
Provision vs access (as strategies)
As strategies these are distinct. Provision supplies the facility, equipment, coaching or sessions a group needs. Access removes the practical barriers to attending what exists -- transport, timing, ramps. Calling "build a new pool" an access strategy (it is provision) blurs them. Ask: is something supplied (provision), or a barrier to reaching it removed (access)?
Strategy not matched to the barrier
A strategy only earns credit if it removes the barrier named. A cost barrier needs provision (a subsidy); an awareness barrier needs promotion (role models); a practical-attendance barrier needs access (transport, timing). "Advertise it more" for someone who cannot afford the fees mismatches strategy to barrier.
Access alone guarantees participation
Students assume that once a facility exists and is reachable, participation follows -- but access removes only one barrier of many. Even with an accessible building, discrimination, a lack of role models, cost, and time or transport can still stop someone. A real strategy usually needs the "3 Ps" together: provision, promotion and access.
Match the barrier to its strategy
Name the precise barrier from the syllabus list, not the group's characteristic, then match it to the strategy that removes it -- cost needs provision, awareness needs promotion, practical attendance needs access.
Apply to a named activity, not the stem
Apply the answer to a named activity (swimming, netball, football) so it is not generic -- that is where AO2 marks sit. And never simply repeat the question: restating "lack of role models" with no mechanism or strategy adds nothing.
Evaluate: weigh both sides + judge
Discuss/evaluate needs both sides: a strategy can remove one barrier but do little for another. Say which barrier it is weakest against and reach a judgement -- often that the 3 Ps work best together. Listing advantages with no weighing is capped mid-band.
Access is about whether a person can physically and practically reach and use an activity at all.
Full notes, flashcards, Q&A and the topic quiz for every premium subject.
Premium plans are US$8.99/month or US$49.99/year — first month free.
Studying with a parent's blessing? Show them this.
