Research commissioned by London Sport and conducted by Morar HPI into Londoners’ attitudes to physical activity and their relationship with the capital’s sporting workforce has been made available for use by groups across London, and around the country.
The research, which involved working with over 5000 people across the capital, was conducted in 2016 as part of the process which underpinned the development of Building a Workforce for the Future – our Strategic Plan of Action for London’s workforce development, launched last December.
Based on developing a broader understanding of behavioural and attitudinal relationships between less active people and the city’s sporting workforce, the research provides detailed insight into potential workforce interventions to support increased levels of physical activity. In particular, the research points to a need for the sporting workforce to have strong ‘soft skills’ – empathetic capabilities that build confidence in participants – with inactive Londoners particularly valuing a workforce that is patient and non-judgemental in its attitudes.
Since the publication of Building a Workforce for the Future, London Sport has been working to support groups and organisations across London to better understand the implications for workforce development, and the opportunities presented by understanding how inactive and active people’s responses to the existing workforce can shape their experiences of physical activity. With both national and London-focused sport strategies demonstrating clear commitments to the development and support of the sporting workforce, this work is expected to become an increasingly important component in efforts to enhance population-level participation in physical activity and sport.
With the publication of this research, we now hope to enable more groups across the country to consider the potential workforce support required to increase levels of physical activity nationwide.
The full research deck is available to download here
Building a Workforce for the Future is available to download here
