leisure studies [AS AQA]
Unit 1 - The Leisure Industry Today
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Overview
You need to have an understanding of the factors that influence the
industry today. These could include:
• economic trends that can affect participation
• effect of media issues
• national developments
• the impact of technology as a feature and key area of growth.
How will I be assessed?
Level 1 -Candidates apply limited knowledge of current
developments in the industry to make superficial
references to trends.
Level 2 - Candidates apply knowledge and understanding of
main current developments in the industry to make
simple predictions for the future.
Level 3 - Candidates apply detailed knowledge and understanding
of many current developments in the industry to make
some appropriate predictions and produce some evidence
to support these predictions.
Level 4 - Candidates apply well developed knowledge and understanding of a wide range of current developments to make appropriate predictions substantiated by sound evidence.
Assignment
For this assignment you are investigate current developments in the leisure industry. You will also make predictions about the future of the leisure industry. You should tackle each of the issues below. for each section should make predictions for the future and support it with evidence where you can. MAKE SURE YOU USE A RANGE OF SOURCES OF INFORMATION (TEXT BOOKS / WEBSITES / LEAFLETS / NEWSPAPERS ETC)
An interesting overview can be found here: Current Trends in Leisure - http://www.researchandmarkets.com/reportinfo.asp?cat_id=176&report_id=3930
1. Introduction - give an overview of what will be investigated in this section.
2. Examine current economic trends that are affecting current developments in the leisure industry
3. Examine effect of media issues on current developments in the leisure industry
4. Examine how national developments are currently affecting the leisure industry
5. Examine the impact of technology as a feature and key area of growth.
6. Make predictions about the future of the leisure industry. Support these predictions with evidence.
Assignment Support
Economic trends in leisure that can affect participation
In this section you are to examine current economic trends that are affecting participation in leisure.
1. Recently we have been experiencing a recession. The BBC have a good overview of the impact of this in terms of unemployment levels etc. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7789784.stm Can you link this to participation in leisure?1. This article investigates economic Trends in Leisure between 2005-2006 - http://www.bized.co.uk/current/leisure/2005_6/190905.htm
2. How has the current economic climate had an impact on DIY? B&Q Owner hit by weak DIY sales - BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7751973.stm
3. The credit crunch has had an impact on people taking holidays - there has been an increase in the number of people taking holidays in the UK rather than going abroad
4. The value of the pound has been dropping - therefore you get fewer dollars and euros for your pound - what impact has this had?:
http://www.holidaylettings.co.uk/travel-resources/travel-news/general-travel/weak-pound-leads-to-more-holidays-in-the-uk/a-3-143-1506/
5. The credit crunch has led to a growth in gaming: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/3661949/Video-games-defy-credit-crunch-as-people-stay-at-home.html
Effect of media issues
Web links:
The Leisure Media - Collins Leisure Studies p50-53
National Developments
The Olympics is coming to the UK! What will be the impact of this?
Positive:
Sport England - What the 2012 Olympics would do for the UK - http://www.sportengland.org/2012_uk.htm
Sport England - What the 2012 Olympics would do for London - http://www.sportengland.org/index/news_and_media/olympics_2012/2012_london.htm
Mayor of London - London 2012 Olympics - http://www.london.gov.uk/mayor/olympics/index.jsp
Negative:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23636200-details/The+2004+Olympic+legacy+that+London+must+avoid/article.do
The smoking ban was introduced in 2008. What has been the impact of this?
BBC - http://search.bbc.co.uk/search?tab=all&q=impact+of+smoking+ban
Impact of the National Lottery? - research
Government has a target of 70% participation in active leisure by 2020 - research this.
The impacts of technology as a feature and key area of growth
Innovation and new technology - Collins Leisure Studies p46-49
Web links:
- games to outsell music, video - BBC News: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/7709298.stm
- Game profits up 76 % in stay at home Britain: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/retailandconsumer/5199164/Game-Group-profits-up-76pc-in-stay-at-home-Britain.html
- growth of HD TV and Sky:
Yorkshire Post
Future trends
Based on your research you need to make predictions about future trends in leisure. These need to be backed up with sound, supporting evidence that this is highly likely to happen (e.g. use statistics to show the continued growth in the take up of HD TV this would suggest that the growth will continue for the foreseable future, what about the potential impact of the Olympics on leisure? (you could back this up with evidence of the impact the Olympics has had on leisure in other places e.g. increase in passive leisure with people watching it on TV - find out about the legacy of places that have been used for the Olympics before).