Trends in the development of physical education of schoolchildren in China

Abstract

The aim of the study is to systematically analyze the trends in the development of physical education for schoolchildren in China in the context of the «Healthy China 2030» initiative, to identify the reasons for the discrepancy between large-scale resource support and the deterioration of final physical fitness outcomes, and to propose directions for improving the effectiveness of sectoral policy. The materials and methods included a comprehensive analysis of regulatory acts (over 80 documents from 2014-2023), dynamic series of national monitoring of students’ physical health across more than 30 provinces, as well as a summary review of over 120 scientific publications. Comparative and correlation-regression analysis, content analysis of educational programs, and statistical processing in SPSS and MS Excel were used. The results show that despite an increase in absolute funding by 43,1% and spending per student by 36,9%, the share of expenditures on physical education in the overall education budget is declining, while actual physical activity remains below the recommended minimum (about 3,5 hours per week versus 5 hours). Infrastructure improvements are uneven (as of 2022, about 15% of schools lack their own gymnasiums, and the availability of swimming pools is about 6 per 100 schools), while teacher workload remains critically high (more than 300 students per teacher, despite the share of teachers with specialized higher education growing to 86,1%). Against this background, there is a steady deterioration in key metrics: the proportion of students rated «excellent» is decreasing, results in shuttle runs and long jumps are worsening, and the prevalence of overweight is rising. Multifactor analysis reveals the strongest negative correlation between performance outcomes and the indicator «students per teacher» (r≈-0.87), with a statistically insignificant correlation with total funding volumes, indicating the exhaustion of the extensive development model. The discussion and conclusions highlight the following priorities: regulatory reduction of teacher workload and targeted staffing programs, reallocation of investments in favor of tools for personalization and digital monitoring, development of interschool centers (particularly for water sports), methodological integration of traditional and game-based activities, as well as longitudinal assessment of the effects of digitalization based on individual trajectories and regional differences.